Hire a SDET.

SDETs are software engineers whose product is test infrastructure — harnesses, environments, mocks, and the tooling that makes quality a property of the pipeline rather than a phase after it. The title is frequently misused for senior QA automation roles, so we calibrate expectations early: a true SDET codes at product-engineer level. We screen with the same bar we apply to backend engineers, plus the testing-strategy depth the role exists for.