Lead QA Engineer with Karate expe (Locals only - Cincinnati, OH)

Overview

Hybrid
Depends on Experience
Contract - W2
Contract - Independent
Contract - 6 Month(s)
50% Travel

Skills

Quality Engineer
Karate
CI/CD
Devops
API
JMeter
performance testing
integration

Job Details

Job Title: Lead Quality Engineer (Contract-to-Hire)
Location: Cincinnati, OH (Hybrid Local candidates only)
Work Authorization: Must be eligible to work in the U.S. without sponsorship

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Lead Quality Engineer to design, implement, and champion enterprise-wide testing strategies for critical retail applications. This is a hands-on leadership role with a focus on automation frameworks, API testing (Karate), performance testing, and CI/CD integration.

This is a contract-to-hire position, requiring candidates to be local to Cincinnati, OH.

Key Responsibilities

  • Lead Quality Engineering Strategy

    • Define and implement best-in-class testing practices and shift-left strategies.

    • Build scalable automation frameworks across squads.

  • Test Automation & Technical Skills

    • Hands-on API testing with Karate, RestAssured, Postman, SOAPUI.

    • Develop and maintain automation frameworks with Selenium, BDD (Cucumber), TestNG/JUnit.

    • Implement performance testing with JMeter, LoadRunner, Neoload.

    • Integrate automation into CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab, TeamCity).

  • Cross-Team Collaboration

    • Act as a quality advocate across multiple engineering teams.

    • Communicate test results and risk forecasts to stakeholders.

    • Partner with account managers and product teams to align QA strategy with delivery timelines.

  • System Modernization & Production Quality

    • Support transformation of legacy systems into modern, customer-facing platforms.

    • Implement robust performance and production validation practices.

Required Qualifications

  • 6+ years in Quality Engineering with increasing leadership responsibility (15+ preferred).

  • Proven expertise in test strategy, automation, and performance testing.

  • Strong hands-on experience with Karate (or RestAssured, Cucumber, Postman).

  • Proficiency with QA tools and frameworks (Selenium, JMeter, Tosca, etc.).

  • Experience in Agile/DevOps environments and CI/CD pipelines.

  • Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.

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