QA Automation Engineer

Purpose
Own automated test coverage across backend (API/service/DB layers) and frontend (UI/component/E2E layers), driving toward near-100% automation coverage and ensuring every regression is caught before it reaches production.

Key Responsibilities
Build and maintain a comprehensive automated test suite spanning backend (pytest API/service/contract tests for FastAPI endpoints) and frontend (Vitest/RTL component tests, Playwright/Cypress E2E for Carbon UI flows).
Establish coverage tracking and gates in CI (GitLab CI), blocking merges that drop coverage below agreed thresholds.
Design regression suites keyed to historical defects/incidents so every fixed bug gets a permanent automated guard.
Automate cross-cutting scenarios: JWT access/refresh auth flows, role-based access (manager/admin), pagination/validation edge cases (422s), and DB integrity checks (is_current = true filters, multi-table transactions).
Build data-driven and contract tests for API responses (success/error envelope, status codes) and schema validation (Pydantic).
Automate frontend flows for Carbon components, React Query loading/error states, and AG-Grid interactions (pagination/infinite scroll), including accessibility checks.
Integrate automated tests into GitLab CI pipelines with fast feedback (parallelization, flaky-test quarantine, retries with root-cause triage).
Maintain synthetic/production-safe test data and fixtures; support performance/load test scripts (k6/Gatling) alongside functional automation.
Triage automation failures rapidly to distinguish real regressions from flaky/environment issues; drive flaky rate to near zero.
Partner with developers to shift-left testing (unit tests written alongside features) while owning the E2E/regression safety net.

Must-Have Skills
Strong pytest skills for backend automation: API/integration tests against FastAPI + PostgreSQL (raw SQL), fixtures, mocking DB/AWS dependencies.
Strong frontend automation: Vitest + React Testing Library for components, Playwright or Cypress for E2E across Carbon-based UI.
CI/CD pipeline experience (GitLab CI) — wiring test stages, coverage gates, artifacts, parallel test execution.
Contract/schema testing experience (Pydantic schemas, OpenAPI) and validation-rule coverage (422 paths).
Auth-flow automation (JWT access/refresh, RBAC) and multi-tenant/cross-tenant data access test design.
Ability to read production incident/defect history and reverse-engineer regression tests from it.
Familiarity with performance/load testing tools (k6/Gatling) to complement functional automation.
Strong ownership of “automation coverage” as a metric — proactive about closing gaps, not just maintaining existing suites.

KPIs / Success Measures
Automated test coverage near 100% across both backend (endpoint/service/DB paths) and frontend (component/flow paths).
100% of confirmed regressions get a corresponding automated test before the fix is merged.
Escaped defect rate (bugs reaching production undetected by automation) trending to zero.
Flaky test rate below an agreed threshold; CI automation stage stays green and fast.
Common Requirements (emphasis for this role)
Emphasis: coverage completeness, regression-proofing, and CI-integrated automation across the full stack.
Proficient, responsible use of GenAI test-generation assistants to expand coverage quickly, with human review for correctness and security.
Quality and observability ownership — automation results feed directly into release-readiness decisions.