Lead Quality Assurance Engineer

Title: Quality Engineer Lead Location: Melbourne Permanent role. Role Overview We are seeking an experienced Quality Engineering (QE) Lead to drive end-to-end quality ownership across large-scale enterprise programs. The ideal candidate will possess strong expertise in E2E testing, API Automation, Integration Testing, and Test Strategy, with proven experience managing complex application landscapes involving multiple systems, vendors, and business stakeholders. The role requires a hands-on leader who can balance delivery ownership, technical excellence, stakeholder management, and team leadership to ensure high-quality, reliable, and scalable solutions. Key Responsibilities E2E Quality Ownership Own and drive the end-to-end testing strategy across multiple applications, platforms, and integrated systems.Lead SIT, E2E, UAT, Regression, and Release Validation activities.Ensure quality coverage across complex business processes spanning multiple upstream and downstream systems.Establish quality gates and release readiness criteria to support successful deployments.Proactively identify quality risks, dependencies, and integration bottlenecks.API & Integration Testing Design and implement scalable API automation frameworks using tools such as REST Assured, Karate, Postman, or equivalent.Lead validation of microservices, APIs, event-driven architectures, and third-party integrations.Drive contract testing, service virtualization, mocking, and stubbing strategies.Ensure data consistency and seamless integration across multiple systems and interfaces.Automation & Engineering Excellence Drive an automation-first approach across UI, API, and integration layers.Integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines.Improve test coverage, execution efficiency, and release confidence through automation.Monitor automation effectiveness and continuously enhance framework reliability.Stakeholder & Delivery Management Coordinate testing activities across multiple delivery teams, vendors, and business stakeholders.Lead defect triage, risk assessments, test progress reviews, and release governance forums.Provide clear visibility into quality metrics, testing status, risks, and recommendations.Act as the single point of accountability for quality outcomes across the program.Team Leadership Lead and mentor onshore/offshore QE teams.Review test strategy, test design, automation solutions, and quality practices.Drive continuous improvement and foster a quality engineering culture across teams.Required Skills & Experience 10+ years of experience in Quality Engineering and Testing.3+ years of experience leading QE teams in enterprise-scale programs.Strong experience in:End-to-End TestingAPI Testing & AutomationIntegration TestingTest Strategy & GovernanceAutomation Framework DesignDefect & Risk ManagementRelease Readiness & Quality Sign-OffHands-on expertise with:REST Assured / Karate / PostmanSelenium / Playwright / CypressJIRA, Zephyr, Xray, ALMAzure DevOps, Jenkins, GitHub ActionsStrong understanding of:Microservices ArchitectureEvent-Driven SystemsService VirtualizationContract TestingCI/CD and DevOps PracticesExperience handling complex integrations involving multiple internal and external systems.Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills with the ability to influence business and technology leadership.Preferred Experience Retail, Supply Chain, eCommerce, Logistics, or large Digital Transformation programs.Experience leading testing across distributed teams and multi-vendor environments.Exposure to AI-assisted testing and modern quality engineering practices.