Principal QA

This role is for one of Weekday’s clients

Salary range: Rs 1400000 - Rs 3200000 (ie INR 14 - 32 LPA)

Min Experience: 6+ years

Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

JobType: full-time

We are seeking an experienced and technically strong Principal QA Engineer to lead quality assurance initiatives for scalable SaaS products. The role requires deep expertise in automation testing, test strategy development, and quality engineering across distributed web and mobile applications.

The ideal candidate will have extensive experience with automated testing frameworks, performance and load testing, API validation, and security testing. They will contribute to improving testing practices, ensuring product reliability, and supporting continuous delivery in cloud-based environments. The role also requires strong analytical thinking, technical judgement, and the ability to collaborate effectively with engineering and product teams in a fast-paced, Agile environment.

Requirements

Key Responsibilities

1. Test Strategy and Quality Engineering

• Develop and implement comprehensive QA strategies, test plans, and testing frameworks for complex SaaS applications.
• Define testing standards, quality benchmarks, and best practices to ensure product reliability, scalability, and performance.
• Lead quality assurance activities across the software development lifecycle, from requirements analysis through release validation.
• Identify potential quality risks, recommend mitigation strategies, and drive continuous improvement in testing processes.
• Collaborate with engineering and product teams to establish quality objectives and ensure consistent delivery standards.

2. Test Automation and Framework Development

• Design, develop, maintain, and optimise automated test frameworks using tools such as Selenium and JUnit.
• Create and execute automated test suites for web applications, mobile applications, and APIs.
• Identify opportunities to increase test coverage, reduce manual effort, and improve testing efficiency through automation.
• Integrate automated testing into continuous integration and delivery workflows.
• Review test scripts and frameworks to ensure maintainability, reliability, and alignment with engineering best practices.

3. Performance, Load, and Security Testing

• Plan and execute non-functional testing activities, including load, stress, performance, and security testing.
• Use tools such as JMeter to evaluate application performance, responsiveness, and scalability under varying workloads.
• Identify performance bottlenecks, reliability issues, and potential security vulnerabilities.
• Analyse test results, prepare detailed reports, and work with engineering teams to resolve identified issues.
• Validate the behaviour of distributed systems under high traffic and complex operating conditions.

4. Web, Mobile, and API Testing

• Lead testing initiatives for distributed, scalable web and mobile applications.
• Design and execute functional, regression, integration, and end-to-end test scenarios.
• Perform API testing to validate functionality, data integrity, error handling, and system integrations.
• Use appropriate automation tools, including Appium for mobile application testing, where applicable.
• Ensure consistent application behaviour across supported platforms, devices, and environments.

5. Cloud, DevOps, and Continuous Integration

• Conduct testing across AWS-based environments and validate application behaviour in cloud infrastructure.
• Work with development and DevOps teams to integrate quality checks into CI/CD pipelines.
• Apply an understanding of software development principles, preferably in Java-based environments, to improve test design and debugging.
• Work in Linux/Unix environments to execute tests, investigate issues, and analyse application behaviour.
• Support continuous testing practices to improve release confidence and reduce production defects.

6. Collaboration and Technical Leadership

• Collaborate with developers, product managers, DevOps engineers, and other stakeholders to resolve quality issues.
• Provide technical guidance on automation frameworks, test coverage, defect prevention, and quality engineering practices.
• Review test plans, automation scripts, and testing deliverables to maintain high standards.
• Communicate testing progress, risks, defects, and release readiness clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Manage competing priorities effectively while meeting project deadlines and maintaining testing quality.

Must-Have Skills and Qualifications

• Experience: 6-12 years of relevant experience in software testing and quality assurance, preferably for SaaS products.
• Test Automation: Strong hands-on expertise in automation testing and frameworks such as Selenium and JUnit.
• Application Testing: Experience testing web applications, mobile applications, APIs, and distributed systems.
• Performance Testing: Practical experience with load, stress, and performance testing; familiarity with tools such as JMeter.
• Scalable Systems: Understanding of testing distributed applications and validating scalability, reliability, and system behaviour.
• Technical Fundamentals: Working knowledge of software development concepts and Linux/Unix environments.
• Cloud Testing: Experience testing applications deployed in AWS environments.
• Agile Methodologies: Experience working within Agile development teams and iterative delivery processes.
• Communication and Judgement: Excellent written and verbal communication, strong analytical skills, sound decision-making, and the ability to work under tight deadlines.

Good-to-Have Skills

• Knowledge of DevOps practices and CI/CD pipelines.
• Familiarity with Java-based application development and debugging.
• Experience with Continuous Integration systems and automated quality gates.
• Hands-on experience with Appium for mobile automation.
• Exposure to security testing methodologies and tools.