Test Automation Engineer Lead

Job Description:

Position Overview
We are seeking an experienced Test Automation Lead with deep expertise in
Selenium and Playwright to lead our automated testing initiatives across web and
mobile applications. The ideal candidate will architect robust automation frameworks,
drive best practices, mentor QA engineers, and ensure the delivery of high-quality,
scalable, and reliable software products. This role requires a strong blend of technical
proficiency, leadership, and strategic thinking.

Key Responsibilities
Automation Strategy & Leadership
• Lead the end-to-end automation testing function across multiple projects and
product lines.
• Define and implement a scalable test automation strategy, standards, and best
practices.
• Collaborate with Engineering, Product, and DevOps teams to integrate
automation seamlessly into CI/CD pipelines.
• Own the automation roadmap and drive continuous improvement of testing
maturity.
Framework Design & Development
• Design, build, and maintain automation frameworks using Selenium WebDriver,
Playwright, and TestNG/JUnit.
• Develop reusable, modular, and maintainable automation scripts.
• Implement robust reporting mechanisms for automated tests using tools like
Allure, Extent Reports, etc.
• Ensure cross-browser, cross-platform, and API automation coverage as required.
Quality Assurance & Execution
• Analyze requirements, identify test scenarios, and ensure high coverage through
automated suites.
• Perform hands-on automation coding, debugging, and optimization where
needed.

• Identify gaps in testing processes and propose corrective actions.
• Integrate automation tests into CI/CD workflows (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Azure
DevOps, or similar).
Team Mentoring & Coordination
• Lead and mentor a team of QA engineers (manual + automation).
• Conduct code reviews, ensure adherence to automation standards, and provide
technical guidance.
• Work closely with cross-functional teams to ensure test coverage and timely
delivery.
Documentation & Reporting
• Maintain clear documentation of automation frameworks, guidelines, and
execution results.
• Provide regular test execution reports and quality metrics to project stakeholders.
• Track and optimize test execution time and system performance.
Test Strategy, Planning & Governance
• Define overall test strategy across functional, automation, regression, UAT, and
non-functional testing.
• Create test plans, test effort estimations, and risk-based testing
approaches for large programs.
• Establish quality governance processes, including entry/exit criteria and
quality gates for releases.
• Introduce and drive test maturity models and standardized QA processes
across teams.
Quality Metrics & Reporting
• Own quality dashboards-defect leakage, test coverage, stability metrics, and
release quality indicators.
• Lead periodic Quality Review Meetings with engineering and product
leadership.
• Provide go/no-go recommendations for release readiness based on defined
quality thresholds.
Stakeholder & Cross-Functional Leadership
• Act as the primary QA sign-off authority for release quality.
• Coordinate with Product, Engineering, and DevOps for test planning, release
alignment, and resource planning.

Lead defect triage meetings, ensuring severity/priority alignment and SLA
adherence.
Team & Capability Management
• Manage QA team capacity planning, performance reviews, and competency
development.
• Build and execute training plans for QA team members in automation, API
testing, performance testing, and domain knowledge.
• Plan and support QA hiring, skill-mix decisions, and team scaling.
Test Operations & Release Management
• Drive UAT planning and coordination with business teams and external
stakeholders.
• Own end-to-end test delivery for major releases, ensuring all testing streams
(manual, automation, integration) are aligned.
• Ensure regression suite versioning, stability, and periodic cleanup.
Environment & Test Data Management
• Define and maintain test data management practices-synthetic data, masked
data sets, refresh cycles.
• Coordinate with DevOps/team for test environment provisioning, stability, access,
and monitoring.

Required Skills & Experience
Technical Expertise
• 6–10+ years of QA experience with at least 4+ years in test automation.
• Strong hands-on experience with Selenium WebDriver and Playwright.
• Proficiency in languages such as Java, Python, or JavaScript/TypeScript
(depending on framework choice).
• Experience in TestNG/JUnit, Page Object Model (POM), BDD (Cucumber), or
hybrid frameworks.
• Strong understanding of REST APIs and experience with API automation
(Postman, REST Assured, etc.).
• CI/CD tools exposure: Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, etc.
• Good understanding of version control systems (Git).
• Familiarity with cloud-based cross-browser testing platforms (BrowserStack,
Sauce Labs) is a plus.

Leadership & Analytical Skills
• Experience leading QA/automation teams.
• Strong problem-solving abilities and root cause analysis skills.
• Ability to design scalable test strategies for complex products.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management capabilities.

Good to Have
• Exposure to mobile app automation (Appium).
• Knowledge of performance testing tools (JMeter, k6).
• Understanding of agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban).
• Experience in healthcare/insurance domain is a strong advantage.

Educational Qualification
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field