Lead Quality Assurance engineer - Hybrid @ Irvine, CA – 3 days onsite a week - 12 months contract - Direct client...

Must have: Test Automation Architecture & Solution Design, Strong Automation Engineering (Selenium/Playwright/ Cucumber/REST Assured/Postman/SOAP UI), Technical Leadership & Stakeholder Management, (Java/Python/C#/Groovy) CI/CD, Agile QA Practices, Cloud Platforms and Monitoring Tools…

Minimum Experience

· 10+ years in QA/Testing

· 4+ years in technical leadership role

Specialized Knowledge & 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:

​o Selenium, Playwright, Cucumber, REST Assured, Postman, SOAP UI

Expertise in automation frameworks:

​o Keyword-driven, Data-driven, Hybrid, BDD, TDD

Programming skills:

​o Java, Python, C#, Groovy

Strong experience with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices:

​o Jenkins, Docker, Maven, Gradle

Hands-on experience with cloud platforms and monitoring tools:

​o AWS, Azure, Kubernetes, Grafana, Kibana, Elasticsearch

Expertise in QA tools:

​o Selenium WebDriver, Jira, TestNG, Appium, HP ALM, JBehave

Strong ability to:

​o Manage sprint-based testing cycles

​o Drive automation maturity and scalability

​o 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:

​o Production defect analysis and root cause identification

​o Feedback loop into QA and Development

​o 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 Behaviour/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 deliver

Required: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field

This role is open to W2 or those seeking Corp-Corp employment. The salary range for this role is $104 - $113k. For corp-Corp rates please contact the recruiter. In addition to other benefits, Accion Labs offers a comprehensive benefits package, with Accion covering 65% of the medical, dental, and Vision Premiums for employees, their spouses, and dependent children enrolling in the Accion-provided plans.