QA Lead

We are seeking a hands-on QA Lead to build and own the future of quality assurance at Sonetel. This is a player-coach role where you will define our QA strategy, build and manage Sonetel's automation frameworks, and lead a small, agile QA team. You are a quality architect and a master of release velocity, with strong fundamentals in testing principles and systematic thinking. You will have end-to-end ownership of the quality function, from shaping requirements to certifying production releases, ensuring our customers receive a world-class product.What You Will Do:• Define, build, and own Sonetel's QA strategy, processes, and automation frameworks for UI, API, and regression testing.• Lead a small QA team, providing hands-on mentorship, guidance, and support.• Act as a force multiplier by embedding a "quality-first" mindset across engineering, product, and operations teams.• Design, develop, and execute comprehensive test plans and test cases with a heavy emphasis on automation.• Design comprehensive test strategies with strong focus on risk-based testing and user experience validation.• Own the release management process from a quality perspective, acting as the final gatekeeper for production deployments.• Collaborate with operations and customer-facing teams to triage production issues, perform root cause analysis (RCA), and convert learnings into automated test coverage.• Establish and track key quality metrics (e.g., defect escape rate, automation coverage, release confidence) to drive continuous improvement.RequirementsWho You Are:· A Proven QA Leader: 5-8 years in software quality assurance, with significant experience as a Senior or Lead QA Engineer in a high-growth startup or product-centric company. You have a track record of building QA functions from the ground up.· An Automation Champion: Demonstrable, hands-on expertise in building and scaling test automation frameworks (e.g., Selenium, Cypress/Playwright, Appium) and API testing tools (e.g., Postman, REST-Assured).· A True Quality Owner: You have a history of owning the quality for entire products. You think in terms of user experience and risk-based testing and are deeply familiar with the full software development lifecycle.· % Hands-On & Technical: You are a skilled engineer who can write code, design frameworks, and lead by doing.· A Pragmatic Product Thinker: You are obsessed with the end-user experience and use this as a guiding star for your testing strategy, focusing on what brings the most value and stability to the customer.· A Bias for Action: You excel at prioritizing in a fast-paced environment. You are practical, results-oriented, and maintain high throughput without sacrificing quality.· An Excellent Communicator: You can articulate technical risks to business stakeholders and collaborate effectively with developers to resolve issues. You bridge the gap between technical and non-technical teams.Nice if you have:· Experience with voice, video, or real-time communication testing (e.g., WebRTC, SIP).· Experience with performance, load, and security testing.· Knowledge and hands-on experience with cloud platforms like AWS or Azure and CI/CD pipelines.· Experience with advanced QA practices like chaos engineering.· Experience with AI-driven development of test cases, faster and efficient development of test cases or low code development.BenefitsAt Sonetel, we offer a comprehensive range of benefits designed to support both professional and personal growth. Employees enjoy top-tier health insurance and life coverage, upfront credited leaves with a superb leave policy, flexible remote work options, and direct exposure to CXOs. Our vibrant and inclusive culture fosters collaboration, while involvement in cutting-edge AI projects provides a rapid learning curve and hands-on experience with emerging technologies. Employee feedback consistently highlights our supportive and approachable management, friendly and transparent work environment with minimal micromanagement, as well as great work-life balance and flexible hours, all of which make Sonetel a place where people can thrive and grow.