AVP, Quality Engineering Lead (Ramachandrapuram)

Synchrony Financial; Hyderabad; On-site; INR 2,800,000 - 5,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Synchrony Financial in Hyderabad, India, is seeking an AVP, Quality Engineering Lead to steer API and service-layer QE with hands-on automation using Java and Cucumber. You will own end-to-end QE strategy, drive automation, and ensure robust test coverage across releases.

Lead a cross-functional QE team, mentor engineers, and collaborate with product, DevOps, and security to embed quality into CI/CD. This is a fast-paced fintech role focused on scalable testing and reliable APIs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science/engineering or equivalent.
• 5+ years in QA/Testing with 2+ years leading QA.
• Strong automation experience in Java with Cucumber (BDD) and API testing.
• Hands-on API automation using RestAssured and validation of responses.
• Proficient in Allure reporting and ALM/Octane for test management.
• Experience with Git, Maven/Gradle, and CI/CD integration.
• Excellent communication and cross-team collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Own and drive end-to-end QE strategy for API releases.
• Lead hands-on API automation and manual testing when needed.
• Build and maintain API automation frameworks.
• Implement Allure reporting and dashboards.
• Manage test planning, traceability, and defects in ALM/Octane.
• Integrate automation into Jenkins CI/CD pipelines.
• Mentor QA engineers and promote automation standards.
• Communicate quality status and release readiness to stakeholders.

Skills

QA leadership

Java + Cucumber

API testing

RestAssured

Allure reporting

ALM/Octane

Git & CI/CD

Agile/Scrum

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science/engineering

Tools

RestAssured

Allure

ALM/Octane

Git

Maven/Gradle

Jenkins

Job description

RoleTitle : AVP, Quality Engineering Lead (L10)

Company Overview : Synchrony (NYSE: SYF) is a premier consumer financial services company delivering one of the industrys most complete digitally enabled product suites. Our experience, expertise and scale encompass a broad spectrum of industries including digital, health and wellness, retail, telecommunications, home, auto, outdoors, pet and more.

• We have recently been ranked #2 among Indias Best Companies to Work for by Great Place to Work. We were among the Top 50 Indias Best Workplaces in Building a Culture of Innovation by All by GPTW and Top 25 among Best Workplaces in BFSI by GPTW. We have also been recognized by AmbitionBox Employee Choice Awards among the Top 20 Mid-Sized Companies, ranked #3 among Top Rated Companies for Women, and Top-Rated Financial Services Companies.
• We provide best-in-class employee benefits and programs that cater to work life integration and overall well-being.
• We provide career advancement and upskilling opportunities, focusing to take up leadership roles

Organizational Overvie w:

Synchrony's Engineering Team is a dynamic and innovative team dedicated to driving technological excellence. As a member of this Team, you'll play a pivotal role in designing and developing cutting-edge tech stack and solutions that redefine industry standards. The Credit Card that we use every day to purchase our essentials and later settle the bills - A simple process that we all are used to on a day to day basis. Now, consider the vast complexity hidden behind this seemingly simple process, operating tirelessly for millions of cardholders. The sheer volume of data processed is mind-boggling. Fortunately, advanced technology stands ready to automate and manage this constant torrent of information, ensuring smooth transactions around the clock, 365 days a year. Our team-oriented environment encourages creative problem-solving and fosters career growth. Join us to work on diverse projects, from fintech to data analytics, and contribute to shaping the future of technology. If you're passionate about engineering and innovation, Synchrony's Engineering Team is the place to be.

Role Summary/Purpose:

The QE Lead will lead quality engineering for API/service-layer products, with strong hands-on ownership of test automation using Java + Cucumber (BDD) , reporting via Allure , and test/defect management in ALM/Octane . This role partners closely with engineering, product, DevOps and QE CoE to embed quality into CI/CD and deliver reliable, secure, and scalable APIs. While this role is automation-first, the QA Lead should be comfortable performing manual testing as needed for exploratory testing, complex scenarios, or when automation is not yet available.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own and drive end-to-end QE strategy for API releases: functional, integration, regression, and contract testing.
• Lead and contribute hands-on to Java-based API automation using Cucumber/Gherkin (feature design, step definitions, hooks, tags, data-driven execution) and perform manual testing when required (exploratory, validation of new/complex features, triage/verification of defects, and ad-hoc release readiness checks).
• Build/maintain API automation frameworks (commonly RestAssured/HTTP client , JSON schema validation, serialization/deserialization, auth handling).
• Implement Allure reporting (test categorization, trends, flaky test analysis, actionable dashboards).
• Manage test planning, execution, requirements traceability, and defects using ALM/Octane (test sets, runs, metrics).
• Integrate automated suites into CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins), establish quality gates for smoke/regression.
• Drive shift-left practices: define testable acceptance criteria, add automation during sprint.
• Mentor QA engineers; perform code reviews; establish automation standards and best practices.
• Communicate release readiness, quality metrics, and risks clearly to stakeholders.

Required Skills/Knowledge:

• Bachelors degree in computer science/engineering or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years in QA/Testing with 2+ years leading QA or owning quality for a team/product.
• Solid test automation experience in Java with Cucumber (BDD) and API testing.
• Solid hands-on API automation experience (e.g., RestAssured , request/response validation, headers/auth, retries, idempotency checks).
• Strong experience with Allure (reports, categories, attachments, trends).
• Strong experience with ALM/Octane for test case management and defect lifecycle.
• Good understanding of test design techniques, STLC, Agile/Scrum.
• Experience with Git, Maven/Gradle, and CI/CD integration.
• Strong ownership, execution focus, and ability to unblock cross-team dependencies.
• Clear communication of quality status, risks, and go/no-go readiness.
• Coaching/mentoring mindset; sets standards and raises the bar for automation.