Manual QA Engineer

Key Responsibilities

• Own the complete manual testing lifecycle for assigned features, end to end, on your own.
• Perform functional, UI/UX, regression, smoke, exploratory, and ad-hoc testing.
• Test features before code merge (PR testing) and again after deployment.
• Test at the backend and API level - validate data, business logic, and integrations, not just the UI.
• Use AI tools effectively to speed up testing - generating test ideas, test data, edge cases, and bug reports - while using good judgment about what the AI gets right and wrong.
• Read basic code changes to understand what to test and reason about whether an issue is frontend or backend.
• Find functional defects, UI inconsistencies, usability issues, and edge cases - often without a written spec.
• Prioritise defects by severity and business impact, and know what to test first when you can't test everything.
• Write clear, detailed bug reports with reproduction steps, expected vs actual results, severity, and priority.
• Collaborate closely with developers to validate fixes and resolve issues quickly.
• Execute rapid testing cycles to keep up with frequent daily releases.
• Maintain lightweight test checklists and quality notes suited to a fast, low-documentation environment.

AI & Technical Skills (Core - what makes this role different)

These are central to the role, not optional:

• Effective AI tool usage. Real, hands-on experience using AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot) to speed up QA work - test case and test data generation, edge-case discovery, debugging, and bug reporting - with sound judgment about AI output (not blindly trusting it).
• Claude Code knowledge. Working familiarity with Claude Code (Anthropic's agentic coding tool) for AI-assisted testing and understanding code, or a strong willingness and ability to pick it up quickly.
• Backend testing. Able to verify data and business logic behind the screen - checking databases and stored values, not just the UI.
• API testing. Comfortable testing APIs (e.g. Postman) - validating requests/responses, status codes, authentication, and error handling.
• Basic coding skills. Able to read and understand basic code (e.g. JavaScript/TypeScript or similar), reason about a code change, and tell frontend issues from backend ones using browser DevTools.

Required Skills (Core)

• 3.5+ years of manual testing experience.
• Strong UI bug-identification skills - a sharp eye for visual and UI defects: alignment, spacing, and layout issues, overlapping or misplaced elements, and inconsistent fonts, colours, and styling. Comfortable with cross-browser and responsive/cross-device testing (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge across mobile, tablet, and desktop), able to compare the built UI against the intended design to catch discrepancies, and check UI states such as hover, disabled, loading, empty, and error.
• Strong ad-hoc and exploratory testing ability - able to learn an app quickly and find bugs without pre-written test cases or documentation.
• Comfortable working with minimal documentation and taking full ownership of quality decisions independently.
• Comfortable in a high-release, fast-paced environment (multiple releases per day).
• Strong understanding of SDLC and STLC.
• Experience with smoke, regression, functional, and exploratory testing.
• Knowledge of test design techniques - Boundary Value Analysis (BVA), Equivalence Partitioning, and others.
• Ability to prioritise defects based on severity and business impact.
• Comfortable documenting and tracking defects clearly (we're flexible on tools - no specific ticketing tool required).
• Excellent verbal and written communication - essential for a remote, independent role.
• Strong analytical skills, high attention to detail, and a genuine ownership mindset.

Preferred / Nice to Have

• Experience testing responsive web applications across multiple browsers and devices.
• Familiarity with performance/quality auditing (e.g. Lighthouse).
• Ability to manage multiple testing priorities at once.
• Exposure to modern, AI-assisted product development practices.

Who This Role Is NOT For

To help candidates self-select (and save everyone time), this role is likely not a fit if you:

• Need detailed requirements, specs, or a defined QA process before you can start testing.
• Only test the UI and are not willing to engage with code, APIs, backend data, or AI tools.
• Prefer a structured, slower release cycle with heavy documentation.
• Are you looking for a QA lead or team-management position (this is a hands-on, individual-contributor role).