Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) - WordPress Specialist

Type: Contract, per-project.
Location: Remote - within LATAM time zones (GMT-3 to GMT-5) - Remote with meetings across U.S. time zones
Availability: Contractor (40 hours per week)

Your Day-to-Day

• Take full ownership of the existing Cypress automation framework, optimizing test suites to provide high-value, lean, and efficient feedback across publishing platforms.

• Validate decoupled and headless editorial workflows where WordPress serves as the backend engine for multiple frontend consumers, including web, mobile applications, and content feeds.

• Design, implement, and execute automated test coverage for REST and GraphQL APIs, while validating integrations with third-party services in a plugin-based WordPress environment.

• Diagnose, isolate, and troubleshoot complex system failures, identifying whether issues originate from custom plugin logic, WordPress core updates, or synchronization failures between the CMS and frontend applications.

• Partner closely with Product Owners and Development teams throughout the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) to assess functionality, identify technical risks, and determine defect severity.

• Ensure code, tests, and testing practices are well documented and aligned with enterprise standards while promoting testability early in the development lifecycle.

• Advocate for automated testing, CI/CD integration, and release engineering best practices to provide confidence and quality throughout code promotion and release processes.

• Identify repetitive manual testing activities and build automation solutions that support a continuous testing approach.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and continuously improve the Cypress automation framework, ensuring maintainability, scalability, and efficiency.

• Validate WordPress-based publishing platforms, including custom plugins and headless CMS implementations.

• Develop and maintain automated test coverage for REST and GraphQL APIs and integrated third-party services.

• Investigate and resolve complex quality issues across WordPress and decoupled frontend architectures.

• Collaborate with engineering and product teams to integrate testing earlier in the development process through a shift-left approach.

• Manage and maintain testing artifacts, including test plans, reports, and related documentation.

• Provide automated quality gates and support release readiness through rigorous testing and framework reviews.

• Drive initiatives that reduce manual testing effort through sustainable automation solutions.

GenAI Responsibilities

• Leverage AI-enabled workflows to accelerate test generation, log analysis, debugging, and edge-case data creation.

• Utilize AI tools to improve test coverage, identify testing gaps, and support root cause analysis activities.

• Apply AI as a force multiplier throughout the QA lifecycle to enhance delivery velocity, framework stability, and overall testing effectiveness.

• Use AI-assisted techniques to summarize complex logs, generate testing scenarios, and support troubleshooting efforts.

Qualifications

• Proven experience testing within the WordPress ecosystem, including custom plugins and decoupled or headless CMS configurations.

• Expert-level proficiency with Cypress or Playwright, focused on maintaining, optimizing, and enhancing automated test suites.

• Strong experience testing REST and GraphQL APIs and validating integrations across distributed systems.

• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with development teams to integrate testing early and ensure automated coverage before feature completion.

• Experience managing and maintaining testing artifacts, including test plans and test reports.

• Deep understanding of WordPress architecture, including core updates, hook systems, and custom plugin logic is a plus.

• Experience migrating automated test suites from Cypress to Playwright is a plus.

• Experience leveraging AI tools to improve testing processes, coverage analysis, and debugging activities is a plus.

• Familiarity with CI/CD systems such as GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or CircleCI is a plus.

• Previous experience supporting media, publishing, newsroom, or content workflow platforms is a plus.

• Strong communication skills with the ability to provide concise, highly technical defect reports, reproduction steps, logs, and supporting evidence.

• Strong ownership mindset with a focus on quality, documentation, collaboration, and continuous improvement