QA Lead

About the Role
We are looking for an experienced QA Lead – Automation with 8–10 years of experience who can lead a QA team while remaining highly hands-on technically. The ideal candidate will have strong expertise in Java, Selenium, automation framework development, API testing and CI/CD, along with proven experience managing and mentoring QA engineers. This is a hands-on technical leadership role, not a pure people-management position. The candidate should be comfortable designing frameworks, writing automation scripts, reviewing code, debugging failures and supporting the team technically.

Key Responsibilities
QA Automation & Technical Leadership
• Design, develop and maintain robust Java + Selenium automation frameworks.
• Write and maintain automated test scripts for functional, regression and integration testing.
• Define automation strategy, standards and best practices.
• Review and improve existing automation frameworks and test coverage.
• Perform hands-on coding, debugging and troubleshooting.
• Conduct code reviews and ensure automation quality and maintainability.
• Identify opportunities to improve automation coverage and reduce manual testing effort. Team Leadership
• Lead, mentor and manage a team of QA engineers and automation testers.
• Allocate tasks, review deliverables and monitor team performance.
• Provide technical guidance and support to QA engineers.
• Establish QA processes, standards and development practices.
• Conduct knowledge-sharing and mentoring sessions.
• Support recruitment and onboarding of QA resources. Test Strategy & Quality Management
• Define test strategy, test plans and overall QA approach for projects.
• Review requirements and identify testing risks and gaps.
• Plan and execute functional, regression, integration and system testing.
• Manage defect lifecycle and coordinate with development teams for resolution.
• Ensure adequate test coverage and release readiness.
• Track QA metrics including automation coverage, defect leakage and test execution. API & Database Testing
• Perform API testing using Postman and/or REST Assured.
• Develop automated API test cases.
• Validate integrations and backend processes.
• Perform database validation using SQL. CI/CD & DevOps
• Integrate automation suites into CI/CD pipelines.
• Work with Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI or Azure DevOps.
• Monitor automated test execution and troubleshoot pipeline failures.
• Support continuous testing practices within the development lifecycle. Stakeholder & Project Collaboration
• Work closely with Developers, Business Analysts, Product Owners, Project Managers and Architects.
• Participate in Agile ceremonies.
• Provide QA estimates, status reports and release-readiness updates.
• Communicate testing risks, quality issues and recommendations to stakeholders.
• Support multiple projects when required. Mandatory Technical Skills
• Java – Strong hands-on experience
• Selenium WebDriver – Strong hands-on experience
• TestNG / JUnit
• Maven / Gradle
• Automation framework design and development
• API testing – Postman / REST Assured
• SQL / Database testing
• Git
• Jenkins or equivalent CI/CD tools
• Jira or similar defect management tools
• Agile/Scrum methodology Good to Have
• Selenium Grid
• BrowserStack / Sauce Labs
• Cucumber / BDD
• Docker
• Appium
• Performance testing
• Microservices and REST API architecture
• Cloud-based testing
• Experience with enterprise applications Experience Requirements
• 8–10 years of overall QA/testing experience
• Strong hands-on experience in Java + Selenium automation
• Experience designing and maintaining automation frameworks
• 2+ years of QA team leadership / technical leadership experience
• Experience mentoring and managing QA engineers
• Experience working in Agile development environments
• Experience handling enterprise applications and complex integrations Ideal Candidate We are looking for someone who can operate at three levels: 1. Hands-on Engineer Can personally write Java/Selenium automation, debug issues and improve frameworks. 2. QA Technical Lead Can define automation architecture, testing strategy, standards and CI/CD integration. 3. Team Lead Can manage, mentor and develop QA engineers while coordinating with development and business teams. Key Performance Indicators
• Automation coverage and stability
• Reduction in manual regression effort
• Automation execution success rate
• Defect detection and defect leakage
• Release quality and readiness
• QA delivery timelines
• Framework maintainability and scalability
• Team productivity and capability development
• Overall improvement in QA processes Education Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering or a related discipline preferred.