Senior Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) at Startale – Remote Web3 Job

Startale Group is recruiting a Senior Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) to help build reliable, secure, and scalable testing systems for its next-generation Web3 products. This full-time remote opportunity is suited to experienced software engineers who specialise in test automation, quality engineering, and complex distributed systems.

Unlike traditional software testing roles that focus mainly on manually checking applications, this position emphasises building the engineering infrastructure behind software quality. The successful candidate will design automation frameworks, integrate tests into development pipelines, validate blockchain transactions, and explore artificial intelligence tools that make testing more efficient.

The role offers an opportunity to contribute to products involving blockchain networks, smart contracts, digital assets, wallets, and decentralised finance (DeFi).

Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET)

Company: Startale Group

Industry: Blockchain, Web3, FinTech, and Software Engineering

Employment Type: Full-time

Work Arrangement: Remote

Experience Level: Senior

Required Experience: 5+ years in SDET, quality engineering, test automation, or software engineering

Key Technologies: JavaScript, TypeScript, Playwright, Cypress, APIs, CI/CD, Docker, and AI-assisted testing

Salary: Not disclosed

Application Deadline: No deadline specified on the official listing

Application Status: Listed on the official careers website when this article was prepared

About Startale Group

Startale Group is a technology company developing blockchain infrastructure and products designed to bring more people and businesses into the onchain economy. Its work spans blockchain networks, digital asset applications, decentralised finance, and infrastructure that connects traditional services with blockchain-based systems.

The company is involved in the development of Soneium, an Ethereum Layer 2 network, and works across the broader blockchain ecosystem, including Astar and its onchain finance initiatives. Its products and partnerships aim to make blockchain technology more practical and accessible to users, developers, and businesses.

Startale promotes a culture built around a growth mindset, integrity, openness, and transparency. Its careers page also highlights stock options, flexible remote work, time off, modern tooling, and team workations as features of its working environment.

For software engineers, this environment presents an opportunity to work on systems where reliability and security are particularly important because applications interact with wallets, smart contracts, blockchain networks, and digital assets.

About the SDET Role

The Senior SDET will help establish and improve the engineering systems used to test Startale's applications and infrastructure. The role goes beyond writing individual test cases: it involves designing reusable frameworks, developing internal testing tools, improving developer workflows, and making quality assurance part of the software development lifecycle.

The successful candidate will work across frontend applications, backend services, APIs, blockchain integrations, and smart contracts. They will help ensure that complex user journeys behave correctly under normal conditions and when unexpected problems occur.

Because blockchain applications can involve transactions that are delayed, rejected, retried, or affected by network conditions, the role requires careful validation of application behaviour and transaction state.

The position also includes exploring AI-assisted quality engineering. This may involve using large language models to support test generation, test maintenance, failure analysis, and regression detection.

Key Responsibilities

• Build quality engineering systems: Design and maintain the testing architecture, shared libraries, reusable frameworks, and developer tools used across engineering teams.
• Develop automated tests: Create comprehensive automated tests covering APIs, backend services, frontend applications, and end-to-end user journeys.
• Improve CI/CD pipelines: Integrate automated testing into continuous integration and deployment workflows to provide rapid feedback and prevent regressions.
• Implement AI-powered testing: Develop workflows that use AI to assist with test generation, test maintenance, failure analysis, and root-cause investigation.
• Validate blockchain functionality: Test interactions involving wallets, authentication, token transfers, smart contracts, and onchain transactions.
• Test DeFi workflows: Validate functionality such as swaps, liquidity operations, staking, lending, and other supported decentralised finance activities.
• Test transaction edge cases: Investigate scenarios involving gas estimation, insufficient balances, slippage, failed transactions, retries, network congestion, and inconsistent blockchain states.
• Improve performance and reliability: Design load, stress, endurance, and resilience tests for backend services and distributed systems.
• Maintain testing infrastructure: Build and manage containerised test environments using Docker and appropriate infrastructure tools.
• Strengthen observability: Work with engineering teams to improve monitoring, production debugging, and the investigation of system failures.
• Promote engineering quality: Establish standards and practices that help development teams deliver reliable software consistently.

Eligibility and Requirements

Startale is seeking an experienced technical professional with strong software engineering foundations and a track record of building automated testing systems.

