Automation QA Lead

Job Description:

Job Summary

Seeking a QA Automation Senior / Lead with deep expertise in test automation, quality engineering, and AI-powered development tools, particularly GitHub Copilot. This role will lead the adoption of AI-assisted test automation practices, drive quality strategy across digital banking platforms, and ensure secure, scalable, and compliant testing solutions within a regulated financial services environment.

The ideal candidate brings strong hands-on automation experience, leadership capability, and a forward-looking mindset to integrate generative AI responsibly into the QA lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities

QA Automation & Strategy

Lead the design, development, and execution of automated test frameworks for web, API, mobile, and data platforms.

Define and own the QA automation strategy, standards, and best practices aligned with CIBC’s SDLC and DevSecOps pipelines.

Ensure high test coverage across functional, regression, integration, performance, and security testing.

GitHub Copilot & AI Enablement

Champion the use of GitHub Copilot for accelerating test automation development (e.g., test scripts, test data generation, utilities).

Establish governance, guardrails, and best practices for responsible AI usage in QA within a regulated banking environment.

Review, refine, and validate AI-generated test code to ensure quality, security, and maintainability.

Train and mentor QA and development teams on the effective use of Copilot for testing.

CI/CD & DevSecOps Integration

Integrate automated tests with CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, etc.).

Enable shift-left testing and continuous quality practices across agile teams.

Collaborate closely with DevOps and Security teams to embed quality and compliance checks early in the pipeline.

Leadership & Stakeholder Management

Lead, mentor, and grow a team of QA automation engineers.

Partner with Product Owners, Developers, Architects, and Business stakeholders to define test strategy and quality metrics.

Provide test status, quality insights, and risk assessments to senior leadership.

Banking, Risk & Compliance

Ensure QA processes comply with banking regulations, risk management, data privacy, and security standards.

Support audit, regulatory, and compliance activities with robust test evidence and documentation.

Required Qualifications

Technical Skills

8+ years in QA, with 3+ years in a QA Automation Lead or SME role.

Strong experience with automation tools such as:

Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, Appium

REST API automation (RestAssured, Postman, Karate)

Proficiency in Java, JavaScript, Python, or C#.

Hands-on experience using GitHub Copilot or similar AI coding assistants.

Strong understanding of CI/CD pipelines, source control (GitHub), and DevSecOps practices.

Experience with test reporting, monitoring, and quality metrics.

Domain & Process

Experience in banking or financial services is highly preferred.

Strong understanding of Agile/Scrum and SAFe methodologies.

Knowledge of data privacy, security testing, and risk-based testing approaches.

Leadership & Soft Skills

Proven experience leading and mentoring QA teams.

Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

Ability to influence change and drive AI adoption responsibly.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with performance testing (JMeter, Gatling).

Exposure to cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP).

Knowledge of AI/ML testing concepts and test data synthesis using generative AI.

Certifications such as ISTQB, SAFe, or Cloud certifications.