Principal Automation Engineer (Desktop Applications)

The Principal Automation Engineer will play a dual role — leading automation strategy and contributing hands-on to the design and build of automation frameworks and solutions. This individual will serve as the senior-most technical expert on the automation team, driving innovation and technical excellence in the automation of desktop-based applications and systems.Role Overview (25% Leadership / 75% Hands-On Technical Work)

• Architect and design robust automation frameworks specifically for desktop applications, ensuring scalability, maintainability, and long-term adaptability across multiple platforms and technologies.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship, guiding the automation team through complex design challenges and promoting best practices in automation engineering.
• Develop and enhance automation strategies covering desktop, API, and database layers, integrating them into CI/CD processes to ensure continuous quality and reliability.
• Partner closely with application SMEs, domain architects, infrastructure teams, and project managers to align automation initiatives with business and technical goals.
• Analyze existing manual testing processes for desktop software and identify opportunities to replace or augment them with automated solutions.
• Maintain, evolve, and optimize the in-house automation framework, ensuring compatibility and efficiency across desktop environments and configurations.
• Participate in root cause analysis and troubleshooting efforts, driving cross-team collaboration to identify and resolve defects efficiently.
• Provide detailed estimates, solution designs, and test automation strategies for upcoming desktop-based projects. 

The Essentials

• 10+ years of hands-on experience designing, building, and maintaining test automation frameworks, with a strong focus on desktop application testing (Windows, .NET, or similar environments).
• Proven expertise in framework architecture and design patterns for test automation, including component-based, modular, and data-driven approaches.
• Strong understanding of desktop UI automation tools and libraries (e.g., WinAppDriver, White, Pywinauto, FlaUI, TestStack, or equivalent).
• Experience developing automation for APIs, packaged, and custom desktop applications.
• 7+ years of experience collaborating with cross-functional teams and stakeholders across engineering, QA, and business units to align automation goals and deliver enterprise-grade solutions.
• Strong Python skills required, as well as one other programming/scripting language (.NET, C#, Java, Bash, etc.) for building automation utilities and integrating frameworks.
• Strong SQL skills, including writing and maintaining queries, interacting with relational databases, and designing simple schema updates to support test automation.
• Hands-on experience with CI/CD pipelines, enabling desktop test automation to execute autonomously in build and deployment workflows.
• Comfortable working in both Windows and Linux environments for cross-platform automation support.
• Excellent communication skills, capable of articulating technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience using Tosca or other enterprise-grade test automation platforms. Nice to Have
• Prior experience in the utility or energy industry, or in other large-scale operational environments.
• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field.