Automation Lead

Job Title: Automation Testing Lead

Location: North York, ON (Hybrid)

Duration: Contract

Rate: $60-63/hr INC + HST

Job Description:

We are seeking a strong Automation Testing Lead with 8+ years of relevant experience, preferably within the Banking and Financial Services industry. The ideal candidate will possess a solid background in test automation, mobile and API testing, release management support, and stakeholder coordination. This role requires a proactive leader who can drive regression testing activities, manage offshore teams, and ensure high-quality releases in a fast-paced agile environment.

Key Responsibilities

· Lead and coordinate end-to-end regression testing activities across multiple releases.

· Own regression testing handover activities by collaborating with business and technology squads to understand new features, assess regression impacts, and ensure appropriate test coverage.

· Drive completion and sign-off of mobile regression testing for each release.

· Manage and guide offshore QA team members by assigning tasks, monitoring progress, and ensuring timely delivery.

· Serve as the primary liaison between client stakeholders, release teams, development squads, and offshore teams.

· Participate in defect triage sessions, perform root cause analysis, and track defects through closure.

· Support release deployments, release validation, and post-production testing activities.

· Perform sanity and smoke testing to validate critical business functionality following deployments.

· Coordinate batch executions and other testing activities required for release validation.

· Provide leadership and technical guidance to QA team members and resolve testing-related blockers.

· Continuously improve automation coverage by identifying opportunities to automate manual test scenarios.

· Execute and support API, mobile, and end-to-end automation testing initiatives.

· Track testing metrics, report status, identify risks, and communicate progress to stakeholders.

· Ensure effective planning, execution, reporting, and delivery of quality outcomes for every release.

Required Technical Skills & Experience

· 8+ years of experience in Quality Engineering, Test Automation, or QA Leadership roles.

· Hands-on experience with Mobile Automation Frameworks.

· Strong experience in API Testing using tools such as Postman, Swagger, and related technologies.

· Experience with Jira, Xray, ALM, or other test management tools.

· Knowledge of CI/CD pipelines, batch execution processes, and release validation activities.

· Experience testing mobile applications across iOS and Android platforms.

· Familiarity with defect management, log analysis, and monitoring tools.

· Strong understanding of Agile delivery methodologies and release management processes.

· Prior experience working in a Banking or Financial Services environment is highly preferred.

· Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and leadership skills.

Preferred Qualifications

· Experience leading distributed/onshore-offshore QA teams.

· Exposure to digital banking, mobile banking, or customer-facing banking applications.

· Ability to work independently, manage competing priorities, and drive quality initiatives with minimal supervision.