QA Automation Engineer
Pearl works with the top 1% of candidates from around the world and connects them with the best startups in the US and EU. Our clients have raised over $5B in aggregate and are backed by companies like OpenAI, a16z, and Founders Fund. They're looking for the sharpest, hungriest candidates who they can consistently promote and work with over many years. Candidates we've hired have been flown out to the US and EU to work with their clients, and even promoted to roles that match folks onshore in the US.
At Pearl, we're not just another recruiting firm—we connect you with exceptional opportunities to work alongside visionary US and EU founders. Our focus is on placing you in roles where you can grow, be challenged, and build long-term, meaningful careers.
The QA Automation Engineer ensures that every product release is reliable, scalable, and user-friendly by designing, implementing, and maintaining comprehensive test automation frameworks. This role goes beyond writing test scripts—you'll architect quality assurance systems that integrate seamlessly into CI/CD pipelines, leverage AI tools to optimize testing processes, and collaborate cross-functionally to maintain product excellence. Working across diverse technology stacks including web, mobile, API, and database layers, you'll apply both analytical problem-solving and creative thinking to identify real-world edge cases from a user's perspective. You'll build automated testing solutions that catch bugs early, reduce manual testing burden, and enable faster, more confident product releases.
Your automation expertise will directly improve product quality, development velocity, and customer satisfaction by catching defects before they reach production. By building robust test frameworks and integrating them into CI/CD pipelines, you'll enable development teams to ship features faster with confidence. Your work will reduce manual testing time by significant percentages, freeing QA teams to focus on exploratory testing and complex scenarios. Through AI-driven testing optimization, you'll accelerate testing cycles and improve coverage. Your collaboration with developers will improve code quality by identifying architectural issues early and suggesting improvements. By thinking from both technical and user perspectives, you'll ensure products not only function correctly but deliver excellent user experiences.
Core Responsibilities
Test Automation Development & Framework Design (50%)
- Design, develop, and maintain automated test scripts for web, mobile, and API applications
- Build and maintain automated test frameworks using Cypress, Playwright, Selenium, Tosca, Katalon, or similar tools
- Conduct comprehensive end-to-end testing across web, database, and API layers
- Create automated regression, integration, and functional test suites
- Optimize test automation frameworks for speed, reliability, and maintainability
- Implement test data management strategies and mock services where appropriate
- Apply version control, logging, and structured documentation for all test code
- Execute automated test suites and analyze results for defects and failures
CI/CD Integration & DevOps Collaboration (20%)
- Integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or similar
- Configure automated test execution for multiple environments and deployment stages
- Build reporting and dashboard automations for test visibility and accountability
- Collaborate with DevOps teams to ensure smooth integration of QA processes
- Monitor test execution in continuous deployment workflows
- Implement parallel test execution strategies to reduce build times
- Maintain test environment configurations and dependencies
AI-Driven Testing & Quality Optimization (15%)
- Use AI tools (ChatGPT, Testim, or similar) to optimize QA processes and speed up testing cycles
- Apply user-centric testing approaches to identify real-world edge cases and usability gaps
- Leverage AI-powered test generation and maintenance tools where applicable
- Implement intelligent test selection and prioritization strategies
- Use AI for visual regression testing and anomaly detection
- Explore and integrate emerging AI/ML tools for quality assurance
Bug Tracking, Collaboration & Quality Improvement (10%)
- Identify, document, and track bugs through resolution with detailed reproduction steps
- Collaborate with developers to debug issues, verify fixes, and improve release quality
- Work with product managers to clarify requirements and define test strategies
- Participate in sprint planning, refinement, and retrospective meetings
- Suggest process improvements and contribute to culture of product reliability and excellence
- Conduct code reviews of test automation code with team members
- Mentor junior QA engineers on automation best practices
Documentation, Reporting & Continuous Improvement (5%)
- Analyze testing results and maintain comprehensive technical documentation
- Monitor and report on test coverage, quality metrics, and automation ROI
- Define metrics for automation success (time saved, error reduction, efficiency gains)
- Continuously improve automation coverage based on defect analysis and risk assessment
- Maintain clear documentation and training guides for stakeholders and team members
- Track testing KPIs including defect detection rate, test execution time, and coverage percentages
- Contribute to continuous improvement of QA processes and tooling