Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) at Alpen Labs

About Alpen Labs Alpen Labs is a New York-based startup founded in 2022 by four MIT alumni. Our mission is to build universal rails for money by creating a scalable, private and programmable Bitcoin ecosystem. We're achieving this through cutting-edge innovations in zero-knowledge cryptography and offchain solutions, without compromising Bitcoin's fundamental principles. This endeavor is not just about technological advancement but a step towards a more resilient, free, and prosperous global society. Our current team consists of engineers and researchers from companies like Blockstream Research, Palantir, and Nethermind. We invite passionate individuals to join us in navigating this complex, yet rewarding journey towards redefining financial sovereignty. Job Description As a Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) , you will serve as the quality gate between engineering and production, ensuring every release meets the standards required for users entrusting us with their Bitcoin. Working at the intersection of engineering and product, you will develop automated testing frameworks, define release validation strategies, and evaluate software readiness across our blockchain infrastructure and developer tooling. You'll develop a deep understanding of user workflows, translate them into scalable automated tests, and continuously improve the quality, reliability, and performance of our systems. This is more than a traditional automation role. You'll be responsible for ensuring we test the right things—not simply more things—using sound engineering judgment to balance product quality, release velocity, and user impact in a fast-moving startup environment. We value engineers who embrace modern AI tools to build better testing systems and deliver higher-quality software faster. What You Will Be Doing Develop and maintain scalable automation frameworks for backend services, APIs, and blockchain infrastructure. Design comprehensive test strategies based on product requirements, user journeys, and real-world usage scenarios. Build and maintain automated regression test suites that prevent new releases from introducing breaking changes. Validate software upgrades and version migrations to ensure seamless transitions across releases. Integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines and continuously improve test execution speed, reliability, and coverage. Leverage modern AI-assisted development tools to accelerate test creation, improve coverage, and streamline QA workflows. Collaborate closely with engineering and product teams to define acceptance criteria and identify quality risks early in development. Execute exploratory testing to uncover edge cases, usability issues, and unexpected system behavior. Evaluate defects, assess release risk, and determine whether issues should block production releases. Troubleshoot complex failures, reproduce bugs, and provide detailed reports to engineering teams. Review code and contribute improvements that enhance test