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Senior Software Development Engineer in TEST (SDET)

Vanilla Steel

Vanilla Steel

Software Engineering
Berlin, Germany
Posted on Jan 6, 2026
Your mission

We’re looking for a Senior QA/SDET who will lead the testing strategy and build scalable test automation frameworks for our platform.You will work closely with backend, frontend, and platform engineers to ensure the reliability, correctness, and performance of our systems.

Join our VC-backed company during this exciting phase of growth. As a Senior Platform Engineer, you will have a unique opportunity to join a team focused on solving the technology challenges in metal trading including: automating sales & procurement workflows, building material recommendation systems to match demand and supply, and developing internal and external user interfaces.

This position is based full-time in our vibrant Berlin office. We believe that working together in a dynamic office setting fosters collaboration and accelerates the growth of our ambitious startup.

Specifically within your role, you will:

  • Test Strategy: Define, document, and evangelize the overall testing strategy for new features and major product releases, including risk analysis and mitigation plans.

  • Collaboration: Work directly with Product Managers to clarify requirements and ambiguous user stories, and partner closely with Development teams to troubleshoot and perform root cause analysis (RCA) on complex production defects.

  • Evaluating model and statistical assumptions, methodologies, and outputs and performing other backend / software testing needs

  • Test Metrics: Establish and track key Quality Assurance (QA) metrics, providing detailed reports on test coverage, defect trends, and overall product quality to stakeholders.

  • Quality Governance: Lead initiatives to improve the quality of the product architecture and the efficiency of the development and release process.

  • Test Case Design: Develop detailed and complex test plans and test cases covering functional, non-functional, security, and performance requirements.

  • Exploratory Testing: Execute exploratory testing sessions to uncover hard-to-find defects that automation may miss.

  • Bug Management: Manage the entire defect lifecycle, ensuring high-quality bug reports and timely resolution.

Your profile
  • Experience: 5+ years in a QA/Testing role, with a minimum of 3 years specifically as an SDET or Automation Architect.

  • Experience with data generation techniques to support AI model validation

  • Programming: High proficiency in at least one object-oriented programming language (Java, Python, C#, or JavaScript/TypeScript).

  • Automation Tools: Expertise with industry-leading automation frameworks/tools such as Selenium WebDriver, Cypress, Playwright, or Appium.

  • API Testing: Strong experience with API testing tools (e.g., Postman, RestAssured) and a solid understanding of REST/SOAP protocols.

  • Databases: Proficiency in writing complex SQL queries for data validation and backend testing.

  • Version Control & CI/CD: Expert knowledge of Git and practical experience setting up and managing automated test runs in a CI/CD environment.

  • Testing Methodologies: Deep understanding of testing concepts, including unit, integration, system, regression, and performance testing.

  • Experience with Performance/Load testing tools (e.g., JMeter, LoadRunner).

  • Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) and testing infrastructure in a cloud environment.

  • Experience in Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) using tools like Cucumber or Gherkin.

Why us?
  • Ownership of projects with a focus on outcomes rather than time-tracking

  • Fast-paced yet collaborative culture fostering individual performance and teamwork

  • Competitive compensation based on experience

  • Subsidized Urban Sports Club membership

  • Subsidized Deutschlandticket

  • Hybrid work format

  • Beautiful office located in the heart of Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin

  • Regular team building events, company breakfasts and Friday drinks

About us

We are a Berlin-based startup that has successfully established a leading digital-first trading company for industrial metals across Europe.

The multi-billion-euro metal trading industry is operated on Excel, PDF and Email. Our mission is to integrate smart technology and data to drive every decision, transaction, and workflow in the steel industry. Our technologies & services increase liquidity, accelerate transactions, reduce scrapping rates and enhance trading convenience for hundreds of steel and metal distributors across Europe.