GESTC - Senior Playwright Test Automation Architect - Tax Senior - Hyderabad

This is a senior-level, architecture-focused position responsible for designing, building, and leading an enterprise-grade Playwright test automation framework for the GESTC QA Engineering practice. You will lead a team of QA Automation Engineers and drive the adoption of BDD/Gherkin-based testing , AI-assisted automation , and agentic AI platforms such as Cursor, Kiro, and similar tools. You will be the technical authority for test automation strategy and will be responsible for upskilling the team toward intelligent, AI-augmented quality engineering.

The successful candidate will combine deep Playwright expertise with hands-on experience using agentic AI tools to generate, manage, and govern test automation at scale. Strong communication, leadership, and stakeholder management skills are essential, as this role interfaces with QA leadership, engineering managers, product owners, and Agile delivery teams.

Key Job Responsibilities:

Architect, design, and lead the implementation of an enterprise-grade Playwright test automation framework, including folder structures, reusable libraries, Page Object Models (POM), and test utilities for both UI and API testing

Define and lead a BDD-first testing strategy using Gherkin syntax , integrated with Playwright via Cucumber-JS or Playwright BDD frameworks

Lead the adoption of agentic AI platforms (Cursor, Kiro, GitHub Copilot, Claude Agents, or equivalents) to automate test case generation, feature file creation, locator self-healing, and root cause analysis

Build agentic test automation workflows where AI agents autonomously generate BDD feature files from user stories, scaffold page objects from UI/API schemas, and suggesting fixes for failing tests

Design and maintain CI/CD-integrated test pipelines using Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or Jenkins, ensuring reliable and parallelized test execution across environments

Lead, mentor, and upskill a team of QA Automation Engineers — building capability in Playwright, BDD, and AI-assisted development through structured coaching, code reviews, and training programs

Define and enforce QA automation standards : naming conventions, test tagging, assertion patterns, reporting formats, and framework governance documentation

Establish test quality KPIs : automation coverage, flakiness rates, time-to-feedback metrics, and automation ROI dashboards for QA leadership

Collaborate with Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and Developers in a SAFe Agile environment to shift quality left and integrate testing into PI Planning cycles

Create and maintain a prompt engineering library and reusable AI workflow templates so QA engineers can consistently leverage AI tooling in their daily work

Perform test data management strategy design, including fixtures, factories, and environment-specific data handling

Detect, log, track, and report application defects; assist in troubleshooting and retesting across multiple applications

Evaluate emerging agentic QA tools and recommend adoption based on team needs, governance requirements, and toolchain fit

Shift Timings: 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM

Location: Hyderabad

Education/Background:

Bachelor's Degree or equivalent in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field.

Minimum 6–8 years of overall QA/test automation experience, with at least 3 years specifically in Playwright

Minimum 3 years in a senior individual contributor, lead, or architect capacity

Strong proficiency in TypeScript, JavaScript — Playwright framework must be TypeScript-native

Deep, hands-on experience designing and implementing BDD frameworks with Gherkin syntax (Cucumber-JS, Playwright BDD, or equivalent)

Proven experience implementing Page Object Model (POM) at enterprise scale

Demonstrated hands-on experience with agentic AI platforms : Cursor, Kiro, GitHub Copilot, or Claude-based agents — with specific examples of AI-assisted test generation

Experience building agentic test automation pipelines where AI agents perform multi-step QA tasks autonomously (e.g., generating feature files from requirements, self-healing locators, auto-triaging test failures)

Strong prompt engineering skills — ability to craft effective prompts for test scaffolding, code generation, and defect analysis using LLMs

Experience mentoring and leading a team of 3 or more QA Automation Engineers

Complete knowledge of SDLC with strong emphasis on Scaled Agile (SAFe) framework

Strong experience integrating Playwright into CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or Jenkins)

Experience with Playwright API testing (request context) for REST and GraphQL automation

Intermediate to advanced knowledge of SQL for data validation and test setup

Intermediate to advanced knowledge of Python for scripting, utility tooling, or AI integrations.

Experience with test management tools , preferably Azure DevOps (ADO)

Excellent written and oral communication skills — able to present technical strategy to non-technical stakeholders

Comfortable working in a dynamic, multi-tasking team environment with flexible deadlines

I STQB certificati on (Advanced Level — Test Automation Engineer or Test Manager)

Experience with performance testing tools (k6, Lighthouse, JMeter) with Playwright pipeline integration

Experience with contract testing (Pact) for API automation

Knowledge of security testing basics (OWASP Top 10, ZAP integration)

Familiarity with AI observability concepts — evaluating and governing AI-generated test outputs

Experience in tax, financial services, or enterprise SaaS application testing

Automation scripting experience with TOSCA or similar tools

Meticulous attention to detail and a passion for quality engineering and emerging technology

Strong analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills

An ability to build professional relationships, a spirit of co-operation, and a flexible approach to work