The official vacancy identifies the following requirements:

• At least five years of experience in SDET, quality engineering, test automation, or software engineering.
• Strong software development skills in JavaScript or TypeScript.
• Experience designing testing architectures for complex distributed systems.
• Experience building scalable automation frameworks and reusable testing libraries.
• Strong experience with end-to-end testing frameworks such as Playwright or Cypress.
• Experience testing APIs, including REST, JSON-RPC, GraphQL, WebSocket, or similar technologies.
• Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience working with Docker and containerised testing environments.
• Knowledge of API, integration, contract, and end-to-end testing strategies.
• Ability to debug systems spanning frontend applications, backend services, APIs, databases, and infrastructure.
• Experience designing performance, load, and reliability tests.
• Understanding of observability and production troubleshooting.
• Experience testing transactional, financial, distributed, or high-throughput systems.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate across engineering disciplines.

Additional Skills That Can Strengthen Your Application

The following skills are identified as advantageous rather than universal mandatory requirements:

• Experience testing Web3 applications, blockchain infrastructure, or DeFi protocols.
• Knowledge of blockchain fundamentals, smart contracts, wallets, tokens, RPC providers, and onchain transactions.
• Experience testing swaps, liquidity provision, staking, lending, borrowing, or related financial protocols.
• Familiarity with blockchain testing frameworks, local blockchain networks, testnets, and smart contract development environments.
• Experience integrating large language models into quality assurance workflows.
• Experience using AI tools for automated test generation, code review, regression detection, and failure analysis.
• Knowledge of Kubernetes and cloud-native infrastructure.
• Experience with observability tools such as OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana, or Datadog.

Candidates should emphasise practical achievements, such as reducing test execution time, improving test coverage, preventing production defects, or building reusable automation systems that benefit multiple engineering teams.

Salary and Benefits

The official vacancy does not disclose a specific salary range. Applicants should confirm compensation and any additional financial arrangements directly with Startale during the recruitment process.

Startale's careers page highlights several company-wide benefits:

• Stock options: An opportunity to share in the company's value creation, subject to the applicable option plan and terms.
• Flexible remote work: A remote-first approach with an emphasis on outcomes rather than fixed working hours.
• Time off: The company advertises an unlimited time-off policy, subject to its policies and expectations.
• Modern development tools: Access to engineering tools and AI agents intended to support productivity.
• Team workations: Opportunities for team gatherings and off-site collaboration.
• Global compensation approach: The company describes its compensation philosophy as aligned with global market levels.

Actual benefits, compensation, and employment arrangements may depend on the final offer and the candidate's location.

Is This a Worldwide Remote Job?

The official listing labels the position as remote, and Startale describes its team as fully remote. However, candidates should confirm whether their country is supported for employment or contracting before applying.

Remote work does not automatically mean that a company can hire in every country. Local employment regulations, payroll arrangements, time-zone expectations, and other operational requirements may affect eligibility.

Applicants in Nigeria and other countries should check these details directly with Startale rather than assuming that every remote position is available worldwide.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should review the official job description and submit their application through Startale's recruitment page.

APPLY FOR THE SDET POSITION

Before applying, prepare a CV that clearly demonstrates your software engineering experience, test automation expertise, TypeScript or JavaScript skills, Playwright or Cypress projects, and CI/CD experience.

If you have worked with blockchain or DeFi applications, highlight examples of testing wallet connections, smart contract interactions, token transfers, transaction failures, or other onchain workflows.

Include links to relevant GitHub projects or technical portfolios if available and appropriate. Explain the engineering problem you solved, your contribution, and the measurable impact of your work.

Final Thoughts

The Senior Software Development Engineer in Test position at Startale is an opportunity for an experienced engineer to shape quality engineering across Web3 applications and blockchain infrastructure.

Its emphasis on automation frameworks, distributed systems, CI/CD, AI-assisted testing, and DeFi validation makes it particularly relevant to professionals who combine strong software development skills with advanced testing expertise.

Applicants should review the official requirements carefully, confirm location eligibility, and ask the recruitment team about salary and employment arrangements before accepting an offer.

AfroCareer Disclaimer: AfroCareer shares job and career opportunities for informational purposes. Vacancy status, eligibility requirements, compensation, and benefits may change. Always verify the latest details through the employer's official recruitment channels. AfroCareer is not the employer or recruitment agent for this position.