QA Engineer

QA Engineer (Automation & AI-Driven Testing) - Pune, Maharashtra

NorthStar HR Consultants is seeking a skilled QA Engineer to join their team in Pune, Maharashtra, India. This role focuses on ensuring the quality, reliability, and customer trust of a client's SaaS platform through advanced automation and AI-driven testing strategies. You will be instrumental in designing, building, and maintaining modern test automation systems, including intelligent testing tools, working collaboratively with engineering, product, and DevOps teams.

This position emphasizes a proactive approach to quality engineering, focusing on aggressive automation and ensuring high confidence in every software release. Key responsibilities include analyzing product requirements, contributing to test strategy and planning, designing and implementing automated test suites for APIs, UIs, and end-to-end workflows, and building/evolving test automation frameworks. You will leverage AI-powered tools for efficient test creation and maintenance, monitor quality gates through test coverage and defect tracking, and participate in architectural discussions to identify potential quality risks.

The ideal candidate will have strong debugging and troubleshooting skills, experience with complex distributed systems, and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced startup environment. You will integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines, perform various testing types (regression, integration, performance), and review peer test code to uphold quality standards. Collaboration with cross-functional teams and excellent communication skills are essential.

Must-Have Skills:

• 2–6 years of experience in Quality Engineering / Test Automation for SaaS products.
• Strong experience testing APIs, web & mobile applications, and backend services.
• Hands-on experience with Python-based test automation.
• Hands-on experience with web and mobile automation using Appium.
• Hands-on experience with Playwright test automation.
• Experience building or maintaining custom or open-source test automation frameworks (PyTest).
• Experience writing and executing functional, integration, and regression test cases.
• Exposure to AI-assisted / intelligent testing tools (e.g., self-healing tests, AI-based test generation, flaky test detection).
• Strong debugging, troubleshooting, and analytical skills.
• Experience with cloud-based platforms and environments.
• Basic understanding of performance testing concepts.
• Experience with design, document, and execute test cases using test management tools.
• Log, track, and manage defects using JIRA.
• Familiarity with scripting languages such as Python, Shell, or Groovy.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams.

Good-to-Have Skills:

• Hands-on experience integrating tests into CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience with Github Actions, ArgoCD, or similar CI tools.
• Exposure to cloud-native or IoT-based platforms.
• Understanding of build processes and deployment automation.
• Familiarity with Docker or containerized test environments.
• Experience testing distributed systems or event-driven architectures.
• Prior startup or fast-scaling product experience.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, IT, or a related field from a reputed institution.