SDET lead

The Senior Automation SDET Leader is responsible for leading a high-throughput, customer-centric automation delivery team that directly supports delivery stabilization, regression closure, and trust-critical coverage gaps. This leader will manage a team of 10-15 engineers operating as an “Automation Factory.” Additionally, this role serves as the single point of contact for both Automation and Performance Engineering needs within the assigned ARTs, ensuring a holistic approach to quality and system performance. 

This role exists to industrialize automation execution—efficiently, repeatably, and at scale—under clear architectural and governance direction. 

What This Role Delivers 

• Rapid build-out of automated regression and trust-critical test coverage. 
• Automation aligned to real analyst workflows, not test case volume. 
• Consistent, repeatable automation patterns across delivery teams. 
• Reduced manual regression load during stabilization phases. 
• Inputs into future-state QE 2.0 intelligence and learning loops. 
• Coordination of Performance Engineering efforts, including test planning, execution, and reporting. 

Core Responsibilities 

• Team Leadership: Lead, mentor, and develop a team of 10-15 Automation SDETs, fostering a collaborative and high-performing environment. 
• Delivery Management: Oversee the execution of the automation backlog, prioritized by QE 1.0 and delivery leadership, ensuring timely and high-quality delivery. 
• Automation Strategy (Execution): Ensure automation efforts focus on: regression risk, customer- and analyst-visible workflows, and trust-breaking/high-impact failure scenarios. 
• Collaboration: Collaborate closely with ART-aligned QE leads and development teams to integrate automation seamlessly into the SDLC. 
• Quality & Reliability: Ensure automation is reliable, maintainable, and production-relevant, adhering to defined patterns and standards. 
• Telemetry & Reporting: Contribute execution telemetry (coverage, failure patterns, flakiness) into QE reporting mechanisms, providing insights for continuous improvement. 
• Capacity Management: Rapidly scale team effort up or down based on release and delivery demand. 
• Process Improvement: Identify and implement improvements to automation processes, tools, and techniques. 
• Governance & Standards: Enforce adherence to established automation standards and governance policies. 

Operating Model 

• Operate within a Factory execution model, managing a centralized team delivering automation services. 
• Work is centrally governed but locally executed, coordinating with ART-level QE leads. 
• Priorities and standards are owned by QE 1.0 and, in the future, QE 2.0 leadership. 

Skills & Experience 

• Leadership: Proven experience leading and managing a team of automation and performance testing engineers. 
• Technical Expertise: Strong hands-on experience with test automation and performance frameworks (e.g., Selenium, Appium, Cypress, Jmeter, Loadrunner, Tosca) and CI/CD integration (e.g., Jenkins, Azure DevOps, GitLab CI). 
• Automation Proficiency: Ability to automate at API, service, and workflow (UI) layers as needed. 
• Delivery Experience: Experience working in high-pressure delivery environments. 
• Collaboration: Strong collaboration skills with developers, QE leads, and other stakeholders. 
• Governance & Standards: Discipline in following standards, patterns, and governance. 
• Problem Solving: Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills. 
• Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills.