Sr. Engineer - Cloud SDET - Lightning (Hybrid)

Description

As a global leader in cybersecurity, CrowdStrike protects the people, processes and technologies that drive modern organizations. Since 2011, our mission hasn’t changed — we’re here to stop breaches, and we’ve redefined modern security with the world’s most advanced AI-native platform. We work on large scale distributed systems, processing almost 3 trillion events per day and this traffic is growing daily. Our customers span all industries, and they count on CrowdStrike to keep their businesses running, their communities safe and their lives moving forward. We're proud to work for a mission-driven company leveraging AI to transform the way we work. CrowdStrikers drive their careers through flexibility and autonomy while also being expected to contribute to a culture of responsible AI adoption, experimentation, and innovation. We use an AI-first mindset as a force multiplier to proactively and continuously accelerate execution, build expertise, uncover insights, and solve complex problems. We’re always looking to add talented CrowdStrikers to the team who have limitless passion, a relentless focus on innovation and a fanatical commitment to our customers, our community and each other. Ready to join a mission that matters? The future of cybersecurity starts with you.

About the Role:

Lightning is a suite of services in the CrowdStrike cloud that expose sub-second, near-real-time APIs enabling Falcon Sensors to rapidly obtain threat information. Operating at massive scale, Lightning processes trillions of threat events daily within tight latency constraints — where performance and availability are critical to sensor operation and customer protection.

CrowdStrike is seeking a Senior Software Developer in Test (SDET) to enter our team as a bit of a hybrid contributor wearing hats for both the design and creation of custom test tooling, frameworks and systems, as well as for contributing to sub- and main branches of the core product code. In effect, you would ostensibly be the Sr backend developer who is also designated as test SME, validating key features and functionality that spans our processing, data and customer facing application layers to ensure it’s able to support low-latency prevention of malware, manage thousands of events per second, query across terabytes of data and deliver accurate information to the endpoint, ensuring it also processes the data properly. To that end, you will guide design discussions and code reviews with a focus on quality, serve as the team's SME for code hygiene, and contribute to service operations — all while continuously expanding test coverage and capabilities. Testing concerns span functional, performance, contract, and chaos/resilience engineering. Cybersecurity experience is a plus, not a prerequisite.

This is a team which prizes collaboration over competition and places high-trust in contributors. You’ll find you have high ownership and high schedule flexibility, as well as high trust placed in your expertise as the team’s dedicated SME, in the design and implementation of custom test architecture.

This role is hybrid, requiring 2-3 days per week on-site in one of the posted locations.

Responsibilities

• Both build stuff and break stuff!
• Own end-to-end validation of Lightning services across cloud-side and Falcon Sensor interactions, spanning component, integration, and application levels, while continuously improving test and validation processes
• Build and own Lightning-specific test tooling and frameworks, while leveraging and contributing to shared organization-wide testing tools and infrastructure
• Define and drive testing strategies across functional, performance, contract, and chaos testing concerns
• Guide technical design reviews in quality SME capacity, to provide clear guidance on testability, quality, and code hygiene
• Leverage new open source solutions to build new tools that test things in new ways.
• Own code reviews with a focus on quality, serving as the team's SME for code hygiene
• Contribute to service operations, including improving overall service observability and monitoring, root cause analysis of production issues, and implementing quality improvements to prevent future outages

Requirements

• 9+ years of experience (Avg. YoE: 11-16 years) as either/both an SDET or Backend Developer (combined)
• Experience building testing frameworks and tooling for a Cloud SaaS product or other SOA with similar cloud components
• Experience contributing to or defining testing strategy at a team or organizational level
• Strong debugging skills: ability to spot design flaws, race conditions, and performance bottlenecks in complex architectures
• Expertise in any of: Golang, Python, Java, Kotlin, Rust, or C/C++ — Go is our primary language, but strong engineers in any of these are welcome and we support ramp-up
• Experience in a cloud distributed systems stack: e.g. Kubernetes, Cassandra, Redis, Kafka, and/or similar technologies — you don't need all of these specifically, but transferable skills in each category are a must
• Experience with distributed systems and scalability challenges
• Experience with cloud services, such as AWS or GCP, particularly compute and storage offerings
• Proven experience utilizing AI technologies to enhance decision-making, streamline workflows and processes, improve efficiency and drive business outcomes.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and integrating automated testing into deployment workflows
• Experience developing and deploying in containerized environments (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes)
• Experience mentoring engineers and driving quality culture across a team or organization
• Bonus Points:
• Experience building, operating, validating, and scaling low-latency cloud services using gRPC and event-driven messaging systems such as Kafka
• Experience building and shipping cloud-connected endpoint software
• Experience with at least one cloud environment, such as AWS, GCP, or OCI
• Experience leveraging AI and agentic tools to enhance testing workflows and automation
• LI-MP2
• LI-SF1
• LI-HTF
• This role will require the candidate to periodically undergo and pass additional background and fingerprint check(s) consistent with government customer requirements.

Benefits

• Market leader in compensation and equity awards
• Comprehensive physical and mental wellness programs
• Competitive vacation and holidays for recharge
• Paid parental and adoption leaves
• Professional development opportunities for all employees regardless of level or role
• Employee Networks, geographic neighborhood groups, and volunteer opportunities to build connections
• Vibrant office culture with world class amenities
• Great Place to Work Certified across the globe
• CrowdStrike is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to fostering a culture of belonging where everyone is valued for who they are and empowered to succeed. We support veterans and individuals with disabilities through our affirmative action program.
• CrowdStrike is committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all employees and applicants for employment. The Company does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, creed, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy or pregnancy-related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or family status, veteran status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical disability (including HIV and AIDS), mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, membership or activity in a local human rights commission, status with regard to public assistance, or any other characteristic protected by law. We base all employment decisions--including recruitment, selection, training, compensation, benefits, discipline, promotions, transfers, lay-offs, return from lay-off, terminations and social/recreational programs--on valid job requirements.
• If you need assistance accessing or reviewing the information on this website or need help submitting an application for employment or requesting an accommodation, please contact us at recruiting@crowdstrike.com for further assistance.
• Find out more about your rights as an applicant.
• Right to Work
• CrowdStrike, Inc. is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. Placement within the pay range is dependent on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, relevant work experience, skills, certifications, job level, supervisory status, and location. The base salary range for this position for all U.S. candidates is $140,000 - $215,000 per year, with eligibility for bonuses, equity grants and a comprehensive benefits package that includes health insurance, 401k and paid time off.
• For detailed information about the U.S. benefits package, please click here .