Software Development Engineer In Test Jobs in California
Software Development Engineer In Test jobs in California are among the most actively recruited software quality roles in the country, concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego, where technology companies, enterprise software firms, and semiconductor manufacturers maintain large engineering organizations. Employers such as Google, Apple, and Salesforce have sustained demand at every level from new graduate through principal engineer, with the strongest need in test automation frameworks, CI/CD pipeline validation, and mobile and embedded systems testing. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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The Role
What You’ll Work On
- Implement test strategy with feature teams on a major project or area of Rally, and agree up front on what must be true for high-impact changes and who proves it
- Test Rally against defined system properties and invariants, especially those pertaining to scalability, resiliency, and performance at customer scale
- Design test infrastructure and fixtures that serve both test and development, weigh their tradeoffs with peers, and see them through implementation to adoption
- Build tests that return a clear verdict on well-defined system behaviors
- Advise feature developers as they own the development-loop tests for their own changes
- Test that Rally’s failures are diagnosable, so customers and support can tell what broke and why
- Review past production incidents with Support Engineering to find gaps in how we test
- Mentor other SDETs, and improve the practices and tools the team uses
What Success Looks Like
- First 90 days. You’re shaping the test strategy for a major project, know the test infrastructure well enough to support and refine its design, and feature teams coordinate with you to ensure releases ship with confidence.
- First year. You drive test strategy for a major area of Rally and have defined and tested its system properties. Feature developers use fixtures you designed, and other SDETs come to you for guidance.
What You’ll Bring
- A track record of driving test strategy for microservice-based systems, cloud-hosted systems, or single-page web applications with minimal direction
- Experience designing test infrastructure and frameworks, and explaining their tradeoffs to peers
- Experience testing how systems behave under load and failure, beyond functional correctness
- Experience applying AI agents to test work, or driving test on an AI-forward engineering team, and a clear sense of when agent-written tests check the implementation instead of the intent
- Strong ability to read and understand Python, Javascript, or another programming language commonly used in test
- Experience applying software or system design principles in the test domain
- Curiosity about how and why systems fail, and the discipline to learn new systems and technologies in depth
- The ability to explain deeply technical topics to non-technical audiences, and to adjust how you communicate for customers, management, or peers
Nice to Have
- Experience with load, performance, or fault-injection testing tools
- Experience running automated tests in CI pipelines
- Experience with pytest or similar test frameworks
- Experience with Robot Framework
- Experience mentoring other engineers
- Familiarity with professional media formats and tools, such as codecs, container formats, media encoders, and metadata management
How We Work
- We’re small and distributed. Most of our collaboration happens over Slack and Zoom, across time zones. You’ll own what you build, and you’ll work closely with people outside your immediate team.
- Engineers stay close to customers. You’ll hear directly from the people using what you build. When something goes wrong in production, the team that owns the code helps fix it.
- We dig for root causes. When something breaks, we find out why instead of patching the symptom and moving on.
- We ship, then refine. We work in short sprints and improve things over time instead of waiting for a perfect first version.
How We Use AI
Logistics
- This is a remote role, open to candidates across the United States
- Occasional travel may be required, but is not core to this role
- Interview process: introductory call, AI proficiency interview, team technical interview, interview project, interview project presentation, and founders interview
Compensation and Benefits
You Should Be Interested in SDVI Because:
- You are looking for your next big challenge
- You are looking for a company that welcomes your talent virtually
- You want teammates you can learn from, and who will learn from you
- You want to be part of a team that respects individuals and their work
- You consider the big picture and your contribution to it
SDVI offers a comprehensive benefits package including competitive salary, medical, vision, dental, 401(k) match, and stock options in a stimulating and rewarding distributed work environment.
SDVI is committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity in our workforce. We maintain a courteous work environment that recognizes the dignity and worth of each employee. SDVI respects the individual needs of employees and is an equal-opportunity employer.
See All 183+ Software Development Engineer In Test Jobs in California
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Find JobsSoftware Development Engineer In Test Jobs by City in California
Where California roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Software Development Engineer In Test Job Market in California
A snapshot from current California openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
- Apple26

- Northrop Grumman12

- Sony Interactive Entertainment11

- SpaceX6

- TikTok6

Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software15
- Aerospace & Defense4
- Electronics & Hardware4
- Manufacturing3
- Automotive1
What California Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in software development engineer in test jobs across California.
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering, or a closely related technical field
- Proficiency in at least one programming language such as Python, Java, or C++
- Experience designing and maintaining automated test frameworks and test suites
- Familiarity with CI/CD tools including Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or similar platforms
- Ability to write clear bug reports and collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams
- Experience with performance, regression, or mobile testing in a product engineering environment
Software Development Engineer In Test Jobs in California: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a software development engineer in test in California?
The most direct path is a bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related field, which is the standard educational baseline California employers expect. There is no state-issued license or government registration required to work in this role in California. Candidates who build a portfolio demonstrating test automation skills, contribute to open source testing projects, or complete internships at California technology firms strengthen their candidacy significantly before or after graduation.
How much do software development engineer in tests make in California?
Software development engineer in tests in California earn a median of about $128,740 a year, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, ranging from around $65,890 for the lowest 10% to over $201,070 for the top 10%. Pay rises with experience, specialty, and employer.
Which companies hire software development engineer in tests in California?
Employers hiring software development engineer in tests in California right now include Apple, Northrop Grumman, and Sony Interactive Entertainment, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. California's dense concentration of enterprise software, consumer technology, and semiconductor companies means sustained hiring across both established headquarters and regional engineering offices throughout the state.
Which California cities have the most software development engineer in test jobs?
San Diego, Sunnyvale, and San Jose have the most software development engineer in test openings in California, driven by the Bay Area's concentration of major technology headquarters and the growing engineering offices that Los Angeles and San Diego have attracted in defense technology, biotech software, and consumer applications. Smaller suburban markets near these metros often reflect satellite engineering campuses of the same large employers anchoring the primary cities.
Are there remote software development engineer in test jobs in California?
Yes, and more than most fields. About 54% of software development engineer in test openings tied to California are remote or hybrid as of November 2026, reflecting how much of the work involves writing code, reviewing test results, and collaborating through engineering tools rather than requiring physical lab or hardware access. The most remote-friendly specialties are web, API, and backend test automation, while embedded systems and hardware-in-the-loop testing roles tend to require on-site presence.
How can I get hired as a software development engineer in test in California with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is applying for associate software engineer in test or quality assurance engineer roles at mid-size California technology companies, which often hire new graduates without commercial testing experience. Large California employers such as Apple, Oracle, and Intuit run university recruiting and internship pipelines that place candidates directly into entry-level test engineering teams. Candidates moving from adjacent roles such as manual QA analyst or junior software developer can accelerate the transition by building a public portfolio of automated test scripts and contributing to open source projects that California engineering managers can evaluate directly.
Where can I find and apply to software development engineer in test jobs in California?
You can find and apply to software development engineer in test jobs in California on Migrate Mate, which lists current California openings updated regularly. Search the listings, find roles that match your background and preferred location, and apply directly to the ones that fit.
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