Role Summary :

We're looking for a sharp, high-ownership QA Engineer who can help us move toward automation-first testing, while still driving strong manual testing where needed today. You'll work closely with product and engineering to improve release confidence, catch issues early, and build simple, scalable QA processes that support a fast-moving startup.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys thinking like a user, breaking systems creatively, and building practical testing structure without slowing teams down.

What You'll Do (Day-to-Day) :

Automation (Primary Focus) :

- Identify high-value product flows and gradually build automation coverage

- Contribute to automation strategy for regression, smoke tests, and core workflows

- Help introduce automation into CI pipelines to improve release confidence

- Improve long-term test coverage without impacting team velocity

Manual Testing (Secondary Focus) :

- Own manual QA for web app releases: regression, smoke, exploratory, and edge-case testing

- Create and maintain test plans, test cases, and lightweight QA checklists

- Reproduce bugs reliably and write clear bug reports (steps, expected vs actual, severity, logs/screenshots)

- Partner with engineers to define acceptance criteria and testing scope before releases

- Validate integrations/APIs when required using Postman or cURL

- Track recurring issues and flaky areas to improve QA processes

What We're Looking For (Non-Negotiable) :

- 3+ years of QA experience

- Hands-on experience or strong interest in test automation (primary focus)

- Strong manual testing fundamentals: exploratory, regression, and risk-based testing

- Ability to think systematically and anticipate failure modes

- Strong communication skills with clear bug reporting and cross-team collaboration

- Comfort working in ambiguity and building structure in evolving environments

- Familiarity with web technologies and debugging concepts (HTTP, JSON, browser devtools)

- Experience working in fast-paced teams with frequent releases

Bonus Points :

- Experience with automation tools like Playwright / Cypress / Selenium

- Experience setting up QA processes from scratch in a startup

- Familiarity with CI/CD QA gates, automated test reporting, or bug triage workflows

- Exposure to performance testing basics or reliability testing practices

Future Path : Automation-First QA

While manual testing will remain important in the near term, the goal is to :

- Automate critical regression paths (login, workflows, permissions, etc.)

- Add automated smoke tests into CI

- Improve test coverage and release confidence without slowing development

What Success Looks Like (First 60-90 Days) :

- Automation candidates identified and initial coverage started

- Reliable regression and testing structure established

- Clear, consistent bug reporting improving engineering response times

- Fewer recurring issues and faster debugging cycles

- Practical automation roadmap aligned with product velocity

Why Zime.ai :

- High ownership with direct product and customer impact

- Work closely with senior engineers and product leaders

- Build automation-first QA foundations while shipping fast

- Opportunity to shape long-term quality practices in a growing product team