Lead SDET

Wispr Flow

$120K — $140K *
US-AnywhereRemote in San Francisco, CA
Information Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5-7 years of experience in software quality engineering and automation testing.
  • Proven ability to write maintainable and readable test code.
  • Experience in developing automated test suites for complex software.
  • Strong diagnostic skills for isolating causes of software failures.
  • Understanding of user-centric product design principles and risks.
  • Experience leading teams and mentoring QA professionals.
  • Familiarity with native apps, audio processing, speech recognition, or AI evaluation is beneficial.

Responsibilities

  • Develop and maintain automated tests for critical user journeys across all platforms.
  • Integrate automated checks into CI/CD pipelines and establish reliable release gates.
  • Test product functionalities beyond basic scenarios, focusing on real-world user behavior.
  • Analyze testing outcomes and code quality to advise on release readiness.
  • Collaborate across teams to influence product design and improve testing coverage.
  • Coach the QA team and set testing standards while remaining actively involved in testing.
  • Investigate test failures and prioritize testing based on risk assessments.

Benefits

  • Opportunities for advancing with a diverse and inclusive team.
  • Support for H1B, O1, EB1, and other visa sponsorships.
  • Commitment to a fair and accessible interview process.
  • Encouragement to apply despite missing some qualifications, promoting diverse perspectives.
Full Job Description
What you will do

We're looking for a Lead Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) to build the quality practice behind Flow. You'll own test strategy, write automation, and personally investigate the product while helping our QA team grow.
  • Build reliable automation. Develop and maintain automated tests for critical journeys across desktop, mobile, backend services, and integrations. Choose the right mix of unit, integration, and end-to-end coverage.
  • Make regression testing continuous. Partner with engineering to run automated checks against internal builds, integrate them into CI/CD, and establish dependable release gates.
  • Test beyond the happy path. Personally explore real-world voice workflows, permissions, device and network changes, cross-app behavior, and updates. Catch usability and consistency issues as well as functional bugs.
  • Own release confidence. Prioritize testing by risk, investigate failures, and use test results, telemetry, and customer impact to make clear release recommendations.
  • Bring quality into development. Work with engineering, product, design, and support from planning through launch. Turn requirements, incidents, and escaped defects into better coverage.
  • Lead through doing. Set standards, coach our QA team and testing partners, and coordinate coverage while remaining hands-on and driving testing yourself.


Who you are
  • An experienced quality engineer. You've owned testing for complex software and built or maintained automated suites that teams rely on.
  • A capable programmer. You can write readable test code, build fixtures and test harnesses, debug failures, and keep automation reliable in CI.
  • A systems thinker. You reason across clients, APIs, operating systems, and integrations. You know where mocks help and where real devices and end-to-end checks are essential.
  • An incisive investigator. You turn vague reports into reproducible bugs, use logs and other evidence to isolate causes, and distinguish product failures from test or environment failures.
  • Product-minded and detail-oriented. You care about usability, responsiveness, accessibility, and trust, and know which risks matter most to users.
  • A hands-on leader. You communicate clearly, coach others, and build useful processes in a fast-moving team. Experience with native apps, audio, speech recognition, or AI output evaluation is a plus.


Logistics

We sponsor H1B, O1, EB1, L1, STEM OPT, and more. We can't guarantee sponsorship for every role, but if we make you an offer we'll make every reasonable effort, with help from our immigration law firm.

We strongly encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every qualification. The strongest candidates we meet rarely do, so don't exclude yourself prematurely. We're rethinking how humans interact with AI, and doing that well demands diversity of perspective and experience.

We're committed to a fair and accessible interview process. If you need any accommodations or adjustments, please let us know.

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