Lead Quality Engineer

We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Lead SDET - Quality Engineering to drive the quality strategy for our AI-driven cloud operations platform. This role will focus on building scalable, reliable, and intelligent test automation systems, enabling high-quality releases in a fast-paced SaaS environment. The ideal candidate will champion modern quality engineering practices, including automation, cloud-native testing, and observability-driven validation. This role goes beyond traditional QA to ensure end-to-end product quality across distributed systems.

Job Title: Lead SDET - Quality Engineering

Location: Pune/Ahmedabad

Experience: 8-12 years

Education: Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, engineering, or a related field.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and drive the quality engineering strategy for our cloud-native SaaS platform
• Design, develop, and maintain scalable automation frameworks and test suites across UI, API, and integration layers
• Collaborate closely with engineering teams to embed quality practices within the development lifecycle (shift-left)
• Ensure seamless integration of automated tests into CI/CD pipelines with appropriate quality gates
• Define and implement test strategies for microservices-based and distributed systems
• Establish best practices for test design, execution, and reporting, continuously improving frameworks and processes
• Drive API-first testing strategy, including contract and schema validation
• Utilize observability tools (logs, metrics, traces) to validate system behavior and improve production quality (shift-right)
• Work with product and engineering teams to ensure high test coverage and release confidence
• Experience with performance and load testing for cloud-native, distributed systems, including defining strategies, evaluating tools (e.g., k6, Locust, Gatling), and ensuring system scalability and reliability at scale
• Mentor and manage a team of quality engineers, fostering a culture of ownership, innovation, and continuous improvement
• Participate in architecture and design discussions to influence testability and quality

Must Have

• Strong programming experience in Python (preferred) or Java/JavaScript
• Hands-on experience with modern automation frameworks:
• Playwright / Cypress (UI Automation)
• Pytest / Robot / similar frameworks
• Strong experience in API testing:
• REST APIs using tools like Postman/Newman, REST Assured, or Python (requests)
• Experience with CI/CD tools such as Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or GitLab CI
• Solid understanding of cloud-native architectures (microservices, containers, distributed systems)
• Experience working with Docker and Kubernetes-based environments
• Strong understanding of software development lifecycle (SDLC) and Agile methodologies
• Experience leading or contributing to modernization/migration initiatives (e.g., legacy to modern automation frameworks, tooling consolidation, platform upgrades)
• Experience testing cloud-based applications, preferably on AWS
• Familiarity with contract testing/schema validation (OpenAPI, Pact, etc.)
• Exposure to observability tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, ELK/OpenSearch
• Familiarity with AI-driven or intelligent test automation tools

Good to Have

• Experience with AI/ML-driven systems testing, including:
• Validating model outputs for accuracy and consistency
• Testing non-deterministic systems (e.g., LLM-based features)
• Understanding of data quality, drift, and bias considerations
• Knowledge of event-driven architectures (Kafka, messaging systems) and testing strategies
• Exposure to security testing fundamentals (OWASP)
• Experience implementing shift-right practices such as synthetic monitoring or canary validation

Soft Skills

• Ability to drive quality culture across teams
• Proactive mindset with a focus on continuous improvement
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, collaborative environment

Experience

• 8-12 years of experience in test automation/quality engineering
• Strong leadership and mentoring capabilities
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and debugging skills
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills