QA Tech Lead

Description WHY XOGENE? At Xogene, we’re revolutionizing the future of clinical trial transparency through AI-powered solutions. Join our team of experts who are transforming how leading pharmaceutical and life sciences companies navigate regulatory compliance. If you’re driven by solving complex problems in a professional environment focused on meaningful and rewarding work, we want to hear from you. POSITION OVERVIEW Xogene combines regulatory expertise with advanced technology to automate complex processes in clinical trial transparency. Our software streamlines workflows through AI and agentic networking capabilities, improving data transformation and regulatory compliance for leading pharmaceutical and life sciences companies. We’re committed to advancing technological solutions in clinical trial transparency. As we continue to expand, we are seeking an experienced QA Tech Lead to drive our test automation initiatives and strengthen our testing strategy. Reporting to the Director of Engineering, the QA Tech Lead will own test automation strategy and execution. This is a hands-on technical role: you will write and maintain automated tests while guiding the team’s automation direction. KEY TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES Lead and mentor automation engineers, provide technical guidance to the wider testing team, and foster a culture of quality excellence and continuous improvement. Support skill development across the team, including cross-training manual testers in automation (e.g., Playwright Codegen, low-code contributions, and AI-assisted scripting with tools such as Claude) and ensuring automation engineers understand product domain and end-user workflows. Collaborate with cross-functional teams including Development, Customer Success, Product Management, Design and Product Support across multiple time zones. Define the overall risk-based test strategy, focusing testing effort where regulatory and customer risk is highest, with clear criteria for which tests are automated, which remain manual, and what doesn’t need a test at all. Own automation test plans and standards across all Xogene product releases. Create and maintain quality metrics, KPIs, and dashboards on testing progress and potential blockers, and provide regular updates to the Director of Engineering. Define test scope, objectives, success criteria, and time and resource estimates with stakeholders, and ensure comprehensive coverage through effective test case design and review. Identify, assess, and mitigate quality risks throughout each sprint cycle, including during pre-release dry runs. Architect, build, and maintain scalable automation testing frameworks, including our custom-built Playwright framework, enforcing code standards, and maximizing test reusability through the Page Object Model (POM). Develop and execute automated test scenarios, scripts, and procedures for system, integration, regression, and API testing, growing automated test coverage across all Xogene software products. Act as the technical point of contact and subject matter expert on the code and system architecture, diagnosing complex technical problems and designing solutions that reflect lessons learned. Identify manual test cases suitable for automation and work with the Test Lead to prioritize and transition them. Move automated suites from manual triggers to a tiered CI/CD strategy in GitHub Actions (Smoke, Sanity, and Nightly Regression) that serves as quality gates for developers, and maintain suite health, including resolving flaky tests and tracking automation coverage. Oversee the integration between Playwright and Zephyr Scale, reporting test results directly into Zephyr Scale through automated JUnit XML reporting pipelines and maintaining a single source of truth for QA metrics. Oversee test environments and test data management, ensuring realistic, compliant test data is available for both manual and automated testing. Perform manual testing where automation is impractical, defect triage and resolution, and User Acceptance Testing (UAT), contributing automated regression coverage where practical. Contribute automation coverage and results to validation documentation, including the Test Plan, Test Summary Report, Traceability Matrix, and UAT Scripts. Requirements Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field Minimum 7 years of experience in software testing or QA engineering, including at least 2 years in a technical or automation lead role Hands-on experience testing large-scale enterprise SaaS web applications and complex software systems, including role-based access controls (RBAC), multi-tenant data isolation, and API integration layers Experience leading automation engineers and working closely with manual testers Solid understanding of manual testing, including test case design techniques (e.g., boundary value analysis, equivalence partitioning), exploratory testing, and regression planning Ability to assess automation ROI and recommend the right balance of manual and automated testing effort based on risk, release cadence, and product maturity Expert-level proficiency in Playwright (TypeScript/JavaScript or Python), including building frameworks from the ground up using design patterns such as the Page Object Model (POM), plus experience with other automation tools (e.g., Selenium, REST Assured) Strong hands-on programming skills (TypeScript, Python, JavaScript) and working knowledge of database technologies Proficiency in performance testing tools (JMeter, LoadRunner) and API testing frameworks Experience with CI/CD pipelines, DevOps practices, and test integration strategies Expertise in the SDLC and test management tools (e.g., Jira, Zephyr Scale), including hands-on experience automating test execution uploads to Zephyr Scale via APIs Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to explain technical topics to non-technical team members DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS Ability to balance long-term automation architecture with immediate release needs Team leadership skills, including delegating and prioritizing work, giving constructive feedback, and supporting the growth of team members Commitment to staying current with industry trends and emerging testing technologies Experience working in fast-paced, innovative technology environments Experience in collaborative, agile teams that regularly deploy high-quality software to production Strong business acumen and understanding of how quality impacts customer success and business outcomes Experience testing in regulated environments (e.g., GxP, computer system validation, 21 CFR Part 11) Experience testing AI/LLM-powered features, including strategies for validating non-deterministic outputs Experience configuring AI coding assistants (e.g., Claude) to accelerate QA scripting workflows Background in lightweight DevOps tasks, such as Docker and managing staging/test environments