Sr QE Automation Engineer

Job Title: Sr QE Automation Engineer
Location: Irvine, CA (Hybrid)
Job Type: Contract







Role Summary

• We are seeking a highly skilled and driven Senior QE Automation Engineer to drive our test automation strategy across mobile and API ecosystems. In this role, you will be responsible for architecting, building, and maintaining scalable test automation frameworks from the ground up, ensuring seamless digital experiences across platforms.
• As a technical leader within the Quality Engineering organization, you will work closely with cross-functional Agile teams-including Software Developers, DevOps Engineers, and Product Managers-to integrate automated testing into our Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines. The ideal candidate possesses deep hands-on expertise in Appium, API automation, programming (Java or Python), and modern CI/CD practices.

Key Responsibilities

1. Test Architecture & Automation Framework Development

• Design & Scale Frameworks: Architect, build, and maintain robust, modular, and maintainable automated test frameworks for iOS, Android, and REST/GraphQL API applications.
• Mobile Automation Execution: Develop end-to-end mobile test scripts using Appium integrated with modern test runners (e.g., TestNG, JUnit, PyTest) across physical devices and cloud testing platforms (e.g., Sauce Labs, BrowserStack).
• API Testing & Verification: Design and execute automated API test suites (using REST Assured, Requests, Postman, or similar) to validate microservices performance, data integrity, and contract compliance.
• Code Quality & Maintenance: Implement best design patterns (e.g., Page Object Model, Screenplay, Data-Driven) and conduct code reviews to enforce clean code standards for test repositories.

2. CI/CD Integration & Infrastructure

• Pipeline Automation: Integrate automated mobile and API test suites into Continuous Integration and Delivery pipelines (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps).
• Execution & Reporting: Establish automated test execution triggers on code commits/pull requests and implement rich reporting dashboards (e.g., Allure, Extent Reports) for real-time visibility.
• Test Data & Environment Management: Manage test environments, mock external services where necessary, and generate synthetic test data to support isolated testing environments.

3. Leadership, Governance & Agile Collaboration

• Technical Mentorship: Lead and mentor junior/mid-level QE engineers on test automation best practices, code quality, and framework design patterns.
• Agile Integration: Active participant in Agile/Scrum ceremonies (Sprint Planning, Refinement, Retrospectives) to analyze user stories, estimate effort, and embed testability early in the lifecycle (Shift-Left approach).
• Defect Management: Identify, document, triage, and track complex defects to resolution using tools such as Jira, ensuring root-cause analysis is performed.
• Quality Strategy: Partner with Engineering Leads and Product Managers to define test coverage goals, automation ROI metrics, and overall quality gates for release readiness.

Required Qualifications & Skills

Technical Expertise

• Programming Languages: High proficiency in Java or Python (object-oriented design patterns, data structures, and asynchronous execution).
• Mobile Automation: 3+ years of specialized hands-on experience with Appium for native, hybrid, and mobile web applications on iOS and Android.
• API Automation: Demonstrated experience with API automation tools and libraries (e.g., REST Assured, Python Requests, Postman/Newman).
• CI/CD & Version Control: Proven experience integrating automated tests with tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI, or GitHub Actions, alongside strong Git capabilities.
• Test Management & Agile Tools: Proficient with Jira, Xray/Zephyr, and Agile frameworks (Scrum/Kanban).

Experience & Background

Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or equivalent practical experience.

Work Experience:

• Sr. QE Engineer: 5+ years of software quality engineering experience, with at least 3+ years focused purely on automation.

Preferred / Nice-to-Have Skills

• Experience with cloud mobile execution platforms (BrowserStack, Sauce Labs, AWS Device Farm).
• Familiarity with performance and load testing tools for APIs (e.g., JMeter, Gatling, k6).
• Knowledge of containerization technologies (Docker, Kubernetes) for scalable test execution grids.
• Basic understanding of security testing guidelines (OWASP Mobile Top 10).
• Exposure to BDD frameworks like Cucumber or Behave.
• Core Competencies
• Problem-Solving: Exceptional analytical and debugging skills for complex, distributed systems.
• Communication: Clear oral and written communication skills to articulate technical debt, risk assessments, and test coverage to stakeholders.
• Leadership & Influence: Ability to promote a "Quality-First" culture across engineering departments.