Lead Automation Test Engineer

Karsun Solutions; Herndon (VA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Karsun Solutions seeks a Lead Automation Test Engineer to drive AI-enabled testing, mentor a team of senior automation engineers, and modernize our Selenium suite with Playwright. You will own customer commitments, pilot AI tools, and craft reusable AI templates for efficient test generation and API testing.

The role requires 8–10 years of automation experience, strong programming skills, and excellent communication to coordinate with stakeholders within a SAFe Agile framework.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field, or equivalent experience.
• 8–10 years of related experience, including at least 5 years hands-on automation.
• Experience leading automation teams and delivering on customer commitments.
• Hands-on with AI-enabled testing tools (Testim, mabl, Functionize, Applitools, Copilot, ChatGPT).
• Experience creating prompt libraries and AI-assisted workflows for software testing teams.
• Experience with test generation, automation development, maintenance, and regression analysis using AI tools.
• Experience with Selenium WebDriver/Grid, Playwright, Cucumber/Gherkin, JUnit, TestNG.
• Experience with API testing tools such as Postman and REST Assured.
• Strong programming skills in Java, JS/TS, or Python.
• Experience with QA across manual, functional, regression, integration, and end-to-end testing.

Responsibilities

• Lead and drive a team of senior automation engineers to ensure timely, high-quality delivery.
• Own delivery of customer commitments and communicate deviations to the customer.
• Lead AI enablement for QA/testing and implement AI tools to boost productivity.
• Create reusable prompt templates and AI-assisted workflows for migrations and testing tasks.
• Modernize Selenium automation and migrate to Playwright using AI-assisted tooling.
• Provide hands-on leadership for functional, integration, API, regression, and end-to-end testing.
• Analyze regression suites to reduce flaky tests and long execution cycles.
• Identify automation coverage gaps from requirements and acceptance criteria.
• Explain AI/tool/framework decisions to customers and defend migration strategies.
• Produce prototypes and working automation to demonstrate value.
• Coach QA engineers on AI usage, Playwright, and automation standards.
• Collaborate in SAFe Agile environment and maintain documentation.

Skills

Team leadership

AI-enabled testing

Selenium/Playwright

Test automation

Java/JS/Python

CI/CD

Jira/Confluence

Customer-facing communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Selenium WebDriver/Grid

Playwright

Cucumber/Gherkin

JUnit/TestNG

Postman/REST Assured

GitHub/Bitbucket

Job description

Summary

We are seeking a Lead Automation Test Engineer who is hands‑on, customer‑facing, and focused on enabling the QA team to effectively use AI tools to improve testing speed, quality, and efficiency. This role will lead AI adoption across test automation, including test generation, Selenium‑to‑Playwright migration, regression optimization, failure triage, flaky test analysis, and requirements coverage gap identification.

