QA Automation Engineer

Solas IT Recruitment; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 600,000 - 960,000; Full time

Job summary

Solas IT Recruitment is seeking an experienced Senior QA Automation Engineer to join a cross-functional product team in Johannesburg. The role focuses on expanding automated test coverage across web applications, APIs and integrations, while staying hands-on with manual and exploratory testing where automation is not suitable.

You will work with developers, Product and stakeholders to identify risks early, improve testability and deliver reliable software with confidence.

Qualifications

• At least four years’ commercial experience in software quality assurance or test engineering.
• Strong hands‑on experience developing and maintaining automated tests.
• Experience with a modern UI automation framework such as Playwright, Cypress or Selenium.
• Experience automating API and integration testing.
• Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines.
• Strong understanding of automation framework design, test architecture and maintainable test code.
• Experience testing web applications and business-critical software systems.
• Strong manual, exploratory and regression testing capabilities.
• Experience validating data using SQL and relational databases.
• Familiarity with Git and modern software development workflows.
• Experience working within Agile product and engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop and maintain automated test suites for web applications, APIs and system integrations.
• Expand automated regression coverage and reduce reliance on repetitive manual testing.
• Build reusable, maintainable and scalable automation frameworks and components.
• Integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines and support continuous testing practices.
• Analyse automated test results, investigate failures and work with developers to resolve issues.
• Review existing automation coverage and identify areas where additional automation would provide the greatest value.
• Help establish and improve automation standards, frameworks and best practices.
• Participate in code and test automation reviews.

Skills

Analytical skills

Troubleshooting

Communication

Mentoring junior QA

Test engineering mindset

Tools

Playwright

Cypress

Selenium

API testing tools

SQL

CI/CD

Git

Job description

My client is seeking an experienced Senior QA Automation Engineer to join a cross-functional product team.

This role has a strong focus on building and expanding automated test coverage across web applications, APIs and integrations. The successful candidate will also remain hands‑on with manual and exploratory testing where automation is not appropriate.

This opportunity will suit someone who views quality assurance as an engineering discipline and enjoys being involved throughout the software development lifecycle. You will work closely with developers, Product and other stakeholders to identify risks early, improve testability and deliver reliable software with confidence.

Key Responsibilities

Test Automation

• Design, develop and maintain automated test suites for web applications, APIs and system integrations.
• Expand automated regression coverage and reduce reliance on repetitive manual testing.
• Build reusable, maintainable and scalable automation frameworks and test components.
• Integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines and support continuous testing practices.
• Analyse automated test results, investigate failures and work with developers to resolve issues.
• Review existing automation coverage and identify areas where additional automation would provide the greatest value.
• Help establish and improve automation standards, frameworks and best practices.
• Participate in code and test automation reviews.

Manual and Exploratory Testing

• Design and execute test strategies for new features, enhancements and production fixes.
• Perform exploratory, functional, integration and regression testing where manual validation is required.
• Create and maintain test plans, test cases, test data and supporting evidence.
• Validate application functionality, integrations and data accuracy across multiple environments.
• Use SQL queries and database investigation to verify application behaviour and data integrity.
• Investigate defects and provide developers with clear, actionable information.
• Support release testing and post-deployment production validation.

Quality Engineering and Collaboration

• Work with developers and Product during refinement and delivery to identify quality risks early.
• Review requirements and user stories to ensure they are clear, testable and supported by appropriate acceptance criteria.
• Promote testability and quality throughout the development lifecycle.
• Communicate testing progress, automation results, risks and release readiness to stakeholders.
• Contribute to quality metrics, reporting and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Promote shared ownership of software quality across the engineering team.
• Mentor junior QA professionals and share automation knowledge and testing best practices.
• At least four years’ commercial experience in software quality assurance or test engineering.
• Strong hands‑on experience developing and maintaining automated tests.
• Experience with a modern UI automation framework such as Playwright, Cypress or Selenium.
• Experience automating API and integration testing.
• Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines.
• Strong understanding of automation framework design, test architecture and maintainable test code.
• Experience testing web applications and business-critical software systems.
• Strong manual, exploratory and regression testing capabilities.
• Experience validating data using SQL and relational databases.
• Familiarity with Git and modern software development workflows.
• Experience working within Agile product and engineering teams.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting and communication skills.

Technical Experience

• Playwright, Cypress, Selenium or comparable automation frameworks
• API automation and testing tools
• SQL and relational databases
• CI/CD pipelines and automated deployment processes
• Git and version control
• Test and defect management platforms
• Cloud-hosted applications and environments
• Experience testing SaaS products or enterprise software platforms.
• Understanding of modern web application architectures.
• Exposure to performance, load or resilience testing.
• Experience working within scaled Agile environments.
• Experience developing an automation framework or significantly improving an existing one.
• Exposure to AI-assisted testing tools.
• Experience mentoring less‑experienced QA professionals.

Experience with several of the following would be beneficial:

• Playwright, Cypress, Selenium or comparable automation frameworks
• API automation and testing tools
• SQL and relational databases
• CI/CD pipelines and automated deployment processes
• Git and version control
• Test and defect management platforms
• Cloud-hosted applications and environments
• Experience testing SaaS products or enterprise software platforms.
• Understanding of modern web application architectures.
• Exposure to performance, load or resilience testing
• Experience working within scaled Agile environments