Director, Software Development Engineer in Test

The Director, Software Development Engineer in Test is a senior engineering leader responsible for advancing engineering quality, testability, and developer productivity across Walgreens Digital. This role leads a highly technical SDET function that partners closely with Software Engineering, Architecture, Platform, DevOps, SRE, Security, and Product teams to ensure quality is built into system design and software development from the beginning.

This position requires a strong software engineering foundation, with experience in areas such as backend development, middleware, platforms, infrastructure, distributed systems, APIs, or architecture. The Director will influence engineering and design decisions, establish modern practices for API-first and contract testing, service virtualization, CI/CD quality gates, observability, test data, and continuous testing, and help increase developer ownership of quality across the software development lifecycle.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on engineering leader who has built or led SDET or engineering enablement teams and can earn credibility with software engineers, architects, and principal engineers. This leader will focus on improving testability, reliability, release confidence, and engineering productivity rather than simply expanding test execution or automation coverage. The role will also help shape how AI-assisted software engineering is used to improve engineering workflows, defect prevention, and software delivery practices.

This position is based in Deerfield, Illinois, and follows a hybrid schedule of four days in the office and one remote day each week.

• Leads and develops a team of Software Development Engineers in Test, including managers and senior technical leaders, fostering a culture of engineering excellence, ownership, and continuous improvement.
• Defines and executes the SDET and quality engineering strategy aligned to enterprise software delivery and platform modernization initiatives.
• Establishes the operating model for how SDETs partner with product and engineering teams, ensuring quality is built into design and development rather than inspected after the fact.
• Builds organizational capability through hiring, coaching, succession planning, and skills development in test automation and quality engineering.
• Oversees the design, development, and maintenance of scalable, reusable automated testing frameworks and tools across UI, API, integration, performance, and security testing.
• Ensures test automation is treated as production quality code, with strong standards for maintainability, performance, and reliability.
• Drives consistent engineering practices for test code reviews, versioning, and reuse across teams.
• Reduces reliance on manual testing by increasing automation coverage and test execution efficiency.
• Partners with DevOps and Platform teams to embed automated testing into CI/CD pipelines, enabling fast, reliable, and repeatable releases.
• Establishes standards for continuous testing, test data management, and environment readiness.
• Drives shift left testing practices, ensuring quality considerations are addressed early in the software development lifecycle.
• Improves release confidence and cycle time through early defect detection and automated quality gates.
• Defines and tracks quality metrics that provide visibility into code quality, test effectiveness, defect trends, and release readiness.
• Uses data and insights to identify systemic quality issues and drive targeted improvement initiatives.
• Leads root cause analysis for escaped defects and partners with engineering teams to prevent recurrence.
• Continuously evaluates and evolves tools, frameworks, and practices based on industry trends and organizational needs.
• Collaborates closely with Software Engineering, Product, Architecture, SRE, Security, and Vendor partners to align on quality standards and delivery expectations.
• Influences engineering design decisions to improve testability, reliability, and long term maintainability.
• Communicates quality posture, risks, and improvement progress to senior technology leadership.