Job Role : Senior QA Engineer

Location : Pune (Hybrid)

Experience : 5+ Years

Shift Timing : 2 : 00 PM 11 : 00 PM IST (Flexible)

Must-Have Skills : Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, API Automation, Test Strategy & Planning, Page Object Model (POM), CI/CD Integration, Team Leadership, and Foundational AI-Assisted QA Skills.

About the Role :

We are seeking a technically strong Senior QA Engineer with leadership capabilities to lead QA initiatives and drive quality excellence across complex web and API-based applications. The ideal candidate will combine deep QA expertise with the ability to mentor teams, establish robust testing processes, and leverage emerging AI-assisted testing tools to improve efficiency and defect detection.

This role requires both hands-on technical depth and the leadership maturity to guide teams, collaborate with stakeholders, and adapt QA strategies to incorporate AI enablement. Candidates should be comfortable leading by example, mentoring junior QAs, and staying at the forefront of modern testing practices.

Key Responsibilities :

- Lead and mentor the QA team, providing technical guidance, best practices, and career development.

- Establish and maintain QA workflows, processes, standards, and strategies aligned with organizational goals.

- Develop and execute comprehensive test plans, strategies, and test cases.

- Identify, document, and manage test data requirements for complex testing scenarios.

- Design, develop, and maintain scalable automation frameworks using Selenium, Cypress, and Playwright with Page Object Model (POM) principles.

- Write, execute, and maintain automated test scripts for web applications and APIs.

- Conduct manual testing for exploratory, usability, cross-browser, and responsive UI testing when necessary.

- Integrate automation suites with CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps).

- Leverage AI-assisted tools for test design, automation development, defect analysis, and exploratory testing.

- Use prompt engineering techniques to enhance AI-assisted testing capabilities.

- Perform API testing using Postman, REST Assured, and similar tools; validate request/response payloads, status codes, and backend workflows.

- Identify, report, and track defects using JIRA and Test Rail; perform root cause analysis (RCA) and recommend process improvements.

- Prepare test documentation, test plans, test cases, bug reports, release notes, and quality metrics.

- Provide application demos to stakeholders and communicate testing status, risks, and mitigation plans.

- Collaborate closely with Development, Product, DevOps, and other QA team members.

- Participate in Agile ceremonies, sprint planning, and release discussions.

Required Skills & Qualifications :

- 5+ years of hands-on experience in Manual and Automation Testing with demonstrated career progression.

- Strong expertise in Selenium WebDriver, Cypress or Playwright, API Automation, UI Automation, and JavaScript/TypeScript-based automation.

- Proven experience with Page Object Model (POM) and designing scalable automation frameworks.

- Strong understanding of SDLC, STLC, RTM, RCA, QA lifecycle phases, and risk-based testing methodologies.

- Hands-on experience with CI/CD pipelines, Git/version control systems, Postman/JMeter, JIRA, and Test Rail.

- Demonstrated leadership experience : leading QA teams, mentoring junior QAs, and establishing QA processes.

- Foundational knowledge of AI-assisted testing tools and willingness to learn and implement AI-driven QA practices.

- Ability to independently handle live coding exercises, debugging challenges, and scenario-based problem-solving.

- Strong analytical, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

- Ability to drive a quality culture and mentor teams in modern testing practices.

Preferred Qualifications :

- Experience with performance/load testing tools such as JMeter or Locust.

- Exposure to AI-assisted test generation, prompt engineering, or AI-driven defect analysis tools.

- Hands-on experience implementing AI-assisted exploratory testing.

- ISTQB Certification or equivalent QA certification (preferred but not mandatory).

- Exposure to Agile/Scrum environments and release management.

- Experience in the e-commerce, fintech, or SaaS domains.