Principal Test Engineer

Role Overview

We are seeking a Principal Test Engineer (Test PE) / QA Lead to partner directly with the Sonicwall Firewall development team. In this high-impact technical role, you will lead feature testing, complex defect reproduction, test plan architecture, and automation development across critical Sonicwall Firewall networking and security components.

Roles & Responsibilities

• Dev Partnership & Defect Triage: Work closely with firmware and software developers to reproduce intricate customer and field issues, isolate root causes, and verify bug fixes.
• Test Strategy & Planning: Architect end-to-end test strategies, author detailed test plans, and design comprehensive functional, system, and regression test suites.
• STLC & Quality Governance: Drive the complete Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC)—identifying, filing, prioritizing, and tracking defects to closure in an Agile environment.
• Test Automation Engineering: Develop, execute, and maintain automated test suites (functional, regression, and system) using Python to integrate into continuous testing pipelines.
• Component & Feature Qualification: Deep-dive into Sonicwall Firewall  subsystems to validate new feature requirements, performance limits, and edge-case handling.
• Technical QA Mentorship: Guide and mentor team members on test methodologies, test tool development, and network security validation.

Core Skills & Requirements

• Domain & SQA Experience: 10+ years of software quality assurance experience in the networking and network security domain for enterprise network products, appliances, or firewalls.

• Domain & Network Security Expertise:
• Deep understanding of L2–L7 networking concepts: TCP/IP, IP routing, NAT, VLANs, and stateful packet filtering.
• Strong expertise in Network Security and Next-Generation Firewalling: Deep Packet Inspection (DPI), SSL/TLS, IPSec/SSL VPN, and access rules.
• Test Automation & Scripting:
• Strong hands-on programming/scripting proficiency in Python (OOP principles, test framework development, and REST API automation).
• Experience utilizing traffic generators and test tools (e.g., IXIA, Spirent, Scapy, tcpreplay).
• Troubleshooting & Issue Reproduction:
• Advanced problem-solving skills with proven ability to capture and analyze network packets (Wireshark, tcpdump).
• Experience analyzing system logs, core dumps, and device diagnostics to triage complex system/firmware behaviors.
• Methodologies & Processes:
• Thorough mastery of SDLC, STLC, defect lifecycles, and Agile/Scrum practices.
• Experience designing system testbeds simulating enterprise network topologies.
• Professional Experience:
• 8+ years of test engineering and automation experience in the networking/network security domain (with a track record of driving test execution at a senior/lead/PE level).

Key Competencies

• Strong analytical mindset with high ownership of product quality and reliability.
• Excellent cross-functional collaboration and communication skills to interface effectively with development, product management, and sustaining teams.
• Proven ability to work effectively across geographically distributed teams.

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