Quality Assurance Test Lead

Balance Recruitment and Balance Consulting; Sydney; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Balance Recruitment and Balance Consulting seeks a Lead Quality Engineer to drive QA across a high-scale payment gateway built on Java microservices. You will define test strategy, lead execution, and ensure PCI/PII compliance while guiding legacy and modern platforms.

The role emphasizes API security, performance testing, and AI-assisted testing methods within a fast-paced agile environment. 12-month contract in Sydney, Australia, with close collaboration across product, engineering, and SRE

Qualifications

• Over 10 years of hands-on software quality engineering experience with leadership exposure.
• Deep expertise in microservices testing strategies including consumer contract testing.
• Strong experience with API security testing frameworks and OWASP API Top 10.
• Proven track record in performance testing design, execution, and analysis.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end QA for Java 17 and Spring Boot microservices handling payment flows.
• Design and maintain test suites for functional, integration, regression, and non-functional tests.
• Build API-level tests focusing on security, throughput, and PCI/PII compliance.
• Develop performance, load, soak, and spike tests to target high availability.
• Integrate test automation into CI/CD with quality gates on merges.
• Collaborate with engineers, product managers, and SREs on quality objectives.
• Review code for testability and observability; set high quality standards.

Skills

Leadership

Quality engineering

Java

Spring Boot

API testing

Contract testing (Pact)

Performance testing

CI/CD

Docker/Kubernetes

Git

AI-assisted testing

Legacy systems testing

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Engineering

Tools

JUnit 5

Karate

REST Assured

Pact

Gatling

k6

Scala load scripts

Job description

Our client, a leading payment technology provider, is seeking an experienced Lead Quality Engineer to join their team and lead quality engineering efforts across a high-scale payment gateway.

In this 12 month contract role, you will oversee test strategy, design, and execution for Java microservices that handle payment authorisation and processing at massive scale. You'll ensure seamless migration and operation of both modern and legacy platforms, using comprehensive testing approaches including service integration, consumer-driven contracts, and AI-assisted engineering techniques.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading end-to-end quality assurance for Java 17 and Spring Boot 3.x microservices, focusing on REST/JSON services and ISO 8583 payment message processing.
• Designing and maintaining robust test suites covering functional, integration, regression, and non-functional tests with tools such as JUnit 5, Karate, REST Assured, and Pact.
• Building API-level tests emphasizing security, throughput, and compliance with PCI/PII standards, including authorization flows and input validation.
• Developing and executing performance, load, stress, soak, and spike tests with frameworks like Gatling, k6, and Scala load scripts to achieve the 99.999% availability target.
• Integrating test automation frameworks into CI/CD pipelines ensuring quality gates on every merge.
• Employing AI coding agents (e.g., Claude Code CLI) to accelerate test generation, coverage analysis, and troubleshooting.
• Collaborating closely with engineers, product managers, technical program managers, and site reliability engineers to align on quality, technical, and delivery objectives.
• Reviewing code for testability and observability and setting high quality standards across development teams.

Candidate requirements:

• Over 10 years of hands-on software quality engineering experience with leadership exposure in fast-paced agile teams.
• Deep expertise in microservices testing strategies including consumer contract testing using Pact or Spring Cloud Contract.
• Strong experience with API security testing frameworks and best practices focusing on OWASP API Top 10 vulnerabilities.
• Proven track record in performance testing design, execution, and analysis with Gatling and similar tools.
• Solid Java and Spring Boot proficiency for code-level collaboration and debugging.
• Working knowledge of CI/CD automation, containerization (Docker/Kubernetes), and version control with Git.
• Demonstrated use of AI-assisted development tools to improve quality engineering efficacy.
• Ability to test and maintain legacy payment systems alongside modern architectures.
• Excellent communication skills for conveying complex quality risks to diverse stakeholders.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.

Join our client’s team to play a critical role in maintaining trusted payment experiences at massive scale. This position offers the opportunity to leverage cutting-edge AI-assisted engineering and advanced test automation to deliver exceptional quality and reliability.

Balance Recruitment is an equal opportunity employer who is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and applicants from all parts of the community are encouraged to apply for this role.