QA Automation - Lead

. Define and own the enterprise-level automation testing strategy and roadmap ensuring alignment with engagement objectives, prioritized applications and quality engineering goals.

. Drive adoption of advanced automation tools, frameworks, and best practices across projects.

. Establish governance models, architecture, standards, reusable component and maintainability improvements, coding standards, and automation guidelines across teams (coding conventions, tagging, reporting, error handling, retry strategy, and test data approach).

. Lead multiple QA teams ensuring delivery of high-quality automated testing solutions.

. Provide technical leadership for complex automation scenarios (API auth, asynchronous flows, data setup/teardown, and cross-system validations).

. Design the CI/CD execution approach for automated suites in GitLab (pipeline stages, schedules, environments, and runner requirements) and guide implementation.

. Accountable for automation effectiveness, defect leakage reduction, and overall test confidence across programs.

. Collaborate with stakeholders to define automation KPIs(pass rate, flakiness, execution duration, defect leakage, and release readiness indicators), dashboards, and quality metrics. Establish Jira/X-Ray integration patterns for traceability, governance, and automated reporting (test plans, executions, evidence, and dashboards as applicable).

. Review and assure quality of automation code via standards enforcement, code reviews, and mentoring of QA engineers.

. Define and oversee knowledge transfer and onboarding approach (framework usage, contribution model, and troubleshooting runbooks).

. Identify and manage automation risks/dependencies (environments, test data, access, runner capacity) and escalate blockers to governance forums.

. Support defect triage and RCA for automation failures in collaboration with client teams and drive improvements to reduce flaky tests.

. Ensure delivered automation artifacts are production-ready (documentation, maintainability, and handover readiness).

. Contribute to agile ceremonies and stakeholder demos to communicate progress, outcomes, and next steps.

. Identify opportunities for innovation including AI-driven testing, performance optimization, and continuous testing.

. Provide leadership, mentoring, and strategic direction to QA and automation teams.

. Demonstrates leadership and accountability in driving quality outcomes.

. Collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams and business stakeholders.

. Promotes a culture of quality and continuous improvement.

. Apply strategic thinking to manage quality risks and testing challenges.

. Makes informed decisions balancing quality, timelines, and business needs.

. Communicates effectively on quality status, risks, and dependencies.

. Encourages innovation and continuous learning within the QA team.

. Promotes a culture of quality, continuous improvement, and customer focus.

. Builds and mentors high-performing QA teams through coaching and guidance.

. Drives innovation, testing governance, quality best practices, compliance and excellence in testing processes.

. Maintains a customer-focused approach to delivering high-quality solutions.