Hands-On QA Lead (AI-Accelerated Testing for Complex Compliance SaaS)

About us: We’re a fast-moving B2B SaaS company in the workplace health, safety and compliance space. Our platform is genuinely complex — multi-tenant, deep workflows, a web application and native mobile apps — used every day by organisations who depend on it to keep people safe and stay compliant. We’ve gone all-in on AI-accelerated engineering. Our developers ship with Claude Code every day, and we expect the same step-change in how we do QA. This is not a “click around and log bugs” role. We’re looking for someone who treats AI as a force-multiplier and uses it to test faster, deeper, and smarter than a traditional team ever could. Why this role exists: We want to raise the bar on quality and build a modern, high-velocity QA function. That means strong test automation, sharp manual exploratory testing, and a culture where everyone uses AI to work better. We need a player-coach: someone who is brilliant hands-on and can lead, mentor, set up processes, and drive measurable results across the wider QA team. This is for one individual to embed directly in our team — in our standups, our tools, and our day-to-day — and become a true member of the team, not an outside vendor. We are not looking for an agency, and the work cannot be subcontracted or passed to others. We want you, hands-on, every day. If you like rolling up your sleeves on the hard testing problems and you get energy from lifting a team’s performance, read on. What you’ll do: You’ll own quality end-to-end and use AI at every step: 1. Learn our product fast — with AI as your co-pilot. Our software is deep and domain-heavy. You’ll get up to speed quickly by using Claude Code to explore the codebase, understand workflows, and map out how features really behave. 2. Run manual & exploratory testing at pace. Test thoroughly and quickly, and use AI to generate edge cases and scenarios the team hasn’t thought of — the nasty multi-tenant, permission, and workflow corners that break in the real world. 3. Author BDD / Gherkin scenarios with AI. Turn requirements and acceptance criteria into clean, maintainable Gherkin (Given/When/Then) feature files, using AI to draft and refine steps. 4. Build automated E2E tests with Claude Code + Playwright. Stand up and grow our Playwright suite, using AI to accelerate spec writing, debugging, and maintenance. 5. Automate our native mobile apps with Appium. Design and build Appium test coverage for our iOS/Android apps. 6. Drive efficiency with AI at every step. Constantly find ways to compress test cycles, reduce manual effort, and increase coverage by applying AI tooling across the workflow. 7. Lead and uplift the wider QA team. Coach the rest of the team to adopt these AI-accelerated practices, establish standards and process, and make sure the whole function is moving faster and producing better-quality work — not just you. Day-to-day responsibilities: • Plan and execute manual, exploratory, and regression testing across web and mobile. • Grow and maintain automated test coverage (Playwright for web, Appium for mobile). • Write and own BDD/Gherkin feature files and keep them current as the product evolves. • Build AI-accelerated QA workflows and document them so the team can repeat them. • Triage, reproduce, and clearly report defects; verify fixes; prevent regressions. • Define QA process, standards, and a sensible test strategy (what to automate vs. test manually). • Mentor and upskill QA team members; review their work; set expectations and lift the bar. • Define and report on QA KPIs so quality and velocity are visible and improving. • Partner closely with developers and product to bake quality in early, not bolt it on late. You must have: • Proven QA leadership — you’ve led or mentored testers, set up process, and driven measurable improvement, not just executed test cases. • Strong hands-on testing — excellent manual and exploratory testing instincts on complex software; you find the bugs others miss. • Playwright — real experience building and maintaining E2E suites (TypeScript/JavaScript). • Appium — experience automating native mobile apps (iOS/Android). • BDD / Gherkin — you write clean, maintainable feature files. • Daily, fluent use of AI dev tools — ideally Claude Code (or equivalent: Cursor, Copilot, etc.) as a core part of how you work. You can show us how you use AI to test faster and deeper. • Fast learner — comfortable being dropped into complex, unfamiliar software and getting productive quickly. • Excellent written English and clear, proactive communication (we work async across timezones). Bonus points: • Experience testing multi-tenant B2B SaaS (tenant isolation, roles/permissions, complex workflows). • Familiarity with Laravel / PHP web apps (our stack — you won’t write features, but reading code helps). • CI/CD integration of automated tests; API testing; performance/security testing exposure. • Background in compliance, WHS/EHS, or other regulated/data-sensitive domains. • Experience standing up a QA function or test-automation practice from a low baseline. Who you are: This is the part that matters most. We’re looking for someone who: • Grabs the bull by the horns. You take ownership, drive things forward, and don’t wait to be told. • Brings genuine energy and enthusiasm to the craft of quality — and lifts the people around you. • Is happy to roll up your sleeves on manual testing and the unglamorous work, and has the leadership skills to manage people, fix processes, and drive results. • Defaults to “how can AI make this faster?” at every step. • Sets a high bar and holds it — for yourself and the team — with positivity, not negativity. • Thrives on turning a team into a high-performing one and loves seeing the metrics move. What success looks like: First 30 days • Up to speed on the product and able to test the core workflows confidently (with AI accelerating your ramp). • Quick wins: gaps identified, a few high-value Playwright/Appium tests added, AI-accelerated workflow documented. 60–90 days • A clear, working QA strategy and process the whole team follows. • Meaningfully expanded automated coverage (Playwright + Appium) and a faster manual test cycle. • The wider team actively using AI tooling in their day-to-day, with visible improvement. KPIs you’ll own and move (final set agreed together) • Growth in automated test count / coverage (e.g. Playwright specs added per week). • Reduction in test-cycle time per release. • Reduction in defects escaping to production (defect leakage). • Team adoption of AI-accelerated QA practices. • Quality and timeliness of test reporting. How to apply: Individuals only — no agencies, and no subcontracting. This person embeds in our team and does the work themselves. Agency proposals will be declined. We read every application and we’re filtering for signal, so please: 1. Start your proposal with the word COMPASS so we know you read this in full. 2. In 2–3 short paragraphs, tell us about a time you used AI (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, etc.) to do QA work faster or deeper — what you did, the tool, and the result. 3. Briefly list your hands-on experience with Playwright, Appium, and BDD/Gherkin (with links to work/repos if you can share them). 4. Tell us about a time you led or improved a QA team or process — what changed and how you measured it. Please don’t send a generic, AI-spam proposal. Specific, honest, and concise wins. We may include a short paid practical test (e.g. write a Playwright spec / a set of Gherkin scenarios for a sample flow, or test a feature and report) so we can see how you actually work.