Manager, QA Automation

KnitWell Group • Pataskala, OH

12h • Remote

About The Position

The Manager, QA Automation leads manual, automation, and AI-enabled Quality Engineering teams, driving quality excellence, engineering productivity, and continuous improvement across Agile sprints and projects. The role works with team members and business owners to develop, review, and execute test plans and scenarios, and leads testing projects supporting Digital Product Team releases across systems and applications, including financial programs. It helps ensure software meets business objectives through shift-left testing, automation, CI/CD, and Agile and Scrum practices, while completing testing projects on time and within budget.

The manager defines and executes an AI-driven test automation strategy and leads the development and maintenance of scalable automation frameworks for web UI, mobile, API, backend, integration, and end-to-end testing across retail and digital commerce platforms. The role integrates automated testing and quality gates into CI/CD pipelines; drives adoption of AI tools and QA agents; evaluates emerging technologies through proof-of-concepts; and establishes metrics for coverage, efficiency, defect leakage, AI adoption, and productivity gains.

Working with Product Owners, Developers, Business Analysts, DevOps, and Engineering teams, the manager embeds quality throughout the software development lifecycle. The role establishes and improves QA processes, test strategies, plans, risk-based testing practices, methodologies, and standards; mentors engineers in modern testing and AI-assisted practices; and monitors and reports on automation activity and performance. The position is remote, with occasional travel to a company office potentially required. Preference is given to candidates near the Etna, Ohio office.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 10+ years of Software Quality Engineering experience, including manual, automation, and AI-driven testing, primarily in digital commerce and retail systems.
• 7+ years of managerial experience leading QA and Automation Engineering teams and driving quality transformation, AI adoption, and engineering productivity.
• 7+ years of hands-on automation experience designing and implementing UI, API, and end-to-end frameworks using Selenium, Playwright, JUnit, TestNG, BrowserStack, Sauce Labs, or equivalent tools.
• Experience with e-commerce web, backend, mobile, and point-of-sale operating-system and device automation.
• Hands-on experience implementing AI-driven test automation, including AI-assisted test generation, intelligent test execution, self-healing automation, test-data generation, and automated defect analysis.
• Experience building, configuring, or using AI-powered QA agents for story readiness, test planning, test-case generation, test execution, defect analysis, and automated QA reporting.
• Practical experience with Generative AI and Agentic AI tools such as Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, or equivalent, including prompt engineering and AI-assisted automation development.
• Proficiency in at least one programming language: Python, Java, or JavaScript.
• Strong knowledge of retail and e-commerce technologies such as SFCC, OMS, WMS, POS, Oracle, SAP, and CRM.
• Expertise in functional, integration, regression, performance, accessibility, nonfunctional, and risk-based testing.
• Experience integrating testing with CI/CD using Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or GitLab CI.
• Proven experience leading Agile/Scrum QA delivery, distributed vendor teams, automation strategy, quality metrics, release readiness, and mentoring engineers in modern Quality Engineering practices.
• Ability to work independently or in a team environment and meet project deliverables on time.
• Must be flexible and available to provide off-hours support for project work or production emergencies.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with LLM integration, AI-agent orchestration, and multi-agent workflows, including integration with Jira, test management tools, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience validating AI-powered applications and autonomous agents, including response accuracy, hallucination detection, guardrails, security, and reliability.
• Expertise in POS, iPad, or handheld-device automation.
• Relevant QA, Generative AI, or AI Engineering certifications.
• Software quality assurance certifications.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage manual, automation, and AI-enabled Quality Engineering teams, driving quality excellence, engineering productivity, and continuous improvement.
• Define and execute an AI-driven test automation strategy using Generative AI, intelligent automation, and modern testing frameworks.
• Design, develop, and maintain scalable, reusable automation frameworks for web UI, mobile, API, backend, integration, and end-to-end testing across retail and digital commerce platforms.
• Integrate automated testing, AI-assisted test execution, and quality gates into CI/CD pipelines.
• Drive adoption of AI tools such as Claude Code and GitHub Copilot to automate repetitive QA activities and accelerate automation development.
• Design, develop, implement, and promote AI-powered QA agents for story readiness, test planning, test-case generation, test execution, defect analysis, test-data management, and reporting.
• Partner with Product Owners, Developers, Business Analysts, DevOps, and Engineering teams to analyze requirements, improve story readiness, identify automation opportunities, and embed quality across the software development lifecycle.
• Evaluate emerging AI testing platforms, automation technologies, and agentic solutions; lead proof-of-concepts and scale successful implementations.
• Define and monitor KPIs for automation coverage, test execution efficiency, defect leakage, AI-agent adoption, manual-effort reduction, sprint velocity, and AI-related productivity gains.
• Mentor and train manual and automation engineers in modern testing practices, AI-assisted development, prompt engineering, and QA-agent use.
• Establish and continuously improve enterprise QA processes, test strategies, methodologies, test plans, risk-based testing practices, and quality standards.
• Provide leadership in innovation and adoption of leading test platforms and solutions.
• Monitor and report on the progress and performance of automation testing activities.
• Lead Agile/Scrum QA delivery, release readiness, quality metrics, automation strategy, and distributed vendor teams.
• Provide off-hours support for project work or production emergencies as needed.

Benefits

• Merchandise discount at select KnitWell Group brands, subject to each brand’s discount policies.
• Support for individual development and opportunities for career mobility within the family of brands.
• Local volunteer opportunities, annual donation and volunteer match for eligible nonprofit organizations, and philanthropic activities supporting communities.
• Medical insurance.
• Dental insurance.
• Vision insurance.
• 401(k).
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Paid time off and holidays.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager