Software QA Engineer (Manual & Automation)

Summary of Role

We are seeking a detail-oriented Software QA Engineer with strong manual testing expertise and hands-on experience in Playwright test automation. The successful candidate will be responsible for ensuring the quality, reliability, and performance of software solutions through comprehensive testing activities, defect management, automation development, and close collaboration with cross-functional teams. Experience testing AI-powered applications and working within an Agile environment is highly advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Analyse user stories, business requirements, and acceptance criteria from a quality and testability perspective.
• Design, document, maintain, and execute test cases aligned to user stories and acceptance criteria.
• Perform functional, regression, integration, end-to-end (E2E), exploratory, smoke, and negative testing.
• Identify suitable test automation opportunities and develop, maintain, and execute automated tests using Playwright.
• Log, track, retest, and manage software defects throughout the development lifecycle.
• Maintain traceability between requirements, test cases, test execution results, supporting evidence, and defects.
• Produce clear and comprehensive test evidence, execution reports, and QA summary reports.
• Contribute to test planning, test strategy development, risk identification, and release-readiness activities.
• Collaborate closely with Developers, Product Managers, Business Analysts, Designers, and other stakeholders.
• Continuously identify opportunities to improve QA processes, test coverage, automation frameworks, and testing efficiency.
• Adhere to established QA governance, testing standards, and release management processes.

Technical Experience

• Minimum 5+ years of software QA/testing experience.
• Minimum 5+ years of hands-on test automation experience.
• Strong experience in manual software testing.
• Proven capability in:
• Test planning and test-case design.
• Functional, regression, integration, and end-to-end testing.
• Defect identification, tracking, and root-cause collaboration.
• Test evidence management and documentation.
• Hands-on experience with Playwright-based test automation.
• Experience using Azure DevOps for test management and defect tracking.
• Exposure to CI/CD pipelines and modern software delivery practices.
• Experience testing AI-powered applications.
• Solid understanding of:
• Agile software development methodologies.
• QA principles and testing best practices.
• Risk-based testing approaches.
• Requirements analysis and translating acceptance criteria into effective test scenarios.

Qualifications

• Matric and a Bachelor's Degree or relevant tertiary qualification
• ISTQB Foundation Level Certification (required).

Experience

• Experience working on cloud-based applications.
• Experience testing AI/ML-driven platforms and intelligent applications.
• Exposure to test automation within CI/CD environments.
• Familiarity with release management and quality governance frameworks.