Lead Software Development Engineer - Test - Automation Testing

About the Role :

We are looking for a SDET Tech Lead to drive quality engineering initiatives across critical products and platforms. You will lead automation strategy, improve release confidence, and enable shift-left quality practices across engineering teams.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role where you will be responsible for building scalable automation solutions, improving engineering quality standards, mentoring SDETs, and collaborating closely with Product, Engineering, and Platform teams to ensure quality is built into every stage of development.

Key Responsibilities :

Technical Leadership :

- Drive end-to-end quality ownership across multiple products, services, and engineering pods.

- Define and implement scalable QE strategies, automation standards, and testing best practices across teams.

- Collaborate with Engineering & Product leadership to identify quality risks early and establish preventive quality measures.

- Drive shift-left testing practices by embedding quality gates during grooming, design, and development phases.

- Contribute to engineering quality governance through RCA discussions, defect analysis, and process improvements.

Automation & Framework Engineering :

- Design, develop, and maintain scalable automation frameworks for UI, API, mobile (iOS/Android), and backend systems.

- Build robust automation solutions with strong debugging, logging, retry, and resiliency capabilities.

- Drive automation adoption across functional, regression, integration, and smoke testing layers.

- Improve automation reliability, execution efficiency, and test coverage across products.

- Ensure maintainability and scalability of automation frameworks through engineering best practices.

CI/CD & Release Quality :

- Own automation integration into CI/CD pipelines and establish reliable quality gates for deployments.

- Collaborate with DevOps and Platform teams to improve release quality and deployment confidence.

- Contribute to test environment management, test data strategies, and release validation processes.

- Monitor automation stability, flaky executions, and release quality metrics.

Team Leadership & Collaboration :

- Mentor and guide SDETs on automation, coding standards, debugging, and quality engineering practices.

- Conduct framework reviews, test strategy discussions, and technical reviews across teams.

- Collaborate closely with developers, architects, and product managers on quality initiatives and engineering improvements.

- Drive a strong engineering culture focused on ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Required Skills & Qualifications :

- 6 - 8 years of experience in Quality Engineering with strong automation expertise.

- Proven experience leading QE initiatives in product-based or high-scale engineering organizations.

- Strong programming skills in TypeScript (preferred), JavaScript, Java, or Python.

- Strong hands-on expertise in automation frameworks and tools such as Playwright (preferred), Appium or similar technologies.

- Strong exp in API automation using Playwright (preferred), Rest Assured, Postman, Swagger validation, or similar tools.

- Strong understanding of microservices architecture, distributed systems, and integration testing strategies.

- Hands-on experience with build tools like NPM, Maven, or Gradle.

- Good understanding of databases, SQL queries, and backend validation strategies.

- Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines using GoCD, Jenkins, Bitbucket Pipelines, or similar tools.

- Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and collaboration skills.

- Experience mentoring teams and driving quality engineering best practices across pods.

Good to Have :

- Experience building unified automation frameworks supporting Web, Mobile (iOS/Android), and APIs.

- Exposure to performance testing tools such as k6, JMeter, or Gatling.

- Understanding of security testing concepts including OWASP Top 10 and secure engineering practices.

- Familiarity with Selenium 4/CDP, contract testing, or observability tools.

- Exposure to AI-assisted testing tools, intelligent test execution, self-healing automation frameworks, or GenAI-driven QE workflows.

What We're Looking For :

- A strong Quality Engineer who has evolved into a technical leader.

- Someone who can balance hands-on automation with quality strategy and engineering excellence.

- A leader who drives scalable quality practices and raises the engineering bar across teams.

- A problem-solver who thrives in fast-paced, product-driven environments.

Why Join Us :

- Opportunity to build and scale quality engineering practices for high-impact products.

- High ownership and visibility across engineering initiatives.

- Exposure to modern engineering and AI-assisted testing practices.

Skills

Automation Testing, Software Quality Assurance, TypeScript, Appium, Java, Python, Playwright Testing, Testing, Software Testing Tools, SDET