Automation WebDriverIO Test Lead (VISA INDPENDENT CANDIDATES ONLY)

We are seeking a WebdriverIO Lead to drive endtoend UI test automation strategy, framework engineering, and quality governance for missioncritical web applications. You will own the WDIO stack designing and scaling frameworks, enabling teams on best practices, integrating CI/CD, and ensuring reliable, maintainable, and observable test suites. Experience with TypeScript and frameworklevel design is essential; Java + Selenium expertise is a strong plus.
Key Responsibilities:

• Own the automation strategy for web UI: assess current state, define target architecture, prioritize automation backlog, and report quality KPIs.
• Design, build, and evolve WDIO frameworks (TypeScript/JavaScript): Page Object / Screenplay, modular utilities, service layers, test data & environment management, configuration, and secrets handling.
• Enable speed & stability: parallel execution, smart waits, resilient locators, network stubbing/mocking, retries, and flaky test governance.
• Shiftleft quality practices: coding standards (ESLint/Prettier), unit & component tests where applicable, PR checks, and static analysis for test code.
• Integrate CI/CD: Jenkins/Azure DevOps/GitHub Actions pipelines, test artifacts (videos, screenshots), trend dashboards, and quality gates.
• Reporting & observability: Allure (or equivalent), failure triage workflows, and actionable defect analytics for stakeholders.
• Crossbrowser & crossplatform coverage: local/grid execution, cloud labs (e.g., BrowserStack/Sauce Labs), responsive checks.
• Security & compliance hygiene: data masking, testdata strategies (synthetic/anonymized), and access controls for pipelines and reports.
• Team leadership: mentor SDETs, conduct code reviews, establish DoD/DoR for automation, plan capacity, and coordinate with Dev, Product, and Release.
• Quality advocacy: partner with Product/Engineering to align test strategy with release goals, SLAs, and risk appetite; communicate status, risks, and mitigations.
• Required Skills:
• 8+ years in QA Automation with 3+ years on WebdriverIO delivering maintainable frameworks at product scale.
• Strong in TypeScript/JavaScript, Node.js ecosystem, npm/yarn, and test runners (Mocha/Jasmine/Cucumber).
• Proven framework engineering using Page Object / Screenplay, custom helpers, and service hooks (wdio.conf tuning).
• Handson with Allure (or similar) reporting, artifact management, and pipelinelevel test orchestration.
• Expertise in CI/CD (Jenkins/Azure DevOps/GitHub Actions), Git workflows, branching strategies, and PR quality gates.
• Solid understanding of web fundamentals (DOM, HTTP, cookies/storage, network calls) and async patterns in WDIO.
• Experience with cloud device/browser grids and parallelization at scale.
• Strong stakeholder communication, estimation, and leadership of 4 8 SDETs.

GoodtoHave:

• Java + Selenium (hybrid stacks, migration paths, or coexistence strategies).
• API automation (Postman/Newman, REST Assured, or Axios/WDIO services); contract testing basics.
• BDD with Cucumber; Gherkin standards and living documentation.
• Containerization (Docker) for local reproducibility and pipeline consistency.
• Accessibility testing practices and tooling; basic performance checks.
• Mobile test automation (Appium) and service virtualization.
• Exposure to Azure DevOps/Jira for backlog and traceability.