Senior Quality Assurance Engineer Lead

We are seeking a Senior Hands-On QA Engineering Lead to drive automation excellence across web and mobile platforms. This is a delivery-focused leadership role for someone who remains deeply technical — actively writing automation code, reviewing frameworks, and embedding quality into CI/CD pipelines.

You will lead a small offshore QA team while owning automation strategy, tooling integration, and quality governance. This is not a coordination or oversight role — it requires daily hands-on contribution.

Core Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain scalable automation frameworks.
• Write and review automation code daily across web and mobile platforms.
• Implement automation for Expo / React Native mobile applications.
• Integrate automated testing into GitLab CI/CD pipelines and Bitbucket repositories.
• Implement merge request / pull request quality gates and branch validation strategies.
• Optimise regression execution using BrowserStack.
• Reduce flaky test rates and improve automation stability.
• Lead and mentor a small offshore QA pod (3–5 engineers).
• Conduct automation code reviews and set sprint-level QA objectives.
• Define and track KPIs including automation coverage, defect leakage, regression duration, and stability rates.
• Promote shift-left testing practices and improve release readiness processes.

Required Experience

• 8+ years in QA / Automation Engineering.
• Proven experience as a Senior Hands-On QA Lead.
• Strong automation coding ability (JavaScript / TypeScript preferred).
• Extensive experience with Expo (React Native testing).
• Hands-on experience with BrowserStack.
• Strong experience with GitLab CI/CD (pipelines, runners, YAML configuration).
• Strong experience with Bitbucket (repositories, pipelines, branching strategy).
• Experience integrating automated testing into CI/CD workflows.
• Experience leading distributed or offshore QA teams.
• Strong understanding of Agile / Scrum environments.

Technical Stack Exposure

• Playwright / Cypress
• Appium (mobile automation)
• REST API automation
• JavaScript / TypeScript
• Git-based workflows
• CI reporting dashboards
• Device farms and mobile test strategy

Success Measures (First 6 Months)

• Achieve >70% regression automation coverage.
• Fully integrated CI pipelines with automated quality gates.
• Reduction in escaped defects.
• Offshore QA team operating independently with high-quality output.
• Clear QA metrics visible to engineering leadership.