Lead Quality Engineer
Job Location: Austin, Texas, USA (hybrid)
Experience: 7+ Years
Practice: Application Development
Leading Skill: Automation Testing
Job Summary
We are looking for an experienced Lead Quality Engineer to lead quality assurance initiatives across modern web applications and distributed systems. The ideal candidate should have strong hands-on experience in Playwright, TypeScript, test automation frameworks, API testing, and CI/CD integration.
The candidate should also have exposure to AI-assisted testing tools, application observability using New Relic, and test infrastructure automation. This role requires technical leadership and close collaboration with product, development, architecture, and DevOps teams to improve software quality and release confidence.
Key Responsibilities
Lead quality engineering strategy and testing activities across multiple products.
Develop and maintain test automation frameworks using Playwright and TypeScript.
Perform functional, integration, regression, exploratory, API, and user acceptance testing.
Validate REST APIs, GraphQL APIs, UI workflows, and distributed system integrations.
Integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines and establish quality gates.
Leverage AI-assisted testing tools to improve test creation, maintenance, and defect detection.
Use New Relic and observability tools to monitor application performance and identify quality issues.
Automate test environments, test data management, and deployment validation.
Define test strategies, test plans, quality metrics, and release criteria.
Lead defect triage, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement initiatives.
Collaborate with product owners, developers, architects, and DevOps teams.
Mentor QE engineers and promote quality engineering best practices.
Required Technical Skills
Playwright: Strong hands-on experience building and maintaining automation frameworks.
TypeScript: Proficiency in scripting and developing automated test cases.
Test Strategy: Experience with test planning, risk assessment, and quality governance.
Functional Testing: Strong knowledge of functional, integration, regression, and exploratory testing.
API Testing: Experience testing REST APIs, GraphQL APIs, and distributed systems.
CI/CD: Experience integrating automated tests into deployment pipelines and implementing quality gates.
AI-Assisted Testing: Familiarity with AI-driven testing tools and automation solutions.
Observability: Exposure to New Relic or similar application monitoring tools.
Infrastructure Automation: Understanding of test environment automation, test data management, and deployment validation.
Leadership: Ability to mentor engineers, coordinate with stakeholders, and drive quality improvements.
Candidate Screening Checklist
During the initial screening, verify whether the candidate has:
7+ years of software testing or quality engineering experience.
Strong hands-on experience with Playwright and TypeScript.
Experience designing automation frameworks from scratch or enhancing existing frameworks.
Practical experience with REST and GraphQL API testing.
Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines.
Knowledge of AI-assisted testing tools.
Experience with New Relic or similar observability platforms.
Experience leading testing initiatives and mentoring team members.
Recruiter Notes
Prioritize candidates with strong hands-on Playwright and TypeScript experience, along with automation framework development and CI/CD integration skills.
Look for candidates who combine technical automation expertise with test strategy, API testing, and quality engineering leadership. AI-assisted testing and New Relic are important additional skills to validate during screening.
Recruiter's tip: Start by checking three core skills: Playwright + TypeScript + Automation Framework Development. Then validate API testing, CI/CD, and leadership experience before submitting the profile.
