QA Automation Engineer

Our partner is looking for a QA Automation Engineer based in the United States. This is a foundational QA leadership opportunity for an engineer who wants to build an automated testing practice from the ground up.

• Own and establish the end-to-end QA strategy, including the test pyramid, coverage targets, release gates, quality standards, and ownership expectations across web applications built with JavaScript/TypeScript and existing WordPress platforms.
• Design, build, and maintain automated testing suites, including end-to-end and UI automation with Playwright or a comparable framework, as well as integration and API testing for critical workflows.
• Integrate automated testing into Git-based CI/CD workflows, including fast pull-request smoke tests, scheduled regression suites, release validation, reporting, and diagnostic artifacts such as screenshots, traces, videos, and logs.
• Establish a reliable test data and environment strategy covering fixtures, data seeding, mocks versus real services, stable test accounts, parallel execution, and approaches to minimizing test flakiness.
• Develop performance and load-testing capabilities using tools such as k6, Artillery, or JMeter, establish performance baselines, and collaborate with engineering teams to identify bottlenecks across frontend, APIs, databases, and infrastructure.
• Define and champion a quality-ownership model across engineering teams, coach developers on testable code, and promote collaborative approaches such as QA-buddy practices.
• Introduce automation-first workflows that reduce manual QA effort, including test triggers, reporting, defect routing, release-readiness signals, and workflow automations using n8n or comparable tools.
• Conduct targeted exploratory and manual testing when appropriate, particularly for UX validation and edge cases, and provide clear risk assessments and go/no-go recommendations.
• Establish and monitor meaningful quality metrics, including test pass rates, execution time, flake rates, escaped defects, and regression effectiveness.
• Partner with engineering leadership and development teams to diagnose failures, improve testability, prioritize high-risk user journeys, and continuously raise quality standards across the software development lifecycle.
• Deliver foundational QA capabilities within the first 60–90 days, including a documented strategy, stable automated suites, reliable CI diagnostics, a workable test data approach, initial performance baselines, and automation workflows that reduce operational overhead.

• 5+ years of professional QA and test automation experience focused on modern web applications, with demonstrated ownership, leadership, or lead-level responsibility.
• Strong hands-on experience with Playwright or an equivalent end-to-end testing framework.
• Proficiency in JavaScript or TypeScript sufficient to develop and maintain automation frameworks, helpers, fixtures, and CI integrations.
• Strong understanding of frontend technologies and browser behavior, including DOM and network debugging, authentication and session flows, caching, and reliable selector strategies.
• Working knowledge of backend concepts, including REST APIs, request/response debugging, and databases for test setup and validation.
• Practical experience with API testing tools such as Postman or Swagger, alongside code-driven API checks.
• Experience working with CI/CD pipelines and Git-based development workflows, such as GitHub Actions.
• Ability to work independently, establish priorities, build systems from scratch, and drive outcomes without relying on a predefined backlog.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to create clarity and make sound decisions in ambiguous or evolving environments.
• Experience with monorepo tooling and affected-build workflows, such as Nx, is preferred.
• Experience establishing QA processes for teams with evolving CI/CD maturity is an advantage.
• Performance and load-testing experience, including the ability to translate traffic patterns into infrastructure impact, is preferred.
• Familiarity with Docker and containerized test execution, as well as exposure to Kubernetes and cloud platforms such as AWS or GCP, is beneficial.
• Knowledge of observability practices and tools, including logs, metrics, traces, Grafana, Prometheus, or cloud monitoring platforms, is a plus.
• Experience with workflow automation tools such as n8n, Zapier, Make, or custom Node.js automations is advantageous.
• Practical experience using AI-assisted tools for QA activities such as failure analysis, test maintenance, and release reporting, combined with sound privacy and security judgment.
• Must reside in the United States and be authorized to work without sponsorship.

• Salary range of $105,000–$135,000.
• Fully remote position available to candidates working from anywhere in the United States.
• Unlimited paid time off with performance-based flexibility.
• 401(k) plan with employer matching.
• Comprehensive healthcare coverage.