Software Development Engineer in Test (Playwright/AI)

Applause is raising the bar for digital quality and employee experience. Recognized as a Top Workplace, Applause provides award-winning software testing, AI training, and UX research solutions to top brands. Our fully managed services leverage a global team and the world's largest independent testing community. We improve digital experiences for global innovators like Google, Microsoft, PayPal, Starbucks, Vodafone, and BMW.

We are seeking a highly skilled and forward-thinking AI-Enabled Playwright Test Engineer to join our team. In this role, you will design, build, and maintain robust end-to-end test automation frameworks using Microsoft Playwright, while leveraging AI-powered tools including Anthropic's Claude to accelerate test creation, improve coverage analysis, and drive intelligent defect detection. You will sit at the intersection of traditional software quality engineering and modern AI-assisted development, helping the team ship faster with greater confidence.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Playwright Test Automation

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable end-to-end, component, and API test suites using Microsoft Playwright (TypeScript/JavaScript).
• Implement the Page Object Model (POM) and other maintainability patterns to ensure test suite longevity.
• Write cross-browser test scenarios targeting Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit with full parallel execution.
• Integrate Playwright test suites into CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, or similar).
• Analyze and triage test failures, distinguishing flaky tests from genuine defects, and drive remediation.
• Develop performance and accessibility checks alongside functional test scenarios.
• Participate in sprint ceremonies, contributing QA estimates, risk assessments, and shift-left testing strategies

AI-Assisted Quality Engineering

• Use AI (via the Anthropic API, Claude.ai, or similar) to generate, refactor, and review Playwright test code from plain-language requirements or user stories.
• Leverage AI to perform automated test-gap analysis — identify untested user flows and surface coverage blind spots across the application.

Requirements:

• Experience:  7+ years in software quality engineering or test automation roles.

• Playwright:  Demonstrable hands-on experience writing production-grade Playwright test suites in TypeScript or JavaScript.

• Programming:  Proficiency in TypeScript and/or JavaScript; working knowledge of async/await, Promises, and modern ES features.

• CI/CD:  Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD workflows (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, CircleCI, or equivalent).

• AI Tools:  Practical experience using Claude, ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, or equivalent AI coding assistants to write, review, or document code.

• Claude Proficiency:  Ability to craft effective prompts for Claude to generate test code, analyze test results, and summarize defect trends.

• API Testing:  Familiarity with REST/GraphQL API testing via Playwright's request context, Postman, or similar.

• Version Control:  Proficiency with Git, including branching strategies, pull-request workflows, and code review participation.

• Communication:  Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to articulate quality risks to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

  PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

•  Experience with the Anthropic API (claude-sonnet-4-6, claude-opus-4-6, or similar) to build custom AI-assisted QA tooling.

• Familiarity with Playwright's component testing, visual regression, or trace viewer for advanced debugging.

• Knowledge of BDD frameworks (Cucumber, Gherkin) and how to use Claude to generate feature files from requirements.

• Experience with test observability platforms (Allure, Playwright HTML reporter, TestRail, or similar).

• Exposure to performance testing tools such as k6, Lighthouse, or WebPageTest.

• Experience building AI prompt templates, LLM evaluation pipelines, or Claude-powered internal tools.

• Contributions to open-source testing or AI projects.

• Familiarity with Docker/containerization for running tests in isolated environments.

• Understanding of LLM concepts such as prompt engineering, context windows, few-shot examples, and chain-of-thought reasoning.

Compensation: 

The annual salary range for this position is 25 LPA to 35 LPA.

Why Applause?

We’re proud to cultivate an inspiring, engaging employee culture that’s consistently reflected in high employee retention rates and satisfaction. Our talented team – known as Applause Nation – is set up for success with the latest collaboration and learning tools, opportunities for career advancement, and more.

• Work from anywhere! We have a flexible work environment with top talent from across the globe
• Collaborate with an international team of 450+ passionate, talented co-workers
• Expand your portfolio with exciting, hands-on projects providing exposure to well-known, global brands
• Learn and grow through structured onboarding, in-house knowledge sessions and access to thousands of virtual courses available on demand
• Incorporate AI and other exciting technologies into your work, to help you prioritize and boost productivity
• Experience a supportive culture that emphasizes teamwork, innovation and transparency
• Share your voice! Contribute and integrate creative and innovative ideas across roles and departments

Applause Core Values:

As a global employee community, we strive to uphold the following core values, which are critical to business success and how we measure individual and team performance. How do you align?

• Be Accountable: You love to take ownership, and hold yourself and others accountable to increase empowerment and success.
• Celebrate Authenticity: You love bringing your true self to work and creating genuine and trustful relationships within a diverse environment.
• In It Together: You have a team-first mindset and love collaborating with your peers.
• Create Value for Our Customers: You love delivering meaningful business impact and being a release partner for all aspects of digital quality.
• Crush Your Goals: You always strive for excellence and constantly seek ways to be better, more effective and more efficient.

Accommodations:

Applause is a place where everyone belongs and where we believe everyone deserves the exceptional. We continue to celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive, equitable environment for our employees. If you believe you require a reasonable accommodation und.er any of the legally protected characteristics, please click here to complete an accommodation request. Please note, Applause will only review requests for applications that have been submitted. We will review your qualifications and follow up with you regarding your request if your qualifications meet our current needs.