Software Quality Engineer (iOCO0139) at iOCO

Job Description

• 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