Lead QA Engineer

Lead QA Engineer (Hands-on Automation)

Hybrid mode - 3 days onsite a week - Irvine, CA.

Total IT Exp : 10+ Years

Mandatory Skills

Beagle Test, Hands-on scripting (Java/Python), Selenium/Playwright & API Automation, Test Automation Architecture & Framework Design, CI/CD, DevOps & Agile QA Practices

Experience

• 8+ years of experience in Software Quality Assurance and Test Automation.
• 2+ years of experience leading QA teams or driving QA initiatives.
• Proven experience working as a hands-on automation engineer while leading technical efforts.

Required Skills

• Strong experience in automation requirement gathering and solution design
• Demonstrated expertise in full-stack quality assurance and test engineering
• Experience in architecting test automation solutions for enterprise applications (web, SOA, ETL, backend)
• Strong leadership and supervisory skills with the ability to manage teams and drive cross-functional alignment
• Proven experience in leading discussions with Development and Production teams, including defect triage and release decisions
• Proficiency with open-source automation tools: Selenium, Playwright, Cucumber, REST Assured, Postman, SOAP UI
• Expertise in automation frameworks: Keyword-driven, Data-driven, Hybrid, BDD, TDD
• Programming skills: Java, Python, C#, Groovy
• Strong experience with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices: Jenkins, Docker, Maven, Gradle
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms and monitoring tools: AWS, Azure, Kubernetes, Grafana, Kibana, Elasticsearch
• Expertise in QA tools: Selenium WebDriver, Jira, TestNG, Appium, HP ALM, JBehave

Strong ability to: Manage sprint-based testing cycles, Drive automation maturity and scalability, quickly learn new technologies and drive innovation, Deep understanding of Agile QA methodologies and best practices

Key Job Functions / Requirements

• Lead the design, development, and implementation of enterprise-level test automation architecture and frameworks
• Supervise, mentor, and manage a team of QA engineers, ensuring high performance, skill growth, and accountability
• Own and drive end-to-end quality strategy, including functional, integration, E2E, performance, and automation testing
• Lead technical discussions and decision-making with Development teams to ensure testability, quality standards, and defect prevention
• Act as the primary QA point of contact for Production/Operations teams, driving: Production defect analysis and root cause identification, Feedback loop into QA and Development, Continuous improvement in production stability
• Develop test tools, test beds, data mock-ups, and other test infrastructure to enable continuous testing and integration
• Drive implementation of advanced automation practices in an Agile/Scrum environment (BDD/TDD, shift-left testing)
• Research tool capabilities and integrate with other technologies by coding interfaces, custom functions, and reusable components
• Work with multiple teams to drive continuous improvement initiatives and ensure successful adoption
• Conduct automation code reviews to ensure quality, scalability, and adherence to best practices
• Collaborate with Product and Development teams for requirement clarification, estimation, and test strategy design
• Establish and maintain a Behavior/Test-Driven Development culture
• Support refactoring of legacy code to improve testability and automation coverage
• Provide oversight on test infrastructure, environments, and test data management
• Own Release Automation & Deployment Automation across multiple environments
• Lead release readiness discussions and ensure quality gates are met before production deployments
• Collect and analyze test metrics, provide insights, and make recommendations to stakeholders
• Drive usage of monitoring tools, log aggregation, dashboards, and analytics to ensure operational excellence
• Provide technical guidance on automation, performance, scalability, security, and testing design
• Lead stakeholder communications, providing clear updates on quality status, risks, and mitigation plans

Ensure strong collaboration across QA, Development, Product, and Production teams for seamless delivery