Lead QA Engineer, Automation

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Lead QA Engineer, Automation based in Canada.

As a Lead QA Engineer, you will provide technical leadership across automation, quality engineering, and AI-enabled testing practices. You will design scalable test automation frameworks that improve release confidence and quality across complex software products. The role combines hands-on engineering with strategic ownership of QA architecture, AI adoption, visual regression testing, and engineering excellence. You will help integrate generative AI and intelligent testing workflows into the software development lifecycle. You will also champion DORA metrics and connect quality practices with deployment velocity, reliability, and continuous improvement. This is a technical leadership role focused on influence, architecture, mentoring, and cross-functional collaboration rather than direct people management.

Accountabilities:: Lead day-to-day QA technical activities within Agile/Scrum teams, including planning, standups, reviews, retrospectives, estimation, and technical discussions.

Review business requirements and user stories, break work into actionable tasks, evaluate technical options, and collaborate with Product Management on solutions and priorities.

Own small to mid-sized QA engineering projects and product areas, defining and overseeing automation strategy and quality delivery.

Design, develop, and maintain reusable, scalable test automation frameworks and components using modern engineering practices.

Establish and promote standards, patterns, architecture principles, documentation, and best practices for test automation.

Lead the adoption of Generative AI and AI-native QA practices, including AI-assisted test generation, intelligent defect triage, predictive quality analysis, and intelligent test maintenance.

Evaluate and implement AI tools, agent-based QA solutions, and AI-enabled development workflows that can improve test coverage, efficiency, and precision.

Use tools such as GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, or equivalent platforms to accelerate test case creation, test data generation, documentation, and quality workflows.

Architect and implement UI visual regression testing capabilities using technologies such as Applitools, Percy, Playwright, or comparable solutions.

Define visual testing baselines, comparison strategies, tolerance thresholds, and quality gates across browsers and device viewports.

Partner with frontend engineering and design teams to align visual testing with design system standards and accessibility requirements.

Lead DORA metrics measurement and improvement initiatives, establishing baselines, targets, dashboards, and actionable insights for engineering teams.

Identify quality and process bottlenecks affecting deployment frequency, lead time, change failure rate, and mean time to restore, and drive initiatives to improve these outcomes.

Collaborate with DevOps, SRE, platform engineering, development, product, and other teams to align QA practices with reliability and delivery goals.

Review team members' work, conduct code and automation reviews, and identify architectural or testability improvements.

Troubleshoot and reproduce customer-reported issues and contribute to timely resolution.

Mentor QA and engineering professionals, promote knowledge sharing, and help elevate the broader quality engineering practice.

Evaluate emerging technologies, tools, and testing practices and assess their suitability for the QA technology ecosystem.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Quality Assurance, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

6+ years of experience in software development, SDET, Quality Engineering, or test automation, with a strong focus on automation.

Strong proficiency in TypeScript for test automation, tooling, and framework development.

Solid understanding of unit, integration, load, functional, and related software testing approaches.

Experience across the full software development lifecycle, including design, development, testing, deployment, upgrades, and production support.

Hands-on experience with REST API testing and automation.

Strong knowledge of BDD and TDD methodologies.

Familiarity with SQL databases and queries for test data validation.

Experience with exploratory testing and the ability to adapt testing techniques to different contexts.

Experience working with CI/CD tools and integrating automated quality practices into delivery pipelines.

Demonstrated hands-on experience with Generative AI tools such as GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, or equivalent platforms applied to software engineering or QA workflows.

Experience implementing UI visual regression and comparison testing frameworks such as Applitools, Percy, Playwright, or similar tools within CI/CD pipelines.

Proven experience contributing to or leading DORA metrics measurement and improvement initiatives across engineering teams.

Experience testing technically complex systems, including microservices and distributed architectures with fail-safe or high-reliability requirements.

Experience applying shift-left testing during development and shift-right testing in production environments.

Strong problem-solving, critical-thinking, analytical, and attention-to-detail skills.

Excellent communication and influencing abilities when working with developers, Product Managers, architects, and other stakeholders.

Knowledge of performance, scalability, security, reliability, and other non-functional testing concepts.

Experience building or evaluating AI-powered test generation and intelligent test maintenance solutions is a strong advantage.

Familiarity with prompt engineering for QA automation, test case design, and AI-assisted testing is desirable.

Experience with agentic IDE development and testing practices is a plus.

Hands-on experience with security and performance testing is desirable.

Experience establishing or owning engineering metrics programs beyond DORA is an advantage.

Previous experience with fitness, wellness, or multi-tenant SaaS products is a plus.

Benefits

Annual compensation of CA$95,000–CA$100,000 , with final compensation determined by experience, qualifications, skills, location, and market factors.

Potential eligibility for additional compensation such as bonuses, commissions, equity, or other incentive programs, where applicable.

Remote work opportunity in Canada.

Open PTO policy providing flexibility in how and when time off is taken.

Quarterly company-wide Days of Disconnect .

Parental and pawternity leave.

Quarterly fitness and wellness reimbursement.

Medical, dental, and vision coverage.

Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

Premium Calm App subscription for employees and up to four dependents over age 16.

Continuous learning, professional development, and training opportunities.

Inclusive culture focused on collaboration, growth, belonging, and employee well-being.

Opportunity to work with AI-native engineering practices and influence the evolution of modern Quality Engineering.

Technical leadership and mentoring opportunities without requiring direct people management.

How Jobgether works: We use an AI-powered matching process to ensure your application is reviewed quickly, objectively, and fairly against the role's core requirements. Our system identifies the top-fitting candidates, and this shortlist is then shared directly with the hiring company. The final decision and next steps (interviews, assessments) are managed by their internal team. We appreciate your interest and wish you the best!  Why Apply Through Jobgether?    Data Privacy Notice: By submitting your application, you acknowledge that Jobgether will process your personal data to evaluate your candidacy and share relevant information with the hiring employer. This processing is based on legitimate interest and pre-contractual measures under applicable data protection laws (including GDPR). You may exercise your rights (access, rectification, erasure, objection) at any time.     #LI-CL1