Pacific Life · 2 weeks ago
Director, Software Engineering in Test (SET)
Newport Beach, CA
Full-time
Hybrid
Lead/Staff, Director/Executive
$180K/yr - $220K/yr
12+ years expPacific Life is a company focused on innovating business and technology for a superior customer experience. They are seeking a Director of Software Engineering in Test (SET) to develop and execute strategies for quality assurance engineering excellence, driving automation and quality by design in software development.
FinanceFinancial ServicesInsurance
Responsibilities
Engineer and maintain automation frameworks that support both manual and automated testing, integrating best practices from software engineering in test (SET)
Lead the development of standardized testing frameworks and environments to enable functional, integration, system, and scale testing across PL Engineering
Ensure performance and quality products are in line with best practices and standards on testing, engineering excellence and quality management, and evaluate emerging trends for potential implementation
Foster a federated engineering culture that empowers teams through centralized solutions for standardized SET and QA practices and tools
Drive mindshare and collaboration for efficiency via reusability and knowledge sharing
Champion communication to validate and clarify context and alignment across engineering teams
Champion quality, driving increased efficiency and effectiveness while partnering with enterprise programs to develop test strategies, benchmark and monitor team performance, and assist teams in solving problems
Ensure software engineering standards and practices related to quality are ingrained in all design and development
Prioritize and deliver iteratively in a continuously changing environment
Work with Operations to set practices, policies, processes, frameworks to run tests in production environments after deployment
Advance the adoption of AI-powered testing practices, including agent-based automation for test generation, code reviews, incident triage, and self-healing test frameworks
Experiment with and deploy AI/ML-driven solutions to analyze legacy applications, optimize test coverage, and orchestrate SDLC workflows with minimal human intervention
Lead the transition from basic automation to intelligent, adaptive assurance, leveraging AI maturity models to guide strategic transformation
Establish and report on common quality engineering OKRs, leveraging data-driven insights for continuous improvement
Define and track metrics for SET and QA health, adoption of new processes, and effectiveness of automation and AI tools
Promote a culture of continuous learning and process enhancement, including the evolution of GenAI tools and agents
Align QA/SET strategies with business objectives, focusing on outcomes that deliver consistent, predictable quality and enable rapid, reliable releases
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to shape engineering decisions based on testability, security, and compliance
Lead the adoption of innovative approaches to measuring test effectiveness, including AI-driven analytics and predictive modeling
Partner with other senior leaders to set and adopt quality standards to PL Engineering practices
Qualification
Required
12+ years of experience leading best practices in Software Engineering in Test and Quality assurance process
SME in testing strategy and standards and applied automation to testing practices
SME in implementing and driving adoption for BDD/TDD testing approaches
Applies expertise as an exploratory / hands-on tester using a variety of platforms and testing approaches in leadership setting; becoming the status quo for code review, quality assurance, and best practices
Has hands-on prior experience with manual acceptance testing at the story level, exploratory and creative testing, and sprint cycles and applying learnings at-scale in leadership role at a large institution
Builds strategy for hidden requirements, edge cases, and a 'want to break' mentality
Has expertise developing automated end-to-end testing and quality management, as well as knowledge of testing frameworks and tools such as Playwright, Selenium, Cypress, Jmeter etc
Strong experience in development with Java, Python and JavaScript
Experience building out a performance, load and stress testing practice
Subject matter expert in Software Engineering in Test with hands on experience and understands of agile and DevOps practices and principles
Experience managing a global team; ability to build, motivate and develop a deeply talented team of quality-minded engineers
Ability to foster an environment of mutual respect with the shared mission to modernize technology for the modern workforce
Strong communication skills: can communicate complex technical concepts and align organization on decisions that will set the tone for engineering practices, quality, and frameworks at Pacific Life
Sound problem-solving skills: can quickly process complex information and present it clearly and simply
Preferred
Experience working in the financial services industry (insurance industry a plus)
Extensive knowledge and experience of Quality Assurance and Software Engineering in test principles, methodologies, testing tools and framework in Software/SaaS environments on cloud and on-premises
Confidently understands and can lead teams on improving their engineering practices towards excellence
Is passionate about technology and Gen AI and excited about the impact of emerging / disruptive technologies
Believes in a culture of transparency and trust and is open to learning new ideas outside scope
Benefits
Medical, Dental, Vision, and Wellbeing Reimbursement Account that can be used on yourself or your eligible dependents
Generous paid time off options including: Paid Time Off, Holiday Schedules, and Financial Planning Time Off
Paid Parental Leave as well as an Adoption Assistance Program
Competitive 401k savings plan with company match and an additional contribution regardless of participation
Company
Pacific Life
Pacific Life Insurance is an insurance company that provides life insurance products, annuities, and mutual funds.
1001-5000 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Pacific Life has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (14)
2024 (9)
2023 (16)
2022 (19)
2021 (14)
2020 (17)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
$1.44B2025-09-03Debt Financing· $750M
2025-06-18Debt Financing· $688.57M
Leadership Team
Howard Hirakawa
Senior Vice President, Fund Advisor Operations
Joe Krum
Senior Vice President & Managing Director, Global Institutional Investment Group
Recent News
Private Capital Journal
2025-12-05
2025-11-22
Company data provided by crunchbase