QA Automation Tech Lead

We are looking for an experienced, hands-on QA Automation Tech Lead to own and drive Appcharge’s automation strategy, architecture, and testing infrastructure.

You will own automation across Web, Frontend, Mobile, API, service-level, and End-to-End testing, define technical standards and architecture, and ensure automation is deeply integrated into the development and CI/CD lifecycle.

You will work closely with R&D, Product, Manual QA, DevOps, and other technical stakeholders, acting as the technical quality leader across multiple interfaces. The ideal candidate combines deep automation expertise with strong communication skills, technical ownership, and the ability to mentor engineers and influence teams.

Responsibilities:

• Own and drive the company’s automation strategy, framework roadmap, architecture, and technical standards.
• Design, build, and evolve scalable automation infrastructure and reusable testing frameworks from the ground up.
• Define the automation approach across Frontend, Web, Mobile, API, service-level, and End-to-End testing.
• Lead automation initiatives end-to-end, from architecture and technical design through implementation, CI/CD integration, monitoring, and ongoing optimization.
• Build and maintain testing infrastructure for complex, highly configurable and multi-tenant environments, including per-tenant configuration and data isolation.
• Define mocking, stubbing, sandbox, and test-data strategies for third-party services and payment providers.
• Own automation quality and continuously improve test stability, execution speed, flakiness, maintainability, and suite reliability.
• Define, monitor, and report automation and quality metrics, including coverage, pass rates, execution trends, and flakiness.
• Integrate and evolve automation within CI/CD pipelines, primarily using GitHub Actions or Jenkins, to provide fast and reliable feedback throughout the development lifecycle.
• Represent quality and testability during system design and architecture discussions, identifying technical risks early and promoting a strong shift-left approach.
• Partner closely with Developers, Product, QA, DevOps, and other stakeholders to determine what should be automated, at which layer, and where automation does not provide sufficient value.
• Work across multiple teams and interfaces to drive infrastructure-related initiatives and ensure automation is properly integrated into the wider engineering ecosystem.
• Lead the adoption of AI-assisted and agentic testing capabilities, identifying practical ways to incorporate AI into automation workflows and development processes.
• Evaluate and introduce new testing technologies, tools, frameworks, and engineering practices.
• Mentor automation engineers and raise the technical bar of the team through code reviews, pairing, technical guidance, and direct feedback.
• Establish and own coding and review standards for the automation codebase.
• Act as a technical focal point for automation while remaining strongly hands-on with architecture, implementation, debugging, and problem solving.

Requirements:

• 7–9 years of hands-on experience in QA Automation / Test Automation, with at least 2+ years in a technical leadership, Tech Lead, or architecture-owning role – Must.
• Deep hands-on expertise with Playwright and TypeScript – Must.
• Proven experience designing and building an automation framework or testing infrastructure from the ground up, or leading a significant framework re-architecture – Must.
• Strong experience with Frontend, Web, Mobile, API, and End-to-End automation testing.
• Strong API automation experience, including mocking, stubbing, external-service integration, and complex API workflows.
• Proven experience owning technical initiatives and automation processes end-to-end.
• Strong experience working on automation infrastructure, including framework architecture, reusable components, test environments, integrations, and supporting engineering infrastructure.
• Experience integrating automation solutions across multiple engineering teams and technical functions.
• Practical experience owning automation integration within CI/CD pipelines, using GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or similar tools.
• Experience testing complex, multi-tenant, highly configurable, or data-sensitive platforms.
• Strong analytical, debugging, and problem-solving skills, with demonstrated experience reducing flaky tests and improving automation reliability.
• Experience working in startup or fast-growing product environments, where ownership, independence, and adaptability are essential.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively across numerous interfaces including Engineering, Product, QA, DevOps, and other stakeholders.
• Strong mentoring and technical leadership capabilities, while remaining highly hands-on.
• Demonstrated professional stability, ideally with 2+ years in previous companies and 2.5+ years in the most recent position.