Lead QA Engineer - Build Automation Practice at ClearlyAgile in Columbus
Career & Market Insight
Career Growth Signals: This is a greenfield leadership opportunity — you won't be stepping into an established QA practice, you'll be building one. That's high-impact visibility and a strong resume story. Founding or significantly maturing a QA function is a differentiator for future Staff Engineer or Engineering Manager roles.
Skills You'll Develop:
- Strategic QA ownership (coverage strategy, tooling decisions, release readiness frameworks)
- AI-assisted and self-healing test automation — a fast-growing, in-demand niche
- Cross-functional influence across Product, Design, and Engineering
- HubSpot workflow testing — useful for SaaS and RevOps-adjacent career paths
Market Compensation: No salary is listed, which is a minor yellow flag. Lead QA / Quality Engineering roles in the US typically command $100k–$145k annually depending on location and seniority. Given the Tampa Bay market (lower cost of living than SF/NYC), expect offers toward the $100k–$125k range. Negotiate based on the greenfield scope.
Culture & Company Stage: ClearlyAgile is a growing Agile consultancy — expect a fast-paced, client-delivery culture. Employee ownership is a meaningful perk indicating long-term alignment between employees and company success. The emphasis on values-based hiring (passion, leadership, Agile championship) suggests a tight-knit culture that rewards proactivity.
Green flags: Unlimited PTO, paid certifications, employee ownership. Watch for: Scope creep if the QA team remains lean — confirm headcount plans before joining.
Looking for a Lead Quality Engineer for a Platforms & Engineering team to own how to prove products are ready to ship across our web applications, HubSpot workflows, APIs, internal tools, and product analytics. This isn't traditional manual QA, and it isn't the last line of defense. You'll set the quality strategy and lead it through tools and processes — pairing strong QA fundamentals with modern automation and AI-assisted testing — so we release faster, catch defects earlier, and build a testing practice that scales as we grow.
Requirements
- 5+ years of QA, Test Automation, or Quality Engineering experience.
- 2+ years of experience building or maintaining automated tests.
- Experience testing modern web applications, APIs, integrations, and business workflows.
- Has established or significantly matured a QA/automation practice — testing standards, coverage strategy, tooling — not just operated inside one someone else built.
- Experience with tools such as Playwright, Cypress, Selenium, Postman, or similar.
- Experience with Jira and Confluence in an Agile/Scrum environment.
- Experience creating regression, smoke, integration, and acceptance test coverage.
- Strong ability to translate requirements and acceptance criteria into clear test plans and automated validation.
- Familiarity with AI-assisted QA tools, test generation, self-healing tests, or low-code/no-code automation platforms.
- Ability to troubleshoot failed tests, isolate defects, identify flaky tests, and improve test reliability.
- Strong understanding of release readiness, defect lifecycle management, regression risk, and test coverage.
- Self-directed — can set the quality agenda and drive it without day-to-day direction — and communicates clearly with Product, Design, and Engineering.
About ClearlyAgile
ClearlyAgile is one of the fastest growing Agile companies in the Tampa Bay area. We foster career growth and are focused on having fun while delivering quality products and services to our clients. With Unlimited Paid Time Off, 10 Paid Holidays, Medical, Vision, and Dental benefits, Employee Ownership, 401(k), paid training certifications, and very competitive compensation plans, ClearlyAgile strives to listen to and invest in its most important asset — its people.
Our Mission: Transform our customers' businesses using Agile methodologies and principles to help them succeed in a flexible, collaborative, self-organizing and fast-paced environment.
Our Values: We hire and reward based on our core values.
- Show Your Passion — Have passion for what you do. Be an active learner with a commitment to grow. Attend and participate in events!
- Be a Champion of Agile — Spread the word. Back it up with examples, case studies, and data points. Lead by example.
- Teamwork — Be cooperative and collaborative while maintaining a team-first mindset.
- Customer-centric — Always focus on the client and their customers. See the world from their perspectives.
- Quality — Maintain a sense of pride in the quality of your work and the collective work of the team.
- Be a Leader — Empower yourself to make decisions and don't be paralyzed by fear of failure.
We are an equal opportunity employer and committed to a diverse workforce.
To learn more about us, visit our website at www.clearlyagile.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this Lead Quality Engineer role remote or on-site?
What automation tools are expected for this role?
What does 'establishing a QA practice' mean in this context?
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