Lead Automation Engineer

RAKBANK; Dubai; On-site; AED 320,000 - 520,000; Full time

Job summary

RAKBANK seeks a Lead Test Automation Engineer to drive enterprise-wide automation across digital channels and core banking systems. This hands-on leadership role builds scalable frameworks, accelerates CI/CD quality, and expands coverage while reducing manual testing.

You will mentor engineers, implement shift-left practices, and collaborate with DevOps, Product and Quality teams to ensure robust quality gates across the software delivery lifecycle.

Qualifications

• 8–10 years of software testing experience with banking/financial services preferred.
• 3+ years leading automation initiatives and teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead design, development, and scaling of enterprise-wide test automation frameworks across web, mobile, API, and banking platforms.
• Build and maintain regression suites to improve coverage, speed, and defect detection.
• Integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines and quality gates.
• Lead API, integration, mobile, and performance testing across critical banking applications.
• Define automation standards, guidelines, and governance across teams.
• Own test data management, environments readiness, and automation reporting.
• Mentor automation engineers through code reviews and knowledge sharing.
• Support intelligent automation and RPA testing initiatives to boost quality and efficiency.

Skills

Automation leadership

CI/CD

Test strategy

Test data mgmt

API testing

Performance testing

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Tools

Playwright

Selenium

WebDriverIO

Appium

Maestro

Python

PyTest

JavaScript

TypeScript

Java

Postman

Newman

REST Assured

Cucumber

Behave

Azure DevOps

Jenkins

GitLab

Docker

K6

JMeter

UiPath Test Suite

Job description

Job Description:

Rakbank is seeking a highly skilled Lead Test Automation Engineer to drive the banks enterprise-wide test automation strategy across digital channels, core banking platforms, APIs, mobile applications, and integration layers. This is a hands-on leadership role responsible for building scalable automation frameworks, accelerating CI/CD quality delivery, improving test coverage, and reducing manual testing effort across mission-critical banking platforms. You will work closely with Development, DevOps, Product, and Quality Engineering teams to establish automation excellence, implement shift-left testing practices, and ensure robust quality gates throughout the software delivery lifecycle.

What You will Do:

• Lead the design, development, and scaling of enterprise-wide test automation frameworks across web, mobile, API, and core banking platforms.
• Build and maintain robust regression suites that improve test coverage, execution speed, and defect detection while reducing manual testing effort.
• Drive automation adoption across the software development lifecycle by integrating automated testing into CI/CD pipelines and quality gates.
• Lead API, integration, mobile, and performance testing initiatives across critical banking applications and customer journeys.
• Define automation standards, best practices, coding guidelines, and governance across internal and vendor teams.
• Own test data management, environment readiness, and automation reporting to ensure reliable and repeatable test execution.
• Partner with Engineering, DevOps, Product, and Quality teams to embed quality and testability into solution delivery.
• Mentor and develop automation engineers through technical leadership, code reviews, and knowledge sharing.
• Support intelligent automation, RPA testing, and continuous improvement initiatives that enhance delivery quality and efficiency.

What You will Bring:

• Bacheors Degree plus 8-10 years of software testing experience, including at least 3 years leading automation initiatives within banking or financial services environments.
• Strong expertise in automation framework design using tools such as Playwright, Selenium, WebDriverIO, Appium, and Maestro.
• Hands-on programming experience with Python/PyTest and working knowledge of JavaScript, TypeScript, or Java.
• Proven experience in API automation, performance testing, and integration testing across complex enterprise applications.
• Strong knowledge of CI/CD platforms such as Azure DevOps, Jenkins, or GitLab, including containerized and parallel test execution.
• Experience with test data management, SQL validation, service virtualization, and automation reporting frameworks.
• Solid understanding of retail and business banking systems, digital channels, and quality engineering best practices.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and debugging capabilities with the ability to identify and resolve complex quality issues.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and leadership skills with a passion for mentoring and developing high-performing teams.

Preferred Skills:

• Expertise in web, mobile, API, and performance test automation using Playwright, Selenium, WebDriverIO, Appium, Maestro, K6, and JMeter.
• Strong programming capabilities in Python/PyTest with working knowledge of JavaScript, TypeScript, and Java.
• Hands-on experience in API and contract testing using Postman, Newman, REST Assured, and BDD frameworks such as Cucumber and Behave.
• Proven experience integrating automated testing into CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps, Jenkins, GitLab, Docker, and cloud execution platforms.
• Skilled in service virtualization, test data management, synthetic data generation, SQL/database validation, and log/API trace analysis.
• Experienced with Azure DevOps Test Plans, Jira, UiPath Test Suite, RPA testing, and intelligent automation workflows.

Requirements: