Lead Software Development Engineer in Test at 3Core Systems , Inc
Chicago, TX
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Jul 14, 2026
Chicago, TX
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A lead-level quality engineering role focused on building and expanding a system integration testing automation framework for a fleet management autonomy program. Day-to-day work involves designing and maintaining API test automation, writing automated functional scripts, and driving overall test strategy across CI/CD pipelines. The position also carries team leadership responsibilities, including mentoring a mix of onshore and offshore test engineers, and suits a seasoned SDET with a decade of full-stack and integration testing experience.
Senior level · 10+ years · Remote · Bachelor's required · Contract
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 1,600 people nationally plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software quality assurance analysts and testers). range 950–2,850
Applicant volume Moderate — A normal amount of company. The rare requirements below are what will separate a shortlisted application from the rest.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $106,594 (middle half $82,076–$136,109).
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (10)
The caller has instructed this role be treated as fully remote with a national candidate pool. However, the posting itself is explicit and emphatic that 100% remote is an absolute disqualifier and that the candidate must be onsite in Chicago (eventually 5 days/week) starting Day 1. This is a direct conflict — the metro and onsite requirement are preserved in the structured fields for accuracy, but remote=true has been set per caller instruction.
The title is 'Lead SDET' but carries no standard seniority level word (Junior/Mid/Senior/Staff/Principal), so the title states no level. The actual requirements (10+ years total, 5+ years in a lead role managing 5+ QEs, 8+ years of test automation framework design) firmly support Senior.
Cucumber is listed in the required skills section alongside 'JBehave, or other BDD testing frameworks' — JBehave is captured as an alternative since the JD treats them as interchangeable substitutes.
Python and AWS appear only under the 'Desired Technical Skills (Nice-to-Have)' section, so they are marked preferred despite also appearing in the top-level 'Must Have Skills/Attributes' summary. The detailed job description body, which is the authoritative requirements section, explicitly places them as nice-to-have.
Karate appears only in the narrative job description body ('tools such as Java, Karate, and JMeter') as stack context, not in a formal requirements section — marked preferred accordingly.
JMeter appears in the Nice-to-Have section with a 3-year figure; that years demanded is preserved but the skill is preferred.
This is a 12+ month contract engagement per the duration field at the top of the posting.
The role is classified as 15-1253 (QA/Testing) rather than 15-1252 (Software Developers) because the primary mission is test automation framework design, SIT strategy, and QE leadership — though the substantial Java development and framework-building work makes 15-1252 a credible runner-up.
Posting is for a contract engagement — the market benchmarks below price full-time roles, so read the comp comparison with that in mind.
Caller marked this a fully-remote role — scored against the national candidate pool.
Read the full posting
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