Lead Test Framework Architect (M/F/D)

Agilent Technologies is building a Kubernetes-based software platform that spans instruments, applications, and shared services across multiple product lines. The Lead Test Framework Architect is a senior individual contributor role responsible for defining and delivering the test architecture, automation framework patterns, and test environment strategy that enable the platform to scale with quality built in.
This is a hands-on technical role. You will design the test frameworks, define testability standards, and architect the environments and pipelines that make quality a first-class property of how we build software. The platform is containerized, distributed, and evolving fast, we need someone who can design for that reality, not adapt legacy QA thinking to it.

• →Define and own PSD-wide test architecture standards and reusable automation framework patterns applicable across a Kubernetes-based, microservices platform
• →Architect testability-by-design principles, defining how services, APIs, and platform components must be built to be reliably and efficiently testable
• →Design test environment strategy using Kubernetes: ephemeral environments, namespace isolation, container-based environment provisioning, and environment-as-code patterns
• →Define and deliver CI/CD quality gate architecture, integrating test automation at the right levels of the pipeline (unit, contract, integration, E2E, performance)
• →Establish contract testing patterns for microservices and APIs, ensuring inter-service compatibility is validated continuously and not just at integration
• →Define test data strategy for distributed, instrument-connected workflows, including synthetic data, data isolation, and AI/ML test data requirements
• →Design E2E test automation frameworks that work reliably across containerized, multi-service environments at platform scale
• →Partner with Test and Engineering leadership to drive adoption of framework patterns across product teams, delivering reference implementations, not just guidelines
• →Identify and remediate test architecture gaps that create fragile pipelines, slow feedback loops, or undetected regressions in platform changes

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with 3+ years in test architecture or quality engineering architecture roles
• Deep hands-on expertise with Kubernetes, designing test environments, ephemeral namespace provisioning, and container-based test infrastructure
• Strong experience designing multi-level test automation frameworks: unit, contract, integration, E2E, and performance testing in distributed systems
• Practical knowledge of CI/CD pipeline architecture and quality gate integration (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or equivalent)
• Experience with contract testing approaches (e.g., Pact or consumer-driven contract testing) for microservices and API-first architectures
• Demonstrated ability to define and deliver reusable test frameworks adopted across multiple product teams
• Solid understanding of testability-by-design — able to influence how software is architected to make it inherently more testable

• Experience testing scientific instrument software, laboratory platforms, or regulated industries (life sciences, diagnostics, GxP environments)
• Familiarity with performance and load testing frameworks at platform scale (k6, Gatling, Locust, or equivalent)
• Experience with test data management strategies for distributed, event-driven, or AI/ML workloads
• Background in infrastructure-as-code and GitOps practices applied to test environment provisioning
• Exposure to AI/ML model testing — validation, regression, and data quality assurance for AI-enabled platform features
• Experience with observability tooling (tracing, logging, metrics) as part of test strategy in containerized environments