Principal Software Development Engineer in Test (Performance & Load Testing)

Location: Mountain View, CA (Onsite)

About Us

We're a market-leading identity verification platform trusted by 117+ million users and 600+ enterprises, including federal and state agencies. Our technology meets NIST 800-63-3 IAL2/AAL2 standards, providing secure, inclusive identity solutions through multiple verification pathways. Recognized on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 and backed by $275M+ in funding, we're scaling infrastructure to handle millions of daily authentications without compromising accessibility.

The Role

As a Principal SDET, you'll architect performance testing frameworks for our mission-critical Identity, Wallet, and Marketplace services. This senior technical leadership role focuses on ensuring our platform meets extreme scalability demands while mentoring teams in quality-first development practices.

Key Responsibilities

1. Performance Engineering: Design load/stress tests simulating 10M+ user scenarios using Locust/Gatling/K6
2. Test Infrastructure: Build cloud-native testing systems (AWS/GCP) with Kubernetes/Docker integration
3. Metrics-Driven Optimization: Establish SLAs for response times, error rates, and throughput
4. CI/CD Integration: Embed performance gates in deployment pipelines
5. Chaos Engineering: Implement resilience testing with Gremlin/LitmusChaos
6. Technical Leadership: Mentor junior engineers on performance anti-patterns

Tech Stack & Requirements

1. Testing Tools: Locust/Gatling/K6 + Playwright/Cypress for functional automation
2. Languages: Python (preferred), Go, JavaScript, or Ruby
3. Cloud: AWS/GCP with Kubernetes/Nomad/Terraform
4. Monitoring: Grafana, Honeycomb, Datadog
5. Experience: 10+ years in performance testing at hyperscale

Preferred Qualifications

1. HashiCorp stack (Nomad/Vault/Consul) expertise
2. Identity/security domain experience
3. Chaos engineering implementation
4. Static + dynamic language proficiency

Why Join?

1. Impact: Ensure reliability for 117M+ identities
2. Scale: Solve unique performance challenges at federal-grade security levels
3. Compensation: Highly competitive salary + equity
4. Benefits:
5. 100% covered health/dental/vision
6. 401K matching
7. Onsite meals + commuter benefits

Culture Fit

You’re a systems-thinking SDET who:

1. Architects tests as production-grade software
2. Communicates performance data as business risk
3. Balances rigor with Agile delivery
4. Advocates for quality without sacrificing velocity