SDET - API/Middleware

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for an SDET - API/Middleware based in India. This role focuses on bringing deep technical rigor to API and middleware-layer quality assurance for complex web applications. You’ll analyze and reconstruct network interactions between frontend clients and backend services, working across modern protocols and API architectures. The position goes beyond conventional UI automation, emphasizing protocol-level analysis, automated API testing, network evidence, and controlled replay. You’ll work with technologies including gRPC-Web, Proto3, HTTP/2, JSON-RPC, REST, Python, and proxy-based traffic inspection tools. Close collaboration with backend and middleware engineers will help define robust contracts, uncover edge cases, and improve system reliability. This is a remote, project-based opportunity suited to an engineer who enjoys investigating how systems communicate and turning complex network behavior into reliable, repeatable tests.

Design, build, and maintain automated API test suites covering gRPC-Web, Proto3, HTTP/2, JSON-RPC, and REST-based services. Analyze network interactions generated by web applications and establish traceability between user actions and corresponding API requests and responses. Capture, sanitize, document, and maintain HAR and other network evidence while preserving relevant technical context. Map API schemas, request and response structures, headers, identifiers, routing information, enums, authentication elements, and client-injected parameters. Use tools such as Mitmproxy, Charles Proxy, and browser developer tools to inspect, intercept, analyze, and validate client-server traffic. Develop and maintain API automation and validation scripts using Python, Postman, and cURL. Analyze protocol-level behavior to identify defects involving serialization, encoding, transport, request handling, or response processing. Validate payload structures and system-level parameters under both expected and malformed conditions. Collaborate with backend and middleware engineers to define testable contracts, edge cases, and validation scenarios. Continuously improve automation frameworks for reliability, maintainability, execution speed, and test coverage. Document technical findings, test coverage, protocol behavior, known limitations, and evidence generated during investigations. Produce controlled, sanitized network evidence and replay scripts for downstream backend and middleware validation within approved testing environments. Requirements: 3–5+ years of hands-on experience in software testing, SDET, API testing, or middleware-focused quality engineering. Strong practical expertise with gRPC-Web, Proto3, HTTP/2, and JSON-RPC/REST APIs . Proficiency with network and traffic inspection tools such as Mitmproxy, Charles Proxy, and browser developer tools. Strong Python programming and scripting skills, with practical experience using Postman and cURL for API testing and automation. Experience designing, developing, and maintaining automated test suites for API or middleware services. Solid understanding of API request and response structures, including headers, authentication tokens, routing information, identifiers, and internal or system-level parameters. Strong understanding of software engineering practices applied to test automation, including version control, code review, maintainable test architecture, and CI integration. Strong debugging and analytical skills at the network and protocol level, with the ability to investigate complex request/response behavior. Experience analyzing browser-generated network traffic and reconstructing underlying API behavior is strongly preferred. Experience with HAR analysis, API schema reconstruction, or controlled API replay is highly desirable. Strong attention to detail and ability to establish traceability between observed network behavior, test cases, and supporting evidence. Ability to collaborate effectively with backend, middleware, QA, and engineering teams in a distributed environment. Ability to work exclusively within approved staging or test environments and follow defined authorization, security, and data-handling requirements. Benefits: Fully remote opportunity for candidates based in India. Freelance engagement with an initial five-week project duration. Commitment of approximately 35 hours per week. Compensation of $9.50/hour for the initial engagement. Potential for longer-term or full-time employment depending on performance and project requirements. Opportunity to work on technically challenging API, middleware, and network-analysis projects. Hands-on exposure to gRPC-Web, Proto3, HTTP/2, JSON-RPC, REST, API automation, and network inspection. Opportunity to strengthen expertise in protocol-level testing, automation frameworks, and backend validation. Flexible remote working environment within a global AI and data services community. Access to diverse technical projects and opportunities for continued professional development. Potential for career growth through future project and employment opportunities.

laptop-ats-crawler v3