{"id":3427492,"url":"https://alion.io/job/telesat-senior-software-developer-in-test-python-automation-engineer","title":"Senior Software Developer In Test - Python Automation Engineer","company":{"id":6592,"name":"Telesat","domain":"telesat.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/telesat","size_band":"201-500","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Lever","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":83,"open_postings":12,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.5,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":92,"computed_at":"2026-10-31T05:58:55Z"}},"role":"QA","role_family":"QA","seniority":"senior","employment_type":"contractor","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Ottawa, Canada"],"countries":["CA"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":61000,"max_usd":108000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":49},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Azure","optional":false},{"name":"CI/CD","optional":false},{"name":"Configuration Management","optional":false},{"name":"GitLab","optional":false},{"name":"GitLab CI","optional":false},{"name":"gRPC","optional":false},{"name":"Java","optional":false},{"name":"Kubernetes","optional":false},{"name":"Linux","optional":false},{"name":"Pytest","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Rest API","optional":false},{"name":"DNS","optional":true},{"name":"Grafana","optional":true},{"name":"OpenTelemetry","optional":true},{"name":"Prometheus","optional":true}],"status":"closed","first_seen_at":"2026-10-04T20:48:03Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-04","last_verified_at":"2026-10-29T20:29:45Z","board_verified":false,"closed_at":"2026-10-29T20:29:45Z","days_open":24,"trust":{"level":"not_scored","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":24},"description":"Position Overview\nWe are seeking a highly skilled Senior Python Automation Engineer to design, build, and evolve production-grade automation frameworks, engineering tools, and automated validation for distributed, event-driven microservices. This is a senior hands-on software development role with no people-management responsibility. The successful candidate will use Python as the primary engineering language, apply AI-assisted development responsibly, and work across APIs, asynchronous messaging, CI/CD, containers, and Kubernetes environments.\nThe engineer will collaborate with software developers, DevOps engineers, architects, and quality engineering stakeholders to improve testability, shorten feedback cycles, diagnose complex distributed failures, and produce repeatable evidence of software quality and release readiness.\nKey Responsibilities\nDesign, develop, maintain, and document production-grade automation frameworks, reusable Python packages, fixtures, command-line tools, test utilities, and supporting services.\nUse AI-assisted development tools in day-to-day engineering to accelerate coding, refactoring, test generation, debugging, analysis, and documentation while independently reviewing outputs for correctness, security, maintainability, and licensing risk.\nDesign automated tests with Pytest and apply deep knowledge of collection and execution flow, fixtures, parametrization, markers, hooks, configuration, and plugin architecture.\nConfigure, extend, or create Pytest plugins for parallel execution, reporting, retries, logging, test selection, resource coordination, port allocation, environment management, and CI-friendly result publication.\nRead and understand existing Java code and create or modify small Java scripts or utilities when required. The role does not own Java-based test automation.\nDevelop, integrate, and validate REST APIs and gRPC services, including unary calls, server-side streaming, client-side streaming where applicable, and bi-directional streaming.\nBuild automation for distributed, event-driven microservices and asynchronous workflows using Azure Service Bus and Azure Blob Storage, including message correlation, ordering, timing, retries, idempotency, dead-letter handling, failure recovery, and data validation.\nCreate functional, integration, component, contract, system, regression, reliability, resilience, performance, and scalability automation for service-based and end-to-end workflows.\nValidate distributed-system behaviours such as eventual consistency, partial failure, timeout propagation, retry behaviour, duplicate delivery, backpressure, concurrency, and service recovery.\nIntegrate tests, reports, logs, artifacts, environment controls, and automated quality gates into GitLab CI/CD pipelines and GitLab Runner environments.\nPackage and execute automation in containerized environments and deploy, inspect, diagnose, and troubleshoot tests and microservices running on Kubernetes.\nImprove repeatability through deterministic test data, configuration management, environment isolation, structured logging, metrics, traces, and actionable failure diagnostics.\nParticipate in code reviews, technical design discussions, engineering standards, documentation, and peer knowledge sharing as a senior individual contributor.\nRequirements\nStrong hands-on Python development experience, including object-oriented design, typing, packaging, dependency management, concurrency or asynchronous programming, error handling, logging, and maintainable framework architecture.\nDemonstrated experience designing and implementing substantial automation frameworks and engineering tooling, not only writing individual test cases.\nDeep understanding of Pytest architecture, collection and execution lifecycle, fixture design, parametrization, hooks, configuration, plugin development, and plugin ecosystems.\nPractical experience using AI-powered development tools as part of normal engineering workflows, with disciplined human review and validation of generated code and tests.\nWorking knowledge of Java sufficient to read production code and write or modify small scripts and utilities.\nExperience developing, integrating, or testing REST APIs and gRPC services, including streaming patterns and distributed failure modes.\nExperience automating asynchronous messaging and object-storage workflows using Azure Service Bus and/or Azure Blob Storage, or closely comparable technologies.\nExperience with GitLab, merge-request workflows, source-control best practices, GitLab CI/CD, runners, pipeline artifacts, and automated quality gates.\nSolid understanding of distributed systems, event-driven architecture, microservices, Linux, containers, CI/CD, and automated deployment pipelines.\nStrong debugging, analytical, communication, and collaboration skills, with the ability to work independently in a senior developer capacity.\nNice to Have\nFoundational networking knowledge, including IP addressing, ports, DNS, TLS, routing, load balancing, connectivity troubleshooting, and client-server behaviour.\nExperience working in highly automated, AI-enabled engineering environments where AI tools support a significant portion of coding, scripting, analysis, and documentation.\nExposure to Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry, structured logs, metrics, and distributed traces.\nExposure to telecommunications, SDN orchestration, simulation, high-performance computing, or engineering-modelling platforms.\nEducation\nBachelor’s or master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical 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