Test Architect in Chennai, भारत

We are seeking an experienced Test Architect to lead the end-to-end test strategy across the domain, embedding quality early in the software development lifecycle through shift-left practices and leveraging AI to enhance and accelerate testing outcomes. This senior engineering leadership role requires the successful candidate to serve as the technical authority on test automation, quality engineering, and test strategy, establishing standards for designing, measuring, and delivering quality across teams.

Responsibilities

Define and own the domain-wide test strategy covering functional, integration, regression, and end-to-end testing, ensuring alignment with business objectives, engineering practices, and release goals.

Drive shift-left quality practices by embedding testing into design and development phases to detect, prevent, and resolve defects early, reducing change costs and delivery risks.

Lead the adoption and application of AI throughout the test lifecycle, including AI-assisted test generation, coverage analysis, specification-driven test development, automated code review, and intelligent test prioritization.

Establish and enforce standards for test automation frameworks, tooling selection, reusable test assets, and test data strategy to ensure consistency, maintainability, and scalability across the domain.

Implement and maintain quality gates, coverage targets, and measurable test-effectiveness metrics, such as defect escape rate, test cycle time, and automation coverage, to provide clear visibility into quality status.

Coach and mentor engineers and test specialists across teams, enhancing test engineering capabilities and serving as the technical escalation point for complex quality issues.

Collaborate with architecture leads, delivery leads, and product owners to align testing approaches with CI/CD pipelines, engineering standards, and release schedules.

Continuously assess and adapt the test strategy in response to technology developments, platform changes, and emerging best practices in quality engineering and AI-assisted development.

Skills

Must have

The role requires extensive expertise in test automation, quality engineering, and test architecture, gained through over 15 years of hands-on experience at an enterprise scale. The candidate should have a strong background in designing and implementing shift-left testing strategies that integrate quality controls into continuous integration and continuous delivery pipelines.

Hard skills include proficiency with test automation frameworks, specifically Selenium and Playwright, applied to both API and UI testing. The candidate must demonstrate practical experience in utilizing AI and generative AI technologies to enhance engineering and testing workflows, such as AI-assisted test case creation, specification-driven testing, intelligent coverage analysis, and automated test review. Additionally, expertise is expected in managing test data strategies, test environments, and service virtualization within complex, multi-system architectures. The role also involves defining and managing quality gates, coverage metrics, and test-effectiveness KPIs within agile and DevOps frameworks.

Soft skills entail strong technical leadership capabilities, with proven ability to influence and align engineering, delivery, and architecture teams without direct authority. Effective communication skills are essential for articulating testing strategies, risks, and trade-offs to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Extensive experience in enterprise-scale test automation and quality engineering

Design and implementation of shift-left testing in CI/CD pipelines

Application of AI and generative AI in testing workflows

Expertise in Selenium and Playwright for API and UI automation

Management of test data, environments, and service virtualization in complex systems

Definition and operation of quality gates, metrics, and KPIs in agile/DevOps contexts

Proven technical leadership influencing cross-functional teams

Clear communication of technical strategies and risk management to diverse audiences

Nice to have

N/A

Other

Languages

English: C1 Advanced

Seniority

Lead