Testing and Automation Engineer

Testing and Automation Engineer 📍 Location: Stratford, Connecticut, United States 🏢 Industry: Reastaurants 💼 Work Setting: Hybrid Are you passionate about software quality, test automation, performance engineering, and leveraging AI to improve testing efficiency? We are seeking a Testing & Automation Engineer to design, develop, and maintain automated testing solutions that ensure the quality, reliability, performance, and scalability of software applications and services. This role partners closely with Software Engineering, Product, DevOps, and Quality teams to embed quality throughout the software development lifecycle and accelerate delivery through automation and continuous testing. The ideal candidate combines expertise in test automation, API testing, performance engineering, CI/CD, defect management, and AI-assisted testing practices with a strong quality-first mindset. Key Responsibilities Test Automation Development Design, develop, and maintain automated test suites across multiple platforms. Build automation coverage for: User Interface (UI) Testing API Testing Backend Service Testing End-to-End Workflows Create reusable, scalable, and maintainable test automation frameworks. Expand automated test coverage to reduce manual testing effort. Ensure applications meet quality and reliability standards prior to release. Functional & Quality Validation Execute and support: Functional Testing Integration Testing Regression Testing System Testing End-to-End Testing Validate business requirements and acceptance criteria. Ensure software functionality aligns with product expectations. Identify risks and quality issues early in the delivery process. Agile Team Collaboration Work closely with: Software Engineers Product Managers DevOps Teams Quality Engineers Participate in: Sprint Planning Backlog Refinement Daily Standups Sprint Reviews Retrospectives Collaborate on defining test scenarios and acceptance criteria. Promote quality throughout the development lifecycle. Test Framework & Tooling Management Maintain and improve automated testing frameworks. Evaluate and implement new automation tools and testing technologies. Standardize automation practices and quality engineering methodologies. Improve framework scalability, maintainability, and execution efficiency. Support enterprise-wide quality engineering initiatives. CI/CD & Continuous Testing Integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines. Enable continuous quality validation within deployment workflows. Support automated build verification and release readiness testing. Ensure rapid feedback on code quality and application stability. Partner with DevOps teams to improve automation maturity. Defect Management & Root Cause Analysis Identify, document, and track software defects. Perform initial troubleshooting and root cause analysis. Collaborate with development teams to resolve issues. Verify defect fixes and regression impacts. Support continuous reduction of software defects and production issues. Performance & Load Testing Design and execute: Performance Tests Load Tests Stress Tests Scalability Assessments Evaluate application performance under varying workloads. Identify bottlenecks affecting: Response Time Throughput Stability Resource Utilization Provide recommendations for performance optimization. Performance Engineering Utilize tools such as: JMeter Gatling k6 Locust Analyze performance test results and trends. Collaborate with engineering teams to improve system performance. Establish performance baselines and monitoring criteria. Support non-functional testing strategies. AI-Assisted Testing & Quality Innovation Leverage AI-enabled tools to improve testing efficiency. Apply AI solutions for: Test Case Generation Test Data Creation Test Coverage Analysis Defect Detection Risk-Based Testing Evaluate emerging AI-powered testing technologies. Promote intelligent automation and innovation within quality engineering. API & Service Testing Validate APIs and service-based architectures. Perform: REST API Testing Contract Testing Service Integration Testing Ensure functionality, reliability, and performance of backend services. Verify data accuracy and integration behavior. Documentation & Reporting Create and maintain: Test Plans Test Cases Automation Documentation Defect Reports Quality Metrics Report testing progress, risks, and outcomes to stakeholders. Support auditability and traceability across testing activities. Qualifications Education Preferred Bachelor's Degree in: Computer Science Software Engineering Information Systems Information Technology Related Discipline OR Equivalent practical experience. Experience Required 3–6 years of experience in: Test Automation Software Testing Quality Engineering QA Automation Experience developing automated testing solutions. Experience working within Agile software delivery environments. Technical Skills Test Automation Selenium Cypress Playwright Test Automation Frameworks End-to-End Testing API Testing REST Assured Postman API Validation Service Testing Performance Testing JMeter Gatling k6 Locust Load Testing Stress Testing Programming & Scripting Java JavaScript Python C# Test Automation Scripting DevOps & CI/CD Continuous Integration Continuous Testing CI/CD Pipelines Automated Quality Gates AI-Assisted Testing AI Test Case Generation AI-Based Test Data Creation Test Coverage Optimization Intelligent Defect Detection AI Testing Platforms Software Architecture Knowledge REST APIs Microservices Service-Oriented Architectures Distributed Systems Core Competencies Test Automation Quality Engineering Software Testing Performance Engineering Load & Stress Testing API Testing Selenium Cypress Playwright REST Assured CI/CD Integration Defect Management Root Cause Analysis AI-Assisted Testing Agile Development Continuous Quality