Analyst, QA Analyst

Panera Bread • Saint Louis, LA

1d • $86,033 - $103,239 • Hybrid

About The Position

Panera Bread is seeking a QA Test Automation Engineer to drive automated quality validation across customer-facing digital experiences, including Web, Mobile, Kiosk, and Catering platforms. The role designs, develops, and maintains automated test solutions using Playwright and Appium, while leveraging AI-powered tools to accelerate test case creation, test generation, and automation maintenance. The engineer partners with Product, Engineering, Architecture, DevOps, and Quality Engineering teams to embed quality throughout the software development lifecycle and advance an automation-first, AI-enabled quality engineering strategy.

The position is based at the St. Louis Support Center under a hybrid work model as defined by company policy. There are no direct reports. Competitive pay is listed as $86,033–$103,239 annually; actual pay depends on factors including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and geographical location.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, or a related field; equivalent experience will be considered.
• At least 3 years of experience in software quality engineering, test automation, or software development.
• Hands-on experience designing, developing, and maintaining automated tests with Playwright and Appium.
• Strong proficiency in JavaScript and/or TypeScript, HTML, CSS, browser developer tools, and API testing.
• Experience building or extending reusable automation frameworks and applying sound software engineering practices to test code.
• Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines and using Git-based source control.
• Demonstrated experience using AI-assisted tools to generate test cases and automated tests and to maintain, troubleshoot, and optimize existing automation.
• Ability to validate AI-generated outputs for correctness, coverage, maintainability, and alignment with requirements.
• Experience working within Agile product delivery teams.
• Strong analytical, debugging, troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, and communication skills.
• While performing the job, regularly stand, sit, talk, hear, and use hands and fingers to operate keyboards.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with AI-assisted engineering tools such as GitHub Copilot, Gemini, Claude Code, ChatGPT, Cursor, or comparable technologies.
• Experience with BrowserStack, Sauce Labs, or comparable browser and mobile device farms.
• Experience supporting eCommerce or other high-volume, customer-facing digital platforms.
• Experience with accessibility testing, visual testing, performance validation, and API or contract testing.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, execute, and maintain scalable automated test frameworks and test suites for Web and Mobile applications.
• Develop automated regression, smoke, integration, end-to-end, and functional testing solutions using Playwright for Web and Appium for iOS and Android.
• Create reusable automation components and test assets that improve efficiency, consistency, and maintainability while reducing manual regression effort.
• Use AI-assisted tools to generate test scenarios, test cases, test data, automated scripts, and validation logic from requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, designs, and production incidents.
• Use AI to maintain and optimize existing automation, including repairing brittle tests, updating selectors, identifying redundant tests, recommending coverage improvements, and improving suite reliability.
• Review AI-generated test cases and automated tests for accuracy, completeness, maintainability, security, and alignment with business requirements.
• Participate in requirements reviews, technical design sessions, backlog refinement, and sprint planning to identify quality risks and automation opportunities early.
• Collaborate with software engineers to implement shift-left testing practices and strengthen defect prevention.
• Integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines and support automated quality gates for build, deployment, and release processes.
• Analyze automation results, troubleshoot failures, distinguish application defects from test issues, and partner with development teams on root-cause resolution.
• Develop metrics and reporting for automation coverage, execution reliability, defect detection, maintenance effort, and AI-enabled productivity gains.
• Support cross-browser, responsive design, mobile device, accessibility, visual, and API validation in end-to-end customer journey testing.
• Stay current on automation frameworks, AI testing capabilities, and quality engineering practices, and recommend practical adoption opportunities.
• Contribute to the Quality Engineering automation roadmap and the organization's automation-first, quality-built-in vision.

What This Job Offers

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