Lead Test Automation Engineer

Why This Role Matters:

Set the pace of release confidence and operational stability across an entire product department. At Finexus, this role coordinates quality outcomes at a scale no single product team can reach alone, driving measurable improvements in release velocity, defect escape rate, automation coverage, and delivery consistency across the department's portfolio.

About the Role:

You will own the department automation roadmap, QA process, coverage strategy, and standards, translating organization-wide QA Platform practices into effective department-level execution. You are accountable for automation across all products in scope, including client-supporting products, and will coordinate cross-product priorities and technical tradeoffs.

You will contribute hands-on to framework extensions, high-impact suites, and complex debugging while owning department-level architecture decisions, implementation approaches, design reviews, and release-gating criteria. Roadmap priority across products, headcount, and budget remain with the Department Director.

Mission / Expected Outcomes:

• Own and coordinate the department automation roadmap across product delivery and regulatory commitments within the QA Platform framework.
• Define the department QA process, including coverage strategy, test levels, product prioritization, defect lifecycle, evidence, and traceability.
• Contribute hands-on to framework implementation, high-impact suites, and difficult debugging while retaining authority over technical architecture decisions.
• Build and scale the TAE bench through mentoring, hiring involvement, and structured closure of skill gaps.
• Represent automation capability, quality metrics, and risk posture to engineering, product, and department leadership.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Department Roadmap, Architecture & Standards

• Design and build department- and product-level automation implementations on the QA Platform framework, contributing directly to framework extensions and high-impact suites.
• Own architecture and design decisions covering implementation approach, framework structure, reusability patterns, and test-data strategy.
• Drive the automation roadmap across all products in scope, balancing client and regulatory delivery needs against technical debt and strategic direction.
• Apply platform coding, documentation, tooling, and automation benchmark standards in the department context and recommend scalable improvements.

2. Coverage, Traceability & QA Governance

• Set the critical automation coverage floor for each product and define trigger conditions for expanding coverage.
• Own test-case management standards, including library structure, execution records, and traceability from requirement through test case to result.
• Set version-controlled, reproducible, and parallel-safe test-data and environment standards.
• Govern defect triage, severity and priority definitions, fix validation, and accountability for reopened defects.
• Ensure test evidence withstands regulatory, audit, and client-facing scrutiny.

3. Technical Problem Resolution & Metrics

• Lead resolution of complex problems involving flaky suites, environment instability, pipeline failures, and difficult cross-product dependencies.
• Define and track department-level quality measures, including defect escape rate, coverage, flake rate, execution cycle time, and reporting automation.
• Use quality data and risk insights to drive process change and support release-gating decisions.

4. Technical Leadership, Mentorship & Team Development

• Provide technical leadership across product teams by mentoring engineers, reviewing automation code and design, and fostering a high-performance culture.
• Act as technical approver for automation designs and framework-extension proposals within the department.
• Identify training needs, coordinate upskilling paths, and champion knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.
• Own department-wide hiring involvement for TAE roles, including interviews, take-home review calibration, and leveling decisions.

5. Platform Partnership & Department Advisory

• Partner with QA Platform technical leads to define the department's automation technology direction.
• Consult on automation initiatives for any department product, review compliance with QA Platform standards, and identify gaps for product teams to close.
• Influence engineering, product, and leadership stakeholders while recognizing Department Director ownership of cross-product priority, headcount, and budget.

Technical Scope:

• Automation tools: Playwright, Cypress, Katalon, Selenium, Appium, Postman, Karate, or equivalent.
• Programming: Java, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, C, C#, or similar languages.
• Testing expertise: Strong depth in web/mobile UI and API/backend automation, with additional specialization in security or performance testing.
• QA process: Test-case and defect management, coverage and traceability, release gating, and evidence for audited environments.
• Databases: Strong SQL skills for backend and transactional validation.
• CI/CD: Bitbucket, Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, or similar, including pipeline standards enforcement.

Qualifications:

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field.
• 7+ years in Quality Assurance, including at least 5 years in test automation, or equivalent software engineering experience with a strong testing focus.
• Proven ability to design and build automation frameworks for complex, large-scale systems while maintaining current hands-on coding capability.
• Track record leading automation roadmaps, standards enforcement, and QA processes across multiple products or teams.
• Experience defining coverage strategy, entry and exit criteria, test management, and defect governance across more than one product.

Leadership & Strategic Competencies

• Proven ability to lead and manage test automation engineers, including through indirect reporting lines.
• Strong strategic thinking and the ability to align automation objectives with business outcomes across multiple products.
• Ability to prioritize competing automation needs based on ROI, delivery commitments, technical risk, and regulatory impact.
• Excellent stakeholder management across engineering, product, QA Platform, and department leadership.
• High accountability, ownership, sound judgment, and a results-driven approach.

Domain & Methodology

• Experience in fintech, banking, financial institutions, cards and payments, or regulated technology environments is a strong advantage.
• Strong familiarity with modern technology stacks, Agile methodologies, SDLC, STLC, observability, and QA engineering best practices.

Professional Certifications (Optional)

• ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL).
• ISTQB Certified Tester Test Automation Engineer (CT-TAE).