Senior Automation Engineer - Shelton, CTThis role is based out of our Shelton, CT headquarters.
About the Role:
Subway's Digital Merchandising team manages thousands of product configurations, promotional campaigns, and menu validations across our owned channels and third-party delivery partners every week - today, largely by hand. The Senior Automation Engineer exists to change that.
You'll join the Guest Engineering organization and own the design and delivery of an automation platform that replaces manual merchandising workflows with reliable, repeatable, CI/CD-driven pipelines. Your scope spans the full validation surface: API contracts between Subway's Node.js middleware and downstream consumers (including DoorDash, Uber Eats, and similar 3PD partners), UI rendering across Mobile App, Web, and Kiosk, and data integrity checks that confirm what the Merchandising team configures is exactly what guests see and can order.
Playwright is the primary framework for both UI and API automation, running on AWS Lambda within Subway's serverless infrastructure. You'll write automation in Node.js / TypeScript, integrate suites into GitHub Actions / Azure DevOps pipelines, and use AI-assisted development tools - including Claude and GitHub Copilot - daily. This is a hands-on individual contributor role with real ownership over a greenfield automation program.
Responsibilities include but not limited to:- Design and build automated test frameworks and data-pipeline scripts that replace manual Digital Merchandising workflows - covering product configuration, promotional setup, menu publishing, and menu validation across Subway's owned channels (Mobile App, Web, Kiosk) and third-party delivery partners (e.g., DoorDash, Uber Eats). Own test coverage end-to-end, from authoring through CI/CD-triggered execution and result reporting.
- Develop and maintain API automation suites in Node.js / TypeScript using Playwright, validating menu sync, promotional data contracts, and ordering payloads between Subway's middleware platform and its downstream consumers - including 3PD marketplace APIs. Catch data integrity issues before they reach guests or partners.
- Build and operate UI automation for Subway's Web and Mobile App (via browser emulation) and Kiosk surfaces using Playwright, ensuring that merchandising changes - new items, limited-time offers, price updates, item availability flags - render correctly and consistently across all guest-facing touchpoints.
- Leverage AI-assisted development tools (GitHub Copilot, Claude, and similar) as a core part of daily engineering work - accelerating test generation, refactoring, and documentation. Explore AI-driven test maintenance (self-healing selectors, auto-generated regression suites) to reduce suite brittleness as the product evolves.
- Collaborate with product, QE, and Digital Merchandising stakeholders to convert acceptance criteria and manual test scripts into durable automated coverage. Translate business validation rules (e.g., price floor checks, modifier availability windows, 3PD menu schema requirements) into executable test specifications.
- Enforce data governance, security, and compliance standards within automated workflows. Conduct code reviews and share automation best practices to raise overall quality across the Guest Engineering team.
Qualifications, Competencies & Traits- Demonstrated proficiency in Playwright for both UI end-to-end and API automation - Node.js / TypeScript required.
- Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
- 5 or more years of hands-on software engineering or SDET experience with a strong automation focus.
- Experience building API test frameworks that validate REST contracts, payload schemas, and data integrity across integrated systems.
- Solid understanding of HTTP/REST fundamentals, JSON schema validation, and API versioning patterns.
- Experience with serverless and event-driven architectures on AWS (Lambda, API Gateway, SQS/SNS, DynamoDB).
- Hands-on experience integrating automated test suites into CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, or equivalent).
- Experience working with third-party platform APIs and vendor integrations - delivery aggregators, marketplace platforms, or similar partner ecosystems strongly preferred.
- Proficiency with AI-assisted development tools (GitHub Copilot, Claude, or equivalent) - must be comfortable using AI daily to write, review, refactor, and document test code.
- Familiarity with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform or CloudFormation) for managing test infrastructure.
- Experience with observability and APM tooling (Dynatrace, Datadog, CloudWatch) for monitoring automation pipelines in production.
- Systems thinking - able to map complex data flows across multiple APIs and surface the right validation layer for each risk.
- Strong debugging and root-cause analysis skills across API, UI, and data pipeline failures.
- Excellent written communication for documenting test strategies, coverage rationale, and defect reports for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Ability to partner closely with manual QE, Digital Merchandising ops, and product teams to translate domain knowledge into durable automated coverage.
- Collaborative mindset with a willingness to give and receive candid code review feedback.
- Travel: Less than 10%
Preferred Qualifications- Direct experience integrating with DoorDash Drive, Uber Eats, or other major 3PD delivery/marketplace APIs - particularly menu management and order submission endpoints.
- Experience with visual regression testing tools (Applitools, Percy, or Playwright's built-in screenshot diffing) for validating menu rendering fidelity across channels.
- Familiarity with contract testing frameworks (Pact or similar) for validating API provider/consumer relationships in a distributed system.
- Experience with data validation automation - schema enforcement, referential integrity checks, and automated reconciliation between source systems and downstream consumers.
- Hands-on experience with AI-driven test maintenance: self-healing selectors, auto-generated regression coverage, or LLM-assisted test authoring.
- Experience in QSR, retail, e-commerce, or digital ordering domains - familiarity with menu management systems, promotional engines, or POS integration patterns a strong plus.
- AWS Certified Developer - Associate or higher.
- Experience with performance and load testing tools (k6, Artillery, or similar) for validating API throughput under peak merchandising event load.
What do we offer?- Insurance Plans (Medical, Life)
- Pension/401K/RSP (country specific)
- Competitive Bonus
- Mobility Allowance
- Tuition Reimbursement
- Company Holidays
- Volunteering time
- And More.....
Compensation: The base pay range for this role is $119,200 - $149,000K annually
Pay within this range will be determined in good faith based on job-related factors, which may include skills, experience, education/training, location, and internal equity.
