Lead Associate - Quality

As a Senior Automation Test Associate Engineer , you will be responsible for ensuring the quality, reliability, and stability of Davies' technology solutions through automated and manual testing. Reporting to the Senior Manager of Development , you will design, develop, execute, and maintain test automation solutions while working closely with Product Owners, Developers, Architects, DevOps Engineers, and business stakeholders to promote a quality-first engineering culture. The ideal candidate will have 8-12 years of QA and Test Automation experience , with strong expertise in test planning, test case design, automation framework development, automation coding, defect analysis, and CI/CD-integrated testing within Agile Scrum teams. This is a hands-on role focused on delivering high-quality software through effective test automation, quality engineering best practices, risk identification, defect investigation, and continuous improvement initiatives. The position is a permanent hybrid role based in Pune , offering the opportunity to work in a collaborative and innovation-driven engineering environment. Key Responsibilities Quality leadership and team development Lead, support and develop Test Analysts and other quality practitioners, setting clear expectations and providing coaching, feedback and practical guidance. Champion shared ownership of quality within cross-functional teams and help squads make evidence-based decisions about coverage, risk and release readiness. Define and promote proportionate quality standards, testing practices and ways of working, ensuring they are understood and applied consistently. Build effective working relationships with Product, Business Analysis, Engineering, Delivery, Operations and other stakeholders. Test strategy, planning and assurance Develop and maintain risk-based test strategies and plans aligned to business outcomes, technical change, delivery approach and project constraints. Assess change impact, dependencies and quality risks early; define suitable test levels, types, environments, data, tooling, entry and exit criteria, and evidence requirements. Ensure test coverage is traceable to requirements, acceptance criteria, risks and critical business processes without creating unnecessary administration. Plan regression, integration, system, exploratory, non-functional and user acceptance testing as appropriate to the change. Monitor testing progress, quality indicators, defects and residual risk, communicating concise and actionable information to relevant stakeholders. Contribute quality evidence and recommendations to collective release-readiness decisions; escalate material gaps or risks clearly and promptly. Hands-on testing and defect investigation Personally design, execute and maintain tests when needed, using manual and/or automated techniques appropriate to the context. Undertake exploratory, functional, integration, regression and other relevant testing of new and existing functionality. Create clear, maintainable test cases, charters, data and evidence at a level proportionate to the risk and delivery need. Identify, isolate, reproduce and document defects; support root-cause analysis and verify fixes. Use relevant tools to inspect applications, interfaces, APIs, data and logs where required to investigate behaviour and build confidence. Review test assets and results produced by others, helping ensure coverage is meaningful, efficient and focused on risk. Automation and continuous improvement Evaluate where automation will provide sustainable value and where manual or exploratory testing is more appropriate. Contribute to the design, implementation or maintenance of automated checks where this matches the individual’s skills and the needs of the team. Work with engineers to improve testability and embed appropriate quality checks within the development and delivery lifecycle. Identify bottlenecks, duplication and gaps in the QA process and implement pragmatic improvements to quality, speed, coverage and transparency. Evaluate and recommend suitable testing tools and techniques, keeping current with relevant developments in software quality. Skills, Knowledge and Expertise Experience Bachelor’s degree or equivalent applied experience. 10–15 years of automation and quality assurance testing experience. Background in web integration testing preferred. Skills Strong experience in manual and automation testing, with expertise in Selenium, Playwright, frontend UI automation, backend/API automation, and end-to-end testing. Proven experience leading QA activities for complex products and Agile delivery teams. Strong test strategy, test design, exploratory testing, regression planning, and defect management skills. Ability to apply risk-based testing approaches and make pragmatic quality decisions. Experience coaching and mentoring QA engineers and driving quality best practices. Strong understanding of Agile, CI/CD, and modern software engineering practices. Excellent communication, stakeholder management, analytical, and problem-solving skills. Strong business awareness with the ability to evaluate customer and operational impact. Ability to learn new domains quickly and collaborate effectively across cross-functional teams. Essential (Non Negotiable) Experience testing APIs, integrations, data flows or databases, using tools such as Postman and SQL or equivalent. Experience with test-management, defect-management, delivery and collaboration tools. Experience with automation frameworks, continuous integration pipelines, performance testing, observability or application monitoring. Experience working in insurance, financial services or another regulated environment. A relevant testing qualification such as ISTQB Foundation Level, or equivalent applied experience.