Senior QA Automation Engineer

Key Responsibilities

Automation Framework Architecture & Development

● Design, build, and maintain a scalable Java-based test automation framework using Playwright for UI and REST Assured for API testing.

● Establish framework architecture decisions: project structure, base classes, page object model, test data management, reporting, self-healing and retry logic.

● Define and enforce automation coding standards, naming conventions, and documentation practices.

● Build reusable utility libraries for common actions: authentication flows, environment configuration, database queries, and assertion helpers.

● Ensure framework supports parallel execution, cross-environment configuration, and CI/CD integration from day one.

UI Test Automation (Playwright + Java)

● Implement end-to-end UI test suites covering critical GRP workflows: budget execution, expenditure processing, treasury payments, and revenue collection.

● Apply Page Object Model (POM) pattern to ensure test maintainability as the UI evolves.

● Handle complex JSF-based UI interactions including dynamic forms, multi-step workflows, modals, and data grids.

● Build smoke and regression suites that can be triggered automatically on each build artifact.

● Manage test data setup and teardown strategies to ensure test isolation and repeatability.

API Test Automation (REST Assured + Java)

● Design and implement comprehensive REST API test suites covering GRP service endpoints across all functional modules.

● Validate API contracts: request/response schema, status codes, error handling, authentication, and data integrity.

● Build data-driven API tests that cover boundary conditions, negative scenarios, and multi-step transactional flows.

● Integrate API tests as a fast-feedback layer in the CI pipeline, running on every Trunk commit independently of UI tests.

● Collaborate with back-end developers to define testable API contracts and flag integration issues early.

CI/CD Integration

● Integrate automated test suites into the existing Jenkins CI pipeline, triggering appropriate test layers on each build.

● Configure test execution stages: smoke on commit, regression on Code Freeze, full suite on release candidate.

● Implement test reporting and failure notification so the team receives actionable feedback without manual monitoring.

● Work with the DevOps team to manage test environment provisioning and ensure automation runs reliably across environments.

● Maintain pipeline stability: monitor flaky tests, enforce quarantine processes, and drive flakiness reduction.

Test Coverage Strategy

● Collaborate with the QA Lead and Manual QA Engineers to identify and prioritize automation candidates based on risk, frequency, and regression value.

● Build and maintain an automation coverage map showing which manual test cases have been automated, which are in progress, and which remain manual.

● Define and track key automation metrics: coverage percentage, execution time, pass rate, and flakiness rate by module.

● Contribute to shift-left testing practices by enabling developers to run smoke suites locally before committing.

Cross-Team Collaboration

● Partner with Manual QA Engineers to convert high-value regression test cases into automated equivalents.

● Work with Functional Analysts to understand business workflows deeply enough to write reliable automation for complex multi-module flows.

● Participate in sprint planning and backlog refinement, estimating automation effort and flagging testability concerns during requirements review.

● Support developers in understanding test failures and distinguishing automation issues from genuine application defects

Mentorship & Continuous Improvement

● Mentor Manual QA Engineers interested in developing automation skills.

● Conduct code reviews on automation contributions from other team members.

● Continuously evaluate new tools, libraries, and practices that can improve framework efficiency or coverage quality.

● Document framework onboarding guides to enable team members to contribute automation without deep framework expertise.

Senior Experience & Qualifications (Required)

Education & Experience

● Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related discipline. Equivalent practical experience considered.

● Minimum 8+ years of progressive experience in QA automation for enterprise-scale web applications.

● Proven experience designing and building automation frameworks from scratch, not just maintaining existing ones.

● Demonstrated experience with Java as the primary automation language in a professional setting.

● Experience integrating automated test suites into CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or equivalent).

● Background in or strong understanding of manual QA practices, as automation engineers who have done manual testing make better architectural decisions.

QA Automation Technical Expertise

Core Automation Stack

● Advanced expertise in

○ Java - primary automation language

○ Playwright - UI end-to-end automation

○ REST Assured - API test automation and contract validation

○ Jenkins - CI/CD test execution in automated pipeline or by demand ○ Docker - for effective tests isolation and debugging

○ TestNG / JUnit - test execution framework

○ Maven / Gradle - build and dependency management

○ Git - version control and branching

● Strong understanding of asynchronous UI behavior, waiting strategies, and DOM interaction in Playwright.

● Experience writing data-driven tests using external data sources (CSV, JSON, Excel, database).

● Proficiency with SQL for test data setup, teardown, and result verification against the database layer.

● Experience with Docker or containerized test execution environments.

CI/CD & DevOps Integration

● Hands-on experience configuring Jenkins pipelines (Jenkinsfile) to trigger, execute, and report automated tests.

● Experience managing test environment configuration across multiple stages (dev, staging, UAT, production-like).

● Understanding of build artifact versioning and the ability to run tests against a specific revision or tagged build.

● Familiarity with Docker Compose for spinning up test environments on demand.

Testing Practices

● Deep understanding of automation pyramid: unit, integration, API, and UI layers and when to invest in each.

● Experience implementing flaky test detection, quarantine, and elimination workflows.

● Proficiency in test isolation techniques: independent test data, environment cleanup, and idempotent test design.

● Familiarity with contract testing concepts (e.g., Pact) and API schema validation strategies.

● Understanding of performance baseline testing and ability to integrate basic load assertions into API test suites.

Domain & Platform Knowledge

● Ability to automate complex multi-step workflows in JSF-based or form-heavy enterprise web applications.

● Experience testing applications backed by multiple database platforms (MySQL, Oracle, MSSQL).

● Understanding of ERP, GRP, or financial management system workflows is a strong advantage.

● Familiarity with government or public sector software context is a plus.

Interpersonal & Leadership

● Strong analytical problem-solving skills with attention to framework maintainability and long-term testability.