Senior QA Lead

Job Title: Senior QA Lead.
Location: Piscataway, NJ (Hybrid 3 days a week)
Position type: W2 contract

Job Summary:
We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Senior QA Lead with 10-14 years of expertise in manual and automation testing.
The ideal candidate will possess a deep understanding of Java Collections, various testing methodologies, and automation frameworks. In this role, you will lead a team of QA professionals, develop and implement testing strategies, and ensure the delivery of high-quality software throughout the development lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and mentor a team of QA engineers, fostering a culture of quality, continuous improvement, and collaborative learning.
• Develop and implement comprehensive QA strategies aligned with project goals, timelines, and quality standards.

• Oversee manual testing activities, including writing test cases, executing tests, and identifying dependencies through requirement analysis, API documentation, and wireframes.
• Execute various testing types such as Regression, Smoke, Exploratory, and Random Testing to ensure application stability.

• Design, develop, and maintain automation testing scripts utilizing Java Collections (Set, List, Map, Iterator) and frameworks including Selenium, Appium, and Cucumber.
• Leverage automation frameworks like Keyword-Driven, Data-Driven, Modular, and Hybrid frameworks to improve testing efficiency and coverage.

• Conduct thorough API testing, including parameterized testing and validation procedures to ensure robust and reliable APIs.
• Collaborate closely with development teams to understand API documentation and facilitate seamless test integration.

• Develop and execute testing scenarios for web applications, accounting for browser-specific differences.
• Ensure comprehensive UI testing, including cross-browser testing and regex validations for input parameters.

• Utilize testing tools such as Selenium, Appium, Postman, AlertSite, JIRA, or Rally to manage testing activities and track defects.
• Implement BDD practices with tools like TestNG and Cucumber (Gherkin) for behavior-driven development and testing.

• Perform performance testing to evaluate application responsiveness, scalability, and stability under load conditions.
• Conduct security testing to identify vulnerabilities, ensuring compliance with security standards and best practices.

• Participate in CI/CD pipelines, managing multi-branch vs. on-demand pipelines, build processes, and deployment strategies.
• Ensure effective test execution within CI/CD environments, including build environments, test cycles, and reporting.

• Log, track, and prioritize defects or exceptions identified during testing phases.
• Provide regular reports on testing progress, quality metrics, and project health, including dashboards and shared services.

Required Qualifications and Skills:

• Extensive experience with Java Collections, including ArrayList and HashMap, exception handling, and multithreading.
• Proficiency in writing and executing SQL queries (WHERE clauses, joins, GROUP BY).

• Hands-on experience with Regression, Smoke, Exploratory, and API testing.
• Familiarity with end-to-end testing scenarios, including notification services and CAPTCHA handling.

• In-depth knowledge of automation tools like Selenium, Cucumber, QTP, SikuliX, and Cypress.
• Strong understanding of Selenium WebDriver, Grid, and multi-language support (Java, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby).

• Practical experience with CI/CD pipelines, build processes, environment setup, and test reporting using tools like JIRA or Rally.

Soft Skills:

• Excellent communication, leadership, and team collaboration abilities.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving skills, and a proactive approach to quality assurance.