QA Automation Manager

About the role

You will directly manage and grow a team of automation engineers, taking full ownership of their performance, development, and career progression within the QA organization. You will lead and coordinate offshore automation resources across multiple time zones, ensuring delivery accountability and maintaining strong team cohesion regardless of geography. This role requires you to set clear performance expectations and build a culture of quality ownership where every team member feels responsible for the product. You will partner closely with Engineering, Product, and DevOps to embed quality practices at every stage of the delivery lifecycle. You will define and execute the strategy and roadmap for transitioning QA operations from predominantly manual testing to a mature, automation-first practice. In this capacity, you will serve as the primary organizational change agent for quality, influencing engineering and product culture beyond just technical tooling. You will own the design and validation of scalable, maintainable test automation architectures and make critical framework decisions from initial design through production support. This is the most consequential quality role in the organization, requiring a proven change agent who is ready to lead a transformation and do it again.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Directly manage, hire, develop, and retain a team of automation engineers; own performance reviews, coaching, and career development within the QA function.
• Lead and coordinate offshore automation teams across multiple time zones, maintaining delivery accountability and team cohesion.
• Set clear performance expectations, build a culture of quality ownership, and develop automation engineers in best practices and technical rigor.
• Define and execute the strategy and roadmap for transitioning QA operations from predominantly manual testing to a mature, automation-first practice.
• Establish the frameworks, upskilling plans, and success metrics to drive and sustain 100% automation coverage across the product lifecycle.
• Serve as the organizational change agent for quality - influencing engineering and product culture, not just technical tooling.
• Design and validate scalable, maintainable test automation architectures using Playwright and/or Selenium; own framework decisions from design through production.
• Lead automation coverage across web, API (REST/GraphQL), mobile (Appium, Espresso, XCUITest), and Salesforce platforms - including Lightning UI, custom components, flows, and Salesforce APIs.
• Integrate automation pipelines with CI/CD tooling and cloud-based testing platforms (BrowserStack, Sauce Labs, or equivalent) for consistent, scalable execution.
• Apply AI-assisted development tools (GitHub Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT, or equivalent) to accelerate test code generation and improve automation ROI.
• Manage delivery timelines and communicate program health, risks, and quality metrics to technical, business, and executive stakeholders.
• Establish and enforce test management practices using enterprise tools (TestRail, Xray for Jira, PractiTest, or equivalent); validate artifact quality before every deployment.
• Own test infrastructure provisioning within containerized environments (Docker, Kubernetes); troubleshoot complex test failures and performance issues across distributed platforms.
• Drive continuous improvement in test coverage, execution speed, and automation ROI; report progress against transformation goals to engineering and product leadership.

Requirements

• 5+ years of direct people-management experience, including hiring, performance reviews, coaching, and career development of QA analysts or engineers.
• 5+ years of hands-on test automation experience, with a proven track record of designing, implementing, and maintaining automated test suites.
• 5+ years of experience working with Salesforce platforms, including Lightning UI, custom components, flows, and Salesforce APIs.
• 3+ years of experience designing and maintaining test automation frameworks using Playwright and/or Selenium.
• 3+ years of experience with API test automation for REST and GraphQL services.
• 3+ years of experience with mobile test automation technologies, such as Appium, Espresso, and XCUITest.
• 3+ years of experience managing offshore or distributed teams across multiple time zones.
• 5+ years of experience using CI/CD tools and practices, with hands-on work in containerized environments such as Docker and Kubernetes.
• 3+ years of experience using enterprise test management tools such as TestRail, Xray for Jira, or PractiTest.
• Demonstrated ability to influence technical and product leaders to drive cultural and process change.