SDET Lead – Quality Engineering (TypeScript / Playwright / Performance / AI Testing)

Opportunity

Strategy and automation

• Assess architecture and design for failure points, dependencies, and scaling risks; create risk-based test approaches.
• Define test coverage across unit, component, contract, API, UI, end-to-end, and non-functional testing.
• Own Playwright framework development and build API, GraphQL, contract, component, and unit test coverage.
• Run reliable CI/CD testing with quality gates, flaky-test quarantine, reporting, and cross-browser/mobile coverage.

Performance and observability

• Build workload models and coded load, stress, soak, and spike tests; identify and explain bottlenecks.
• Set SLOs and performance budgets, track regressions, and test resilience and scaling behavior.
• Connect test runs with metrics, logs, and traces; incorporate production incident lessons into test coverage.

AI testing and leadership

• Develop and evaluate agent-based testing workflows and tests for AI-powered product features.
• Set guardrails for human review, determinism, cost, and data handling; measure and report outcomes.
• Hire and mentor SDETs, set coding standards and career paths, and own quality metrics and release readiness.
• Maintain test data and environments in line with UAE data protection and payment security standards.

Required experience and skills

• 8+ years in testing and quality engineering, including 3+ years leading SDET or automation teams.
• Expert TypeScript/JavaScript and Node.js skills, with deep Playwright framework and CI scaling experience.
• 2+ years of performance engineering with k6 or JMeter, including workload design, scripting, and driving fixes.
• Understand cloud and infrastructure performance, distributed systems, observability, CI/CD, Docker, API and contract testing.
• Practical experience applying LLMs or agents in testing; able to challenge developers and architects using evidence.

Advantageous experience

• Gatling, Locust, Lighthouse, chaos/resilience tools, Terraform or Bicep, OWASP/DAST/SAST, or data quality testing.
• React/Next.js, Angular, NestJS, regulated-sector experience, or ISTQB/cloud certifications.

First-year outcomes

• Documented test strategies for core platforms and reliable, low-flakiness Playwright suites in CI/CD.
• Performance baselines and gates for critical journeys, with at least one real bottleneck fixed.
• An agentic testing capability in production with measured results; fewer production defects and shorter regression cycles.

Location and workplace

• Abu Dhabi, UAE; hybrid.

Compensation

• Up to AED 40,000 per month, tax-free, plus annual bonus, education allowance, and benefits.