Freelance Senior Quality Assurance Engineer

Location: Washington D.C.

Department: Technology - Freelance

At AKQA (part of WPP) we believe in the imaginative application of art and science to create beautiful ideas, products and services. With an entrepreneurial and collaborative approach, we design adaptive digital services and applications that capture the imagination, delivering impressive returns for our clients.

A Senior QA Engineer at AKQA is a highly dependable quality practitioner who operates as an extension of the engineering team, not a downstream reviewer. They bring rigor, technical depth, and strong judgment to complex client engagements. They contribute meaningfully to how quality is defined, planned, and executed across the delivery lifecycle. While a Senior QA Engineer may serve as the lead quality voice on a project, they are equally effective as an individual contributor working within a broader QA structure.

The ideal candidate is equally comfortable writing automation scripts and articulating quality risk to project stakeholders. They bring deep experience testing large-scale digital products or services, a practical command of modern automation tooling, and the conviction to raise concerns when timelines or decisions would compromise the integrity of the product.

ROLE REQUIREMENTS

• Test Strategy — Define the end-to-end test strategy for complex engagements, translating client expectations and business requirements into measurable quality criteria.
• Test Documentation — Write clear, reusable test cases using BDD/Gherkin formats and maintain structured test documentation throughout the project.
• Test Execution — Lead test execution across testing types including functional, regression, exploratory, smoke, integration, accessibility (WCAG 2.1/2.2), and performance where applicable.
• Automation — Author, maintain, and continuously improve automated test suites using Playwright or comparable frameworks; integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines to support continuous delivery.
• Cross-Browser & Device Coverage — Test digital products across browsers, devices, and screen sizes; define and maintain a practical test matrix that balances coverage with delivery velocity.
• Design Validation — Validate implementation against experience design specifications for layout accuracy, interaction behavior, and brand adherence across target environments.
• Quality Communication — Communicate test status, defect trends, and quality risks clearly to both internal teams and client stakeholders; capable of serving as the primary QA voice on a project when the engagement calls for it.
• Release Readiness — Support release gate decisions with well-documented, data-driven quality assessments; capable of making a clear go/no-go recommendation when called upon to do so.
• Risk Advocacy — Constructively raise concerns when timelines, assumptions, or scope decisions create unacceptable quality risk, escalating through appropriate channels when issues remain unresolved.
• Engineering Partnership — Partner closely with engineers on defect triage and root-cause analysis, contributing to process improvements that reduce defect recurrence over the course of an engagement.
• Accessibility — Conduct accessibility testing in alignment with WCAG and ADA standards, helping teams integrate accessibility checks into their regular delivery workflow rather than treating it as a final audit.
• Estimation — Provide accurate level of effort (LOE) estimates for projects and large-scale features, accounting for both manual and automation scope.

QUALITIES AND CHARACTERISTICS

• Experience & Environment — 5+ years of QA experience with a strong focus on large-scale digital experiences; agency or consultancy background is a meaningful plus.
• Independence — Demonstrated ability to serve as the primary QA practitioner within a multidisciplinary delivery team, operating effectively without relying on a dedicated QA support structure.
• Platform Familiarity — Working knowledge of headless SaaS platforms and the testing considerations specific to composable, API-driven architectures.
• Automation Proficiency — Proficiency with modern test automation frameworks, with Playwright as the preferred tool; Cypress or Selenium experience is transferable.
• Toolchain Experience — Familiarity with cloud-based cross-browser testing platforms such as BrowserStack and test management tools such as Zephyr; exposure to CI/CD pipeline integration.
• Testing Craft — Experienced in structured test case authoring using BDD/Gherkin formats, with a clear sense of when formal documentation adds value versus when it creates overhead.
• Accessibility Knowledge — Practical knowledge of WCAG 2.1/2.2 requirements and hands-on experience conducting accessibility audits, including use of assistive technologies such as screen readers.
• Business Judgment — Able to assess and prioritize defects by business impact, not just technical severity, understanding what matters most to the end user and the client.
• Communication — Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to translate technical quality findings into language that resonates with non-technical project stakeholders and client contacts.
• Leadership Instinct — Comfortable supporting and leading quality efforts across a team; willing to push back constructively when delivery pressure threatens the integrity of the product.
• Intellectual Curiosity — Engaged with how the discipline is evolving, particularly as AI-assisted testing tools and shift-left practices continue to reshape what modern QA looks like in an engineering-first environment.

REMOTE EXPECTATION 

This is a remote freelance role. Candidates must be authorized to work in the U.S. and able to work core business hours aligned to Eastern Time (ET). Occasional travel may be required for research, workshops, or team collaboration, depending on project needs.

COMPENSATION

$2,800 - $3,400/week
40 hours/week