Software Quality Test Engineer – Chemistry / Healthcare

Location

Santa Clara, CA

Experience: 3+ Years

Employment Type: Contract

Position Overview:

We are seeking a Software Quality Test Engineer with a Chemistry background to support software quality assurance and testing for analytical laboratory instruments and healthcare-related software products.

The ideal candidate will combine software testing expertise with practical chemistry and laboratory experience, particularly with Gas Chromatography (GC), Liquid Chromatography (LC), GC-MS, and LC-MS systems.

This role involves developing and executing manual and automated tests, validating software functionality, performing instrument-related laboratory activities, and ensuring the accuracy and reliability of analytical results.

The successful candidate will work closely with Engineering, Product Management, R&D, Support, and laboratory teams throughout the software development and release lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, and execute manual and automated end-to-end test cases to verify software functionality and product requirements.
• Create software test plans, define feature-level test scenarios, and support verification and validation activities.
• Develop and execute automated tests using appropriate frameworks and scripting languages.
• Test applications and integrations built using C#/.NET, JavaScript, SaaS platforms, and REST APIs.
• Support software development and testing for GC, LC, GC-MS, and LC-MS products.
• Perform laboratory activities, including sample analysis, data processing, instrument calibration, maintenance, and tuning.
• Prepare reagents and support routine analytical testing as required.
• Investigate software errors, document defects, validate fixes, and assess application performance.
• Review software requirements and functional design specifications to ensure adequate test coverage.
• Perform integrated manual and automated testing within an Agile software development environment.
• Collaborate with Engineering and Product Management to communicate test results, risks, recommendations, and release timelines.
• Troubleshoot issues with Support, R&D, and implementation teams; validate resolutions and support production releases.
• Estimate QA effort and assist with project scoping, test planning, resource coordination, and scheduling.

Required Skills and Qualifications:

• Educational background in Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Experience in software quality assurance, software testing, or quality engineering.
• Strong understanding of manual testing, automated testing frameworks, and scripting languages.
• Experience designing test cases and executing functional, integration, and end-to-end testing.
• Experience with C#/.NET, JavaScript, SaaS applications, and REST APIs in a testing or development capacity.
• Practical knowledge of chromatography systems, including GC, LC, GC-MS, and/or LC-MS.
• Familiarity with laboratory procedures, sample analysis, analytical data processing, instrument calibration, and maintenance.
• Ability to review technical requirements and translate them into comprehensive test scenarios.
• Experience with defect tracking, troubleshooting, regression testing, and verification of software fixes.
• Understanding of Agile software development and QA practices.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, documentation, and communication skills.
• Ability to work onsite in Santa Clara, California.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience testing software used in healthcare, life sciences, analytical chemistry, or laboratory environments.
• Hands-on experience with GC-MS and LC-MS instruments.
• Experience with automated end-to-end testing frameworks and API testing tools.
• Familiarity with software verification and validation processes for laboratory or analytical instruments.
• Experience collaborating with multidisciplinary teams across Engineering, R&D, Product Management, and laboratory operations.
• Familiarity with software release management, performance testing, and continuous integration practices.

Technical and Domain Skills

Software Testing: Manual testing, automated testing, end-to-end testing, test planning, verification and validation, regression testing, defect management.

Development and Integration

C#/.NET, JavaScript, REST APIs, SaaS applications, scripting languages, automation frameworks.

Chemistry and Laboratory

Analytical chemistry, sample analysis, reagent preparation, data processing, instrument calibration, instrument tuning, laboratory maintenance.

Instrumentation

Gas Chromatography (GC), Liquid Chromatography (LC), GC-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), LC-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS).

Methodologies

Agile/Scrum, requirements review, test estimation, release validation, cross-functional collaboration.