Job Title: Lead QA Engineer - AI/ML
Location: Remote (Brazil/Mexico)
Contract
About Smart IT Frame:
At Smart IT Frame, we connect top talent with leading organizations across the USA. With over a decade of staffing excellence, we specialize in IT, healthcare, and professional roles, empowering both clients and candidates to grow together.
Role Overview
We are seeking a highly skilled, forward-thinking Lead QA Engineer to drive our quality strategy, with a strong emphasis on test automation and AI-driven testing solutions.
This role combines leadership, technical expertise, and innovation to deliver high-quality software at scale.
You will lead QA initiatives, mentor a team of engineers, and champion modern approaches to quality engineering, including machine learning and AI-assisted testing—while maintaining deep expertise in manual and blackbox testing practices.
Key Responsibilities
Leadership & Strategy
Define and implement the QA strategy with a focus on automation-first and AI-enhanced testing.
Lead and mentor a team of QA engineers across both manual and automation disciplines.
Establish best practices, standards, and KPIs for quality engineering.
Automation Excellence
Design, build, and maintain scalable automated test frameworks.
Drive adoption of CI/CD-integrated testing pipelines.
Ensure high test coverage across:
UI
API
Performance
Security layers
AI-Driven Testing
Evaluate and implement AI/ML tools for:
Test generation
Maintenance
Defect prediction
Leverage AI for:
Intelligent test case prioritization
Self-healing test scripts
Stay up to date with emerging AI technologies and integrate them into QA workflows.
Manual & Blackbox Testing Leadership
Define and oversee comprehensive blackbox testing strategies, including:
Exploratory testing
Usability testing
Regression testing
End-to-end testing
Ensure thorough validation of business requirements and user flows without reliance on internal code knowledge.
Lead complex manual testing efforts for new features, edge cases, and high-risk areas.
Establish best practices for:
Test case design
Test data management
Defect reporting
Collaboration
Work closely with engineering, product, and DevOps teams to embed quality throughout the SDLC.
Participate in architecture and design discussions to ensure testability and scalability.
Quality Advocacy
Promote a culture of quality ownership across teams.
Conduct risk assessments and ensure timely defect resolution.
Required Qualifications
Strong expertise in both automated and manual (blackbox) testing methodologies.
Proven experience designing and executing:
Detailed manual test plans
Exploratory testing
End-to-end validation
Deep understanding of blackbox testing techniques, including:
Equivalence partitioning
Boundary value analysis
User-centric validation
Strong expertise in test automation frameworks:
Selenium
Playwright
Cypress
Proficiency in at least one programming language:
Python
Java
JavaScript / TypeScript (preferably)
Experience with CI/CD tools:
Jenkins
GitHub Actions
GitLab CI
Solid understanding of software testing methodologies and SDLC.
Preferred Qualifications
Hands-on experience with AI/ML tools in QA (e.g., test generation, visual testing, anomaly detection).
Familiarity with AI-powered testing platforms or frameworks.
Experience balancing manual exploratory testing with automation strategies in complex systems.
Experience with performance testing tools:
JMeter
k6
Knowledge of cloud platforms:
AWS
GCP
Azure
Experience with containerization:
Docker
Kubernetes
Key Skills
Leadership and team development
Strategic thinking and problem-solving
Strong communication and collaboration
Innovation mindset with a passion for AI in testing
Strong analytical skills with attention to detail
Ability to deeply understand user behavior through manual testing approaches
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