QA AI Test Automation Engineer

AI Test Automation Engineer / Quality Engineering Lead

Long-Term Contract

Major Investment Firm

Newark, NJ (Hybrid – 3 days/week onsite)

Pay Rate: Up to $65/hr on C2C and $60/hr on W2

A major investment firm is seeking an experienced AI Test Automation Engineer / Quality Engineering Lead to lead the design and development of AI-powered test automation capabilities across the organization.

This role will focus on using AI and LLM technologies to transform how functional, regression, and integration testing is created, maintained, and executed. The ideal candidate brings strong quality engineering fundamentals along with hands-on interest in AI-driven development, test automation strategy, and enterprise-scale framework design.

Key Responsibilities

Test Automation & AI Integration

• Design and build AI-powered test automation frameworks that leverage LLMs to generate, execute, and maintain test cases for functional, regression, and integration testing
• Develop AI-driven approaches to analyze application code and automatically generate meaningful test coverage
• Build and maintain reusable automation components that integrate AI capabilities into existing test pipelines
• Create self-healing test suites that use AI to adapt to application changes and reduce maintenance overhead

Strategy & Standards

• Define the overall strategy and roadmap for AI-powered quality engineering across the organization
• Establish standards for test automation quality, coverage thresholds, and AI-generated test validation
• Evaluate and integrate AI/LLM tools into the testing lifecycle, assessing reliability and enterprise fit
• Define best practices for prompt engineering in the context of test generation and validation
• Track and report on the effectiveness of AI-driven testing compared to traditional approaches

Collaboration

• Partner with agentic code development and AI tooling teams to ensure quality is embedded throughout the AI-powered SDLC
• Work with development teams to integrate AI-driven testing into CI/CD pipelines
• Collaborate with InfoSec and compliance teams to ensure AI-generated tests meet enterprise requirements
• Share knowledge and best practices across teams, helping build organizational capability in AI-powered testing

Required Qualifications

• Extensive experience in quality engineering, test automation, or software development in an enterprise environment
• Proven experience building and maintaining test automation frameworks
• Strong programming background in multiple languages such as Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, and Java
• Experience with AI/LLM tools and platforms such as Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, or similar
• Strong understanding of Agile delivery methodologies and Test-Driven Development (TDD)
• Experience integrating test automation into CI/CD pipelines

Technical Skills

• Deep knowledge of modern test automation tools such as Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, or similar
• Understanding of prompt engineering principles for test generation and validation
• Experience with API testing, contract testing, and integration testing
• Familiarity with AI agent frameworks and their application to testing workflows
• Knowledge of DevOps practices and CI/CD tooling
• Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with Claude Code or similar AI development tools
• Experience with MCP (Model Context Protocol) integrations

Soft Skills

• Ability to define and communicate a technical vision for AI-powered quality engineering
• Strong analytical mindset with the ability to critically evaluate AI-generated outputs
• Self-directed and able to work independently while collaborating across teams
• Ability to learn quickly in a rapidly evolving AI environment
• Strong written and verbal communication skills

Education

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related technical field