Lead Software Engineer, Quality Assurance

Purpose

We are looking for our first QA engineer to establish and own software quality across our growing web application portfolio. This role will work closely with software engineers, product managers, and operations teams to ensure our applications meet high standards of reliability, performance, and usability—critical in a cutting-edge manufacturing environment. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys building QA from the ground up, writing real automation code, and shaping how quality is perceived across an engineering organization.

The Role

• Define and implement QA strategy, standards, and best practices across the software development lifecycle
• Establish test planning, test case design, defect tracking, and release sign-off processes
• Embed QA into CI/CD pipelines and development workflows
• Advocate for quality-first engineering culture, including shift-left testing and testability
• Design, write, and maintain automated test suites (unit, integration, end-to-end)
• Select and standardize testing frameworks and tools appropriate for our stack (e.g. Playwright, Cypress, Jest, Vitest, etc.)
• Build robust test coverage for:
  • Web UIs (Angular / React)
  • APIs and backend services (GraphQL / REST)
  • Database interactions (Postgres / Prisma)
• Ensure tests are reliable, maintainable, and fast enough for CI use
• Perform and guide exploratory testing for new features and complex workflows
• Define regression testing strategies and release validation processes
• Collaborate with product and engineering to clarify acceptance criteria
• Work closely with developers to improve testability and prevent defects early
• Partner with product managers to ensure requirements are testable and well-defined
• Communicate quality metrics, risks, and readiness clearly to stakeholders
• Scale QA practices to support increased product scope and development velocity
• Hire, onboard, and mentor QA engineers during a future growth phase

Basic Qualifications

• Ability to lawfully access information and technology that is subject to US export controls 
• 5+ years of experience in software quality assurance, with significant hands-on automation experience
• Strong experience testing modern web applications
• Proficiency in TypeScript / JavaScript for test automation
• Experience with one or more modern test frameworks (e.g. Playwright, Cypress, Jest)
• Solid understanding of: 
  • REST APIs
  • Relational databases (Postgres preferred)
  • CI/CD pipelines
• Experience designing QA processes, not just executing them
• Ability to work independently and make pragmatic decisions in an evolving environment

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience being the first or lead QA hire in a growing team
• Familiarity with Angular and/or React applications
• Experience testing systems used i