Software Quality Engineer (iOCO0139)

We are looking for a Software Quality Engineer to join our team based at one of our clients within the banking industry (specifically within the Payments Engineering team).

The role will support both the existing Mainframe payments platform and the new payments system that will replace it. A key focus will be validating card transaction authorization flows, switching logic, and message processing using ISO 8583 standards.

The successful person will implement automation-first testing practices across UI, APIs, and messaging layers, integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines and using monitoring and production telemetry to continuously improve system quality.

This role reflects the modern Quality Engineering model, where engineers embed quality throughout the delivery lifecycle through continuous testing, observability, automation, and measurable delivery outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Test Automation Engineering
  • Design, develop, and maintain automated test frameworks and test suites across UI, API, and messaging layers.
  • Build UI automation using preferably Playwright, leveraging advanced debugging capabilities in the tool.
  • Implement UI automation where required using Selenium or Opentext UFT for legacy systems or compatibility requirements.
  • Develop API automation suites using Karate to enable:
  • Readable and maintainable API tests
  • Parallel execution
  • Mock service capabilities
  • Use API testing tools such as SoapUI and Postman for exploratory testing, debugging, and service validation.
  • Maintain automated regression suites covering critical payment processing scenarios.
• Payments & Transaction Processing Testing
  • Validate end-to-end card transaction lifecycles, including:
  • Authorization requests and responses
  • Reversals
  • Settlement scenarios
  • Network response codes
  • Perform detailed validation of ISO 8583 messages, including:
  • Message types (MTI)
  • Field-level validations
  • Message transformations
  • Response code behaviour
  • Test transaction routing and switching logic across the payments ecosystem.
  • Support testing of ATM, POS, eCommerce transactions.
  • Validate integrations between:
    • Payment switches
    • Card schemes
    • Core banking systems
    • Payment gateways
  • Fraud and risk systems.
• ISO 8583 Simulation & Payment Network Testing
  • Use ISO 8583 simulators to simulate payment network behaviour and test transaction flows.
  • Work with Mastercard MAS (Mastercard Authorization Simulator) to validate authorization scenarios and scheme interactions.
  • Utilize Astrex tooling to simulate and test ISO 8583 messaging and transaction flows as part of Quality Engineering workflows.
  • Build test scenarios that simulate:Host responses
  • Network behaviour
  • Failure and timeout conditions
  • Transaction retries and reversals
  • Validate switching behaviour across both legacy infrastructure and modern SmartVista architecture.
• CI/CD Integration & Continuous Testing
  • Integrate automated test suites into CI/CD pipelines, preferably using Harness.
  • Implement automated quality gates that validate builds and prevent defective releases.
  • Enable continuous testing practices across build, integration, and deployment pipelines.
  • Ensure automation supports parallel execution and rapid feedback cycles.
• Production Monitoring & Observability
  • Apply a production-quality mindset by monitoring system behaviour post-deployment.
  • Use monitoring and alerting platforms such as Zabbix to track:
    • Transaction success rates
    • System latency
    • Authorization failures
    • Infrastructure health
    • Correlate production incidents and monitoring signals with testing gaps to improve automated coverage.
• Quality Strategy & Engineering Enablement
  • Contribute to the development of test strategies, automation frameworks, and quality standards across teams.
  • Promote shift-left testing practices, ensuring testability is considered during design and development.
  • Support shift-right practices by integrating production insights into test strategies.
  • Help improve automation adoption and quality engineering maturity across delivery teams.
• Engineering Metrics & Continuous Improvement
  • Support teams in tracking engineering delivery performance metrics, including:
    • Deployment frequency
    • Lead time for changes
    • Change failure rate
    • Mean time to recovery (MTTR)
  • Use these DORA-style metrics to help improve both delivery speed and platform stability.

Required Technical Skills

• Test Automation
  • Strong experience with modern automation frameworks.
  • Hands-on experience with Playwright.
• Experience using Selenium or UFT for UI automation where required.
  • API & Integration Testing
• Experience building API automation suites using Karate.
• Practical experience testing APIs using tools such as:
• SoapUI
• Postman
• Ability to validate REST and service-based integrations within distributed systems.
• Payments Domain Expertise
  • Strong understanding of card payments and transaction processing systems.
  • Experience working with ISO 8583 messaging standards, particularly around:
• Authorization flows
  • Transaction lifecycle management
• Experience using
• ISO 8583 simulators such as:
  • Mastercard MAS (Mastercard Authorization Simulator)
  • Astrex ISO messaging simulation tools
• CI/CD & DevOps
• Experience integrating automated testing into CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience with Harness or similar pipeline platforms.
• Monitoring & Observability
  • Experience working with monitoring platforms such as Zabbix.
  • Ability to use production monitoring data to drive quality improvements.

Nice-to-Have Skills:

• Security Testing
  • Understanding of secure testing practices, including:
  • Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
  • Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)
  • Software Composition Analysis (SCA)
  • Ability to derive test scenarios from frameworks such as OWASP ASVS.
• Payment Messaging Standards
  • Exposure to ISO 20022 payment messaging standards.
• Tools & Technologies
• Automation
  • Playwright
  • Selenium
  • UFT
• API Testing
  • Karate
  • SoapUI
  • Postman
• Payments Testing
  • Mastercard MAS (Authorisation Simulator)
  • Astrex ISO 8583 Simulator
• CI/CD
  • Harness
• Monitoring
  • Zabbix

Other information applicable to the opportunity:

• Location: Johannesburg - hybrid way of work
• Level: Intermediate - Senior (5+ years)
• 12 month contract