Test Lead – Mobile, Web & In-Store Applications Downtown San Francisco, CA

Job Title: Test Lead – Mobile, Web & In-Store Applications Downtown San Francisco, CA
Location: Downtown San Francisco, CA
Work Model: Onsite (4 Days per Week)
Employment Type: Contract
Job Summary
We are seeking an experienced Test Lead to drive quality assurance efforts for mobile, web, API, and in-store applications that support customer shopping experiences and retail operations. This is a hands-on leadership role requiring expertise in both manual and automated testing, along with the ability to coordinate onsite and offshore QA teams in a fast-paced Agile environment.
The ideal candidate will have strong experience with Playwright automation, mobile testing (iOS/Android), web applications, APIs, CI/CD, and modern AI-assisted testing practices. Experience within retail, e-commerce, POS, payments, loyalty, or in-store applications is highly preferred.
Key Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end testing across iOS, Android, web, API, and in-store applications.
• Plan, execute, and oversee functional, integration, regression, exploratory, accessibility, and cross-platform testing.
• Develop, maintain, and enhance Playwright automation frameworks using JavaScript or TypeScript.
• Integrate automated test suites into CI/CD pipelines to improve test coverage and release quality.
• Utilize AI-powered tools such as Claude AI or similar technologies to improve test design, automation, defect analysis, and documentation.
• Coordinate onsite and offshore QA teams to ensure successful sprint execution and timely delivery.
• Prepare test strategies, test plans, execution reports, and release readiness assessments.
• Monitor testing risks, dependencies, blockers, and mitigation plans throughout the development lifecycle.
• Lead defect triage meetings and collaborate with development teams to resolve issues efficiently.
• Validate end-to-end retail workflows including checkout, loyalty, inventory, fulfillment, clienteling, and associate tools.
• Collaborate with Product, Engineering, Business, and Store Operations teams to ensure high-quality software delivery.
• Mentor QA engineers while remaining actively involved in testing and automation activities.

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of Quality Assurance experience with demonstrated experience leading QA teams.
• Proven experience managing onsite and offshore QA teams in Agile environments.
• Strong hands-on experience testing iOS and Android mobile applications.
• Expertise in web, responsive, cross-browser, API, and integration testing.
• Hands-on experience with Playwright using JavaScript or TypeScript.
• Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines.
• Strong knowledge of Git, test management, and defect tracking tools.
• Experience with Appium, accessibility testing, visual testing, performance testing, and device cloud platforms.
• Experience testing retail, e-commerce, payments, loyalty, inventory, fulfillment, POS, or in-store applications.
• Working knowledge of SQL and cloud platforms.
• Experience using AI tools such as Claude AI or similar generative AI technologies within QA processes.
• Excellent analytical, troubleshooting, prioritization, and problem-solving skills.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to work onsite four days per week in Downtown San Francisco, CA.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting phased or parallel software releases.
• Retail technology or omnichannel commerce experience.
• Strong automation-first mindset with continuous quality improvement experience.
• Experience mentoring QA engineers and driving testing best practices.