Principal Software Test Engineer (must have Professional Services and Automation background)

Ellucian is a company that powers innovation for higher education, serving approximately 3,000 customers across 50 countries. As a Principal Software Test Engineer, you will act as a quality engineering advisor for customer implementations, defining testing strategies and guiding SaaS transformations while collaborating with various stakeholders.

Responsibilities:

• Partner with customer stakeholders to develop comprehensive test strategies aligned with business objectives, implementation scope, and deployment timelines
• Lead test planning workshops, quality assessments, and readiness reviews throughout the project lifecycle
• Advise customers on quality engineering best practices, risk based testing approaches, and modernization of their testing capabilities
• Build trusted relationships with executive sponsors, project leadership, and customer SMEs by providing strategic quality guidance and measurable recommendations
• Define testing approaches across functional, integration, end to end, regression, performance, security, and user acceptance testing
• Establish quality gates, release readiness criteria, entry and exit criteria, and defect management processes for complex implementation programs
• Identify delivery risks early and recommend mitigation strategies that improve project outcomes
• Develop reusable testing methodologies, templates, and governance standards that can be leveraged across multiple customer engagements
• Provide technical leadership for automation frameworks using Playwright, Selenium, Postman, REST Assured, and related technologies
• Guide project teams in implementing automation within CI/CD pipelines to improve delivery quality and efficiency
• Evaluate automation opportunities and recommend practical solutions that maximize long term value
• Support performance, API, and security testing strategies using modern quality engineering tools and practices
• Partner with project managers, solution architects, developers, business analysts, and DevOps teams to embed quality throughout delivery
• Mentor delivery teams on modern testing techniques, automation practices, and quality engineering principles
• Present quality metrics, testing progress, and release readiness to both technical and executive audiences
• Contribute to the evolution of Ellucian's Professional Services quality methodology, accelerators, and delivery standards

Requirements:

• 7 or more years of experience in software quality engineering, testing, or quality consulting, with significant experience supporting enterprise implementations
• Demonstrated experience developing test strategies and quality plans for complex software delivery programs
• Strong understanding of functional, integration, end to end, performance, security, and user acceptance testing methodologies
• Hands-on expertise with two or more of the following: Playwright, Selenium, Postman, REST Assured, JMeter, K6, Gatling, OWASP ZAP, and experience using enterprise test management platforms such as SpiraTest or Azure DevOps Test Plans
• Experience integrating automated testing into CI/CD pipelines using Git based development practices
• Proven ability to communicate effectively with executives, project leaders, technical teams, and customer stakeholders
• Strong analytical, facilitation, and presentation skills with the ability to influence decisions across cross functional teams
• Passion for improving customer outcomes through modern quality engineering practices and strategic technical leadership
• Consulting or Professional Services experience with enterprise SaaS implementations is strongly preferred
• Experience within higher education or another complex enterprise industry is a plus