What You'll Be Doing

• Lead and drive a team of senior automation engineers, assigning, tracking, and following up on tasks to ensure timely, high‑quality delivery.
• Own delivery of customer commitments, working closely with the team to meet agreed timelines even amid ongoing enhancements and periodic production issues, and proactively communicating any deviations to the customer.
• Lead AI enablement for the QA/testing team by evaluating, piloting, and implementing AI tools that improve productivity and automation quality.
• Establish reusable prompt templates and AI‑assisted workflows for test generation, automation development, Selenium‑to‑Playwright migration, API testing, failure triage, flaky test analysis, and requirements coverage analysis.
• Lead modernization of the existing Selenium automation suite, including migration to Playwright using AI‑assisted tools and reusable framework patterns.
• Provide hands‑on automation leadership for functional, integration, API, regression, and end‑to‑end testing.
• Analyze the current regression suite and implement improvements to reduce flaky tests, long execution cycles, and manual triage effort.
• Use AI‑assisted methods to analyze high‑level requirements, user stories, and acceptance criteria to identify automation coverage gaps and guide the team in closing them.
• Serve as a customer‑facing technical lead who can explain, justify, and defend AI tool choices, migration strategy, framework design, and automation recommendations.
• Quickly produce prototypes, proof‑of‑concepts, sample migrations, and working automation to demonstrate value to the customer.
• Coach QA engineers and team members on effective use of AI tools, prompt templates, Playwright, automation standards, and quality engineering practices.
• Collaborate with developers, product owners, Scrum Masters, DevOps engineers, business stakeholders, and customer representatives in a SAFe Agile environment.
• Create and maintain concise documentation, including automation standards, AI usage guidance, prompt libraries, migration approach, and tool evaluation summaries.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field, or equivalent experience.
• Typically requires 8–10 years of related experience, including at least 5 years of hands‑on test automation experience.
• Demonstrated experience leading and driving automation teams, including task planning, follow‑up, and on‑time delivery of customer commitments while managing competing priorities such as enhancements and production issues.
• Hands‑on experience with AI‑enabled testing tools such as Testim, mabl, Functionize, Applitools, GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, or similar tools.
• Experience creating prompt libraries, AI usage standards, or repeatable AI‑assisted workflows for software testing teams.
• Experience using AI tools for test generation, automation development, test maintenance, failure analysis, regression analysis, coverage gap analysis, or productivity improvement.
• Experience evaluating emerging AI/testing tools and recommending practical adoption strategies based on value, scalability, maintainability, security considerations, and customer needs.
• Experience with automation tools and frameworks such as Selenium WebDriver/Grid, Playwright, Cucumber/Gherkin, JUnit, and TestNG.
• Experience with API/services testing tools such as Postman and REST Assured.
• Strong programming experience in one or more languages, preferably Java, JavaScript/TypeScript, or Python.
• Experience with manual, functional, regression, integration, and end‑to‑end testing.
• Experience improving automation efficiency through framework design, test optimization, parallel execution, CI/CD integration, reporting, and test stabilization.
• Experience with Jira, Confluence, GitHub/Bitbucket, XML, JSON, SQL, and IDEs such as VS Code, IntelliJ, or Eclipse.
• Strong customer‑facing communication skills with the ability to explain technical concepts, justify recommendations, defend AI/tool/framework decisions, and proactively communicate delivery status and deviations.
• Strong troubleshooting skills with the ability to diagnose flaky tests, automation failures, test data issues, CI/CD issues, and environment‑related problems.
• Experience with Agile/Scrum methodologies; SAFe Agile experience preferred.
• Must be self‑directed, proactive, hands‑on, and able to produce results with minimal supervision.
• Availability during core business hours of 9:00 AM–5:00 PM EST.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Candidates in the Eastern, Central, or Mountain time zones.
• Experience supporting US federal government contracts.
• One of the below certifications will be an advantage
  • ISTQB/ISEB/Certified Software Testing credentials: ISTQB Certified Tester (Advanced Level – Test Analyst / Test Manager) or equivalent.
  • Playwright/Selenium automation validation (preferred): vendor/community‑recognized automation credential(s) for Playwright or Selenium.
  • Cloud testing & infrastructure - AWS Certified Developer/DevOps Engineer, or equivalent.

Things to Know

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, local, or international law.

Salary Range

The proposed salary range for this role is $160,000 to $180,000 USD. The salary range provided is a good faith estimate representative of all experience levels. Karsun considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the role, function and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, location, education/training, and key skills.

Clearance Information

This position requires the eligibility to obtain a security clearance. The Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office (DISCO), an agency of the Department of Defense, handles and adjudicates the security clearance process. More information about Security Clearances can be found on the US Department of State government website: https://www.state.gov/m/ds/clearances/c10978.htm

Location

To be considered for this role, you must reside in one of the following states: CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, IL, MD, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OK, PA, SC, TX, VA, WV.

Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. We may consider candidates currently in H‑1B status who are eligible for transfer.