QA Engineer

Phonely; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Free meals

Annual offsite Airbnb trips

Company-sponsored team activities

Job summary

Phonely is building a conversational voice AI platform for high-volume phone workflows. We’re hiring a dedicated QA engineer to test features for correctness and UI/UX quality, and to own our automated end-to-end test suite as the first QA hire.

No prior process is required—this is an opportunity to build one from the ground up. You’ll automate repetitive tasks, reproduce customer-reported bugs, and ensure features meet quality standards before shipping, with significant overlap to North

Qualifications

• Experience in QA or software testing, or related engineering fields.
• Ability to inspect logs, HTTP requests, and browser behavior.
• AI-native approach to using models to speed up testing.
• Strong user empathy and assertive communication before shipping features.
• CS or engineering degree preferred or equivalent hands-on experience.

Responsibilities

• Test new features and bug fixes across the product, ensuring UI/UX quality.
• Build automated tests to cover non-human parts of the job.
• Own and expand the automated end-to-end test suite.
• Reproduce customer/internal bugs and write clear bug reports for engineers.
• Push back when a feature isn’t ready to ship; shape QA processes from scratch.

Skills

QA testing

Automation

End-to-end testing

Bug reproduction

Communication

Education

CS or Engineering degree

Tools

Playwright

Cypress

CI/CD pipelines

Browser debugging

API inspection

Job description

At some point in the future, every business will answer their phone with voice AI. We are building the platform that makes it possible, and we’re making sure the experience of using it doesn’t suck.

Phonely builds conversational voice AI agents for high volume phone workflows. Our customers use us to qualify leads, book appointments, route calls, and resolve real customer conversations in production. We are growing fast and just getting started.

About the Role

We’re hiring a dedicated QA engineer. You’ll be the last set of eyes on a feature before it ships, responsible for testing what engineers build for both correctness and UI/UX quality.

A big part of this role is automating yourself out of the repetitive parts. You’ll be the primary owner of our automated end to end test suite and you’ll expand and maintain it as the product grows.

This is an early-career role with a lot of room to grow. You’re the first QA hire, which means you’re not inheriting a process, you’re building one. No specific prior experience is required.

What You’ll Do

• QA new features and bug fixes across Phonely’s product, testing happy paths, edge cases, regressions, and general UI/UX quality
• Build automated tests to cover every non-human part of your job
• Own, maintain, and expand our automated end to end test suite
• Reproduce bugs reported by customers and internal teams, then write them up clearly enough that an engineer can fix them without a follow-up call
• Push back when something isn’t good enough to ship
• Build the QA process from scratch as our first dedicated QA hire

What We’re Looking For

• Some experience building or testing software: QA, software engineering, solutions/FDE, or similar
• Enough technical depth to inspect logs, HTTP requests, and browser behavior, and the instinct to use AI to move faster doing it
• AI native. You reach for the model before you reach for the manual
• User empathy and real opinions. You’re the last touchpoint before a feature ships, so you need to notice when something is bad and have the chutzpah to say so
• A technical background. A degree in CS or engineering is preferred, or equivalent hands-on experience
• Significant overlap with North American working hours

Nice to Have

• Experience with Playwright, Cypress, or similar E2E frameworks
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and running tests in them
• Any exposure to voice, telephony, or real-time systems

Why Join Phonely

We’re super cool. Our team is a group of ex-athletes, founders, and builders with low egos, and a high belief that life is not about taking the easy road, but challenging ourselves to find the most we can be. Working at Phonely feels like family, we eat most meals together as a team (the company pays for food), we go on runs, hikes and surf together when we’re not working. Also we rent out Airbnbs in cool places (Rocky Mountains, Costa Rica) for our annual offsite so you can still see the world while on the grind.

Interview Process

1. 15-min intro call
2. Deep dive on your experience with a member of the engineering team
3. Practical exercise: find the bugs in a live feature and write them up
4. Final conversation with leadership