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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for QA Automation Tester

💰 $85,000 - $125,000

Quality AssuranceSoftware EngineeringTechnologyIT

🎯 Role Definition

As a QA Automation Tester, you are the guardian of our product's quality. You won't just find bugs; you'll build the systems that prevent them. You will be deeply embedded within our Agile development teams, working collaboratively with developers, product managers, and other stakeholders to champion a "quality-first" mindset. Your primary mission is to enhance our testing efficiency and coverage by developing and maintaining a robust, scalable automation framework. This role is critical to our continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline, directly impacting our ability to release high-quality software faster and more reliably.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Manual QA Analyst
  • Junior Software Developer
  • Technical Support Engineer

Advancement To:

  • Senior QA Automation Engineer
  • SDET (Software Development Engineer in Test)
  • QA Lead or QA Manager

Lateral Moves:

  • DevOps Engineer
  • Scrum Master
  • Product Owner

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Design, develop, and maintain robust, scalable, and reusable test automation frameworks for web, API, and mobile applications using tools like Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, or Appium.
  • Author and execute comprehensive automated test scripts to validate the functionality, performance, and reliability of new features and existing systems.
  • Integrate automated testing directly into our CI/CD pipelines (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps) to enable a culture of continuous testing and rapid feedback.
  • Collaborate closely with cross-functional Agile teams, including developers and product managers, to understand requirements and define test strategies from the earliest stages of the development lifecycle.
  • Perform thorough analysis of test results, and identify, document, and track defects with clarity and precision using tools like Jira or Azure DevOps.
  • Develop and maintain a comprehensive suite of automated API tests to ensure the stability and correctness of our backend services and microservices using tools like Postman, REST Assured, or Karate.
  • Conduct non-functional testing, including performance, load, and security testing, to identify system bottlenecks and potential vulnerabilities.
  • Champion best practices for test automation, code quality, and modern testing processes across the entire engineering organization.
  • Participate actively in sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and sprint retrospectives, providing accurate testing estimates and valuable feedback.
  • Create and manage realistic, high-quality test data required for the execution of automated and manual test cases.
  • Analyze complex system architecture and technical designs to create effective and targeted test plans and comprehensive test strategies.
  • Perform root cause analysis of production issues and create corresponding automated regression tests to prevent their recurrence.
  • Configure and maintain dedicated test environments, ensuring they are stable, reliable, and representative of the production environment.
  • Generate and communicate clear, concise, and comprehensive test reports and quality metrics to stakeholders at all levels.
  • Evaluate and recommend new testing tools, frameworks, and technologies to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the QA process.
  • Mentor and provide guidance to junior QA team members and manual testers on automation principles and advanced testing techniques.
  • Conduct code reviews for automated test scripts written by peers to ensure they meet our high standards for quality, readability, and maintainability.
  • Drive the "shift-left" testing approach by getting involved in the requirement and design phases to identify potential issues as early as possible.
  • Develop and maintain clear documentation for test frameworks, test plans, and testing procedures to ensure knowledge is shared and retained within the team.
  • Execute manual, exploratory, and regression testing as needed to complement automation and cover complex scenarios that are difficult or cost-prohibitive to automate.
  • Troubleshoot and debug complex issues within the test automation framework, application code, and testing infrastructure.
  • Work closely with the DevOps team to ensure the testing infrastructure is robust, scalable, and fully meets the needs of the continuous testing pipeline.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis to uncover quality trends.
  • Contribute to the organization's overall technology strategy and roadmap from a quality perspective.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate user needs and pain points into actionable test scenarios.
  • Participate in sprint planning, retrospectives, and other agile ceremonies within the development team.
  • Mentor junior QA members and advocate for quality best practices across the organization.
  • Participate in peer code reviews for both application and test automation code.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Strong proficiency in at least one object-oriented programming language, such as Python, Java, C#, or JavaScript.
  • Hands-on experience with modern UI test automation frameworks and tools (e.g., Selenium WebDriver, Cypress, Playwright, WebdriverIO).
  • Extensive experience in API testing and automation using tools like Postman, REST Assured, or similar libraries.
  • Solid understanding of and experience with CI/CD tools and integrating tests into the pipeline (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps).
  • Proficiency with version control systems, particularly Git and collaborative workflows (e.g., pull requests, branching).
  • Experience writing SQL queries and working with relational (e.g., PostgreSQL, SQL Server) and/or NoSQL databases.
  • Deep knowledge of the software development lifecycle (SDLC) and Agile/Scrum methodologies.
  • Experience with performance and load testing tools (e.g., JMeter, Gatling, k6) is a strong plus.
  • Familiarity with containerization and orchestration technologies like Docker and Kubernetes.
  • Experience testing applications within a cloud environment (AWS, Azure, or GCP).

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional analytical and problem-solving abilities with a meticulous attention to detail.
  • Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical issues to both technical and non-technical audiences.
  • A collaborative team player with excellent interpersonal skills and a constructive mindset.
  • Proactive, self-motivated, and able to work independently in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
  • A natural curiosity and a passion for learning new technologies and continuously improving processes.
  • Strong organizational and time-management skills, with the ability to prioritize tasks effectively.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's Degree in a technical field, or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Computer Science or a related discipline.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Software Engineering
  • Information Technology

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3-7 years of hands-on experience in software quality assurance, with a strong focus on test automation.

Preferred:

  • Demonstrated experience building a test automation framework from scratch.
  • Experience in a fast-paced SaaS or product-based company.
  • ISTQB or other relevant software testing certifications are a plus.
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