Staff Software Engineer, Engineering Systems & Automation

At Second Nature, our people are our greatest differentiator. To build an industry-changing business, we don’t just need talent; we need an environment where high standards, continuous improvement, and customer obsession are the default.

Excellence is not a destination — it is how we show up every day. In twenty years time, we want every single employee to look back to their time at Second Nature and say: This is where I did my very best work. Where I grew the most. Where I pushed myself beyond what was comfortable. ✨

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About Us

Today, we live in a world where everything has become convenient. Now you can get a ride anywhere, buy anything, answer any question with just a couple clicks on your phone. Convenience isn’t a luxury, it’s an expectation.

So why not renting? It’s still a chore to get utilities set up, buy renters insurance, get air filters changed, handle pest control, and more.

That’s why we’ve built the world’s first Resident Experience Platform that makes resident onboarding, resident services, and ancillary revenue effortless for property managers.

We’re passionate about turning friction into triple win experiences for residents, property managers, and investors. That way renting can be easy and rewarding for everyone.

And now you can join us. Apply today to join 290+ passionate, creative people who strive to make a difference each day so residents, property managers, and investors all win; creating the ultimate Triple Win! 🔥🔥🔥

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About the Role

We're standing up a small, high-leverage quality engineering practice with a Staff Software Engineer (Engineering Systems & Automation), to work across every pod (a small cross functional Product and Tech team). Our guiding principle is firm and clear: developers own their automated tests; you raise the whole org's testing capability. You don't gatekeep, and you're not a manual safety net.

This is a staff-level engineering role for someone who has chosen quality engineering as their craft, not a stepping stone to a different engineering seat. You'll write code, own test strategy across and between systems, and craft automation frameworks. You’ll take an AI-first approach (we build on Claude) to make testing dramatically faster, repeatable, and more reliable. Because the role reaches into every team, your influence on how Second Nature ships quality will be outsized.

What you'll do

• Own the automated-testing strategy and frameworks across our UI product. Resident Onboarding (consumer-facing, highest customer risk) first, then Command Center. You’ll drive critical-user-flow coverage into the delivery pipeline so ownership sits with engineering.
• Make quality measurable. Build and maintain a risk-weighted registry of critical flows, and report coverage: % of critical flows tested, % of screens exercised, and % of real production traffic (Datadog RUM) on paths we test through live dashboards, not quarterly slides.
• Lead an AI-first approach to testing. Teach Claude the how and why of our systems; build skills and MCP-based tooling (JIRA, our APIs, direct database inspection) so complex scenarios — especially partner integration — can be executed rapidly, repeatably, and reliably instead of by hand.
• Modernize integration testing. Move partner verification from manual, web-based checking to API-based automation, and help close long-standing environment/testability gaps.
• Coach, don't gatekeep. Embed quality into design and PR review, level up engineers to own their automated tests, and help teams build in quality up front.
• Drive the Quality Enablement practice. Partner with engineering directors, platform teams, and product stakeholders to surface and prioritize tooling and system-testability gaps.
• Build guardrails that hold. Stand up CI coverage ratchets, deploy-gate health, and flake reduction, and make escaped defects visible (tagged to user flows, tracked against change-failure rate).
• Key Outcomes
• You can see exactly what's tested and what isn't, anytime.
• A live dashboard shows what’s covered by automated tests, so nobody guesses.
• Engineers write their own tests, and write them well.
• This person defines and develops the platform for our end-to-end testing that can be leveraged by all engineering; helping us solve testing gaps.
• AI handles the tedious testing work.
• Tools and skills leveraging MCP, APIs and CLIs take over repetitive, complex checks and test setup so they get tested consistently instead of by hand.
• Fewer bugs make it to production, and you can prove it.
• Clear tracking shows the issues and trends.

About you

Staff-level engineer. You'd clear the staff bar on a strong product team. You have deep experience designing, coding, and owning test automation and frameworks across layers (unit, integration, contract, and browser/e2e).

Quality engineering is your craft, not a transition plan. You have genuine passion for, and a real track record of, building high-quality automated testing. This is the work you want to be doing, not a path to a different engineering role.

AI-first by default. You reach for AI (we use Claude) to accelerate and harden testing by building agent workflows, skills, and MCP tooling, and you're excited to shape how AI transforms quality engineering. An "all-in" mindset toward AI in engineering.

Exceptional communicator. This role interacts with every pod at Second Nature. You align engineers, PMs, and leaders, and coach effectively across teams and non-technical audiences.

Self-starter who drives outcomes. High autonomy, low process overhead, real ownership. You pick up ambiguous quality problems and drive them to shipped, measurable results without waiting to be told.

Strong with AWS and Node/TypeScript, and comfortable across distributed, service-oriented systems and testing across service boundaries.

Ability to work an 8-to-5 EST schedule.

Bonus experience:

• Experience standing up or scaling a quality engineering practice
• Performance/load testing
• Data-integrity testing against relational databases (PostgreSQL)
• PropTech, real estate tech, or B2B2C SaaS experience

We get it. Requirements can sometimes hold people back from applying to a job, but don’t let that be the case here. If you believe you have the skills it takes to elevate this role, team, and company, we encourage you to apply for this role.

• Tech environment
• TypeScript/Node (NestJS), Nx monorepo with React front-ends, PostgreSQL, AWS, Redis/queue-based async processing, Datadog for observability (including RUM)
• Testing spans Jest, contract testing, and Playwright for end-to-end, AI-assisted workflows on Claude with MCP tooling, API Integrations
• Our Core Values

Pirate Ship; not a cruise ship. Bias towards action.

Massive Growth takes massive growth. We embrace challenges to increase our impact.

Grow the Pie. We focus on results so our customers & their customers win. Triple Win!

Purple Heart. We put the team before ourselves.

Extreme Ownership. See something? Say something; right the ship to get us back on course.

Be a moment maker. We aim to shatter the status quo.

AI Innovation

We're thrilled about the transformative potential of AI innovation and its ability to drive progress at Second Nature. As we continue to explore and integrate AI into our workflows, we're eager to learn how you've embraced and implemented AI in your professional journey. In the interview process, we look forward to hearing about your experiences and exploring how we can collectively leverage AI technology to accelerate our growth.

Remote Work Statement

This position is a remote-first, work from home position. Second Nature is committed to creating a culture and workplace where remote work fosters collaboration and connections and is a key part of our company story and success. To be successful in a remote work role at Second Nature you must:

• Be available during your scheduled working hours and give your full attention to the completion of your Second Nature job duties
• Have a quiet, professional, distraction-free environment in which to complete your work
• Have access to your own reliable high-speed internet connection
• Attend our bi-annual in-person company meetings (Second Nature will reimburse the cost of your business travel per company guidelines)

Why Second Nature?

• 🩺 Health First: Medical, Dental, Vision, & Life Insurance; 401K Plan
• 📍 Location: Work remotely from anywhere in the US
• 📆 Flexibility: Open PTO and sick days
• 🚀 Growth: The opportunity to help build a fast-growing company in an exciting new category