Sr. QA Engineer (Costa Rica - Remote)

Job title: Sr. QA Engineer
Team: Quality Assurance
Pay Rate: $45-55 USD/hr
Location: Costa Rica (remote)
Experience: 5+ years
We're looking for a Software Quality Engineer who is passionate about engineering teams owning quality. In this role, you'll sit in an independent Quality organization but work directly with product engineering squads to embed quality into how they design, build, test, and ship Software.
About the Role
You will act as a quality enabler and coach, not a post-release gatekeeper. Your focus is on helping developers build reliable, secure, and performant systems by defining standards, building test automation for features, and shaping data-driven feedback loops. You'll partner with engineering, product, and DevOps to make quality an integral part of the SDLC from planning through production.
What You'll Do

• Lead testing efforts and best practices for your feature areas, pushing ownership of unit, component, and service-level tests into engineering teams while you focus on high-risk end-to-end automation.
• Evolve, maintain automation and integrate these into CI/CD so every change gets fast, reliable quality feedback.
• Enable engineers with quality-focused test design, and shift-left practices through pairing, reviews, and hands-on workshops.
• Translate business and technical risks into clear test strategies, acceptance criteria, and living documentation that teams own and maintain.
• Define and refine quality standards, policies, and risk-based testing guidelines that align with product and compliance needs.
• Use metrics such as defect trends, coverage, and flakiness to highlight systemic issues and drive continuous improvement across teams.
• Collaborate with engineering and product leadership to communicate quality posture, surface risks, and support informed tradeoffs without acting as a release bottleneck.
• Mentor junior QA and engineers on modern testing techniques, observability-driven validation, and emerging practices like AI-assisted and autonomous testing.

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years of experience in Software Quality Engineering, SDET, or a similar role with a strong focus on test automation and enabling engineering teams.
• Proficiency in at least one modern programming language (e.g., TypeScript, JavaScript, or Python) and experience with contemporary test frameworks (e.g., WebdriverIO, Playwright, Cypress, Appium, API/contract testing tools).
• Hands-on experience integrating automated tests and quality gates into CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, or similar).
• Strong understanding of shift-left and DevOps practices, including developer-owned testing, trunk-based development, and continuous delivery.
• Comfort working in an independent Quality function while building strong, collaborative relationships with engineering teams.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills; able to influence without authority, lead discussions, and drive alignment around quality goals.

Nice to Have

• Experience with observability tools and using production signals to inform testing strategy.
• Familiarity with AI-assisted testing tools or LLM-based capabilities for test generation, analysis, or automation.
• Background in regulated or high-compliance environments where risk management and traceability are important.
• If you're excited about helping engineers own quality and want to shape how modern software teams build reliable products, we'd love to hear from you.