QA Lead - Automation

Location: Ahmedabad, India

Department: QA-App

Experience: 5-10

About the Role

Key Responsibilities

• Define and implement the overall QA and test automation strategy.
• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of QA Automation Engineers.
• Design, develop, and maintain scalable, reusable, and reliable automation frameworks.
• Build automated test suites covering functional, regression, integration, API, UI, and end-to-end testing.
• Collaborate closely with Product Managers, Developers, DevOps, and Customer Success teams throughout the software development lifecycle.
• Participate in requirement reviews and provide input to improve product quality and testability.
• Integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines to enable continuous testing and rapid releases.
• Monitor test execution, analyze failures, and ensure timely defect resolution.
• Define and track quality metrics, including automation coverage, defect leakage, release readiness, and test execution trends.
• Drive continuous improvement in QA processes, tools, and engineering practices.
• Plan and coordinate regression testing before product releases.
• Conduct code reviews for automation scripts and enforce coding standards.
• Identify opportunities to improve product quality, performance, and reliability.
• Support performance, security, and compatibility testing initiatives where applicable.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field.
• 5--8+ years of experience in Software Testing, with at least 3 years in a QA Lead or Automation Lead role.
• Strong experience testing SaaS and cloud-based web applications.
• Expertise in automation tools such as Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, or similar.
• Strong programming skills in Java, Python, JavaScript, or C#.
• Experience with API testing using tools such as Postman, Rest Assured, or similar frameworks.
• Experience with CI/CD tools such as Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps, or CircleCI.
• Hands-on experience with version control systems such as Git.
• Good understanding of SQL and database testing.
• Experience with Agile/Scrum development methodologies.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Experience with container technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes.
• Knowledge of performance testing tools such as JMeter, Gatling, or K6.
• Familiarity with security testing concepts and tools.
• Experience working with microservices architecture.
• ISTQB or equivalent testing certification is a plus.

Technical Skills

• Test Automation Framework Design
• Selenium / Playwright / Cypress
• API Automation Testing
• Java / Python / JavaScript / C#
• REST APIs
• SQL & Database Validation
• Git
• Jenkins / GitHub Actions / GitLab CI / Azure DevOps
• Docker & Kubernetes (preferred)
• Agile & Scrum
• Test Management Tools (Jira, Xray, TestRail, Zephyr, or similar)

Leadership Expectations

• Lead by example and promote a culture of quality across engineering teams.
• Mentor QA engineers through coaching, code reviews, and career development.
• Drive automation adoption and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Partner with engineering leadership to improve release quality and delivery speed.
• Communicate quality risks proactively and provide data-driven recommendations.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Automation test coverage
• Defect leakage rate
• Regression execution time
• Production defect trends
• Test execution success rate
• Release quality
• Team productivity and mentoring outcomes
• CI/CD pipeline stability