Lead Quality Engineer

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Job Description

As part of the Quality Engineering organization working in conjunction with an Agile team(s), the Lead Quality Engineer (Lead QE) provides senior-level thought leadership within the Quality Engineering discipline and is accountable for the overall quality strategy and delivery outcomes of their team(s). The Lead QE owns the test plans and quality outcomes for all features delivered by the team, coordinating testing efforts across multiple team members and, when projects span different areas, across multiple squads, ensuring end-to-end quality coverage from the user interface as well as through APIs and databases.

The Lead QE serves as the primary point of contact for quality in the squad when interacting with product management, design, and development leads, clearly communicating quality status, risks, and mitigation plans for releases. They mentor and develop junior quality engineers, drive the adoption of best practices in testing and quality, and collaborate with other Lead QEs and engineering leads across squads to align on standards, share improvements, and tackle cross-team quality initiatives. The Lead QE remains hands-on, personally tackling critical testing activities such as testing, and automating, particularly complex features, verifying high-priority defect fixes, and setting up test data, especially during tight deadlines or when exploring new technology.

The Lead QE works together with all members of the Agile team to determine customer and product requirements and their applicability to product code and test code. They partner openly to exchange ideas and opinions, elevate concerns, and follow quality policies and procedures as defined by Fifth Third's quality governance standards, acting as a champion of continuous quality improvement.

What you will be doing:

• Leading the quality strategy for a squad or project, owning the test plans and quality outcomes for all features delivered by the team.
• Coordinating testing efforts across multiple team members and possibly multiple squads when projects span different areas, ensuring end-to-end quality coverage from the user interface through APIs and databases.
• Mentoring and developing junior Quality Engineers within the Quality Engineering organization.
• Driving the adoption of best practices in testing and quality within the team.
• Collaborating with other Lead QEs and engineering leads across the Quality Engineering organization to align quality standards, share improvements, and tackle cross-team quality initiatives.
• Acting as the primary point of contact for quality in the squad when interacting with product management, design, and development leads, clearly communicating quality status, risks, and mitigation plans for releases.
• Taking a hands-on role in critical testing activities, such as testing particularly complex features, verifying high-priority defect fixes, or setting up test environments, especially during tight deadlines or when exploring new technology.
• Participating in release readiness reviews and go/no-go meetings, providing a quality perspective and ensuring that any high-risk issues are raised and addressed before launch.
• Owning test planning, execution, and automation for moderately complex systems or large features, ensuring comprehensive coverage across front-end, API, and backend components.
• Designing, building, and maintaining robust test automation framework components and libraries that are easily extensible, improving the team's efficiency.
• Integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines (e.g., Jenkins), ensuring tests run reliably in the pipeline and that failures are addressed promptly.
• Monitoring test results, swiftly identifying failures, logging defects with detailed diagnostics, and working with the development team to ensure issues are resolved and verified—preventing regressions.
• Writing test cases using Gherkin syntax within the test management tool (e.g., qTest), automating where applicable using WebdriverIO.
• Write API test automation using Postman.
• Participating in Agile ceremonies (planning, estimation, daily stand-ups, retrospectives) and providing accurate testing estimates and input on testing approach.
• Supporting release and change management by overseeing final quality checks on production deployments and coordinating any post-release validations or monitoring for issues.
• Providing clear status updates on testing progress, quality metrics, and risks throughout the sprint and release cycle, communicating effectively with both technical team members and non-technical stakeholders.
• Efficiently reproducing reported software problems, analyzing data, and working with other team members to quickly remove obstacles.

What you should have:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science / Information Systems or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 7+ years of experience in software quality engineering or closely related fields, with a proven track record of leading quality engineering efforts for major projects or products.
• Advanced proficiency in one or more programming languages as it pertains to quality engineering (e.g., Java, JavaScript/TypeScript), capable of contributing to test automation code at an architectural / framework level.
• Broad knowledge of test automation across all layers of the application—UI automation, API testing, database validation—and an understanding of how to test integrations with message queues or third-party services.
• Advanced expertise in test automation tools and frameworks (e.g., WebdriverIO, Selenium, Cypress), with the ability to write complex tests and create custom extensions or utilities for the test framework as needed.
• Experience designing and maintaining complex test frameworks or harnesses; able to evaluate and integrate new testing tools or libraries to improve efficiency.
• Experience testing RESTful APIs using tools or libraries such as Postman, supertest, or REST Assured, including verifying JSON/XML responses and using different HTTP methods.
• Experience integrating tests into CI/CD pipelines (e.g. Jenkins), including configuring test jobs, using Docker / containers for test environment setup, and ensuring tests can run in parallel or in isolated environments.
• Proficient in database concepts and SQL queries, including creating and managing test data in multiple environments; able to validate data consistency and data flows through complex systems.
• Strong understanding of QE methodologies and a wide range of testing types (unit, integration, system, UAT, regression, performance, security, exploratory, etc.) and knowing when to apply each.
• Strong debugging and analytical skills across the tech stack; comfortable using advanced tools (profilers, APM dashboards, network monitors) to diagnose issues that are not immediately obvious.
• Comfortable working with version control (Git/GitHub) and complex branching strategies in a large codebase; able to resolve merge conflicts or debug CI failures related to tests independently.
• Experience working in an Agile environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to explain technical concepts and quality concerns to diverse audiences—developers, product managers, and occasionally clients or executives.
• Demonstrated leadership in mentoring junior and mid-level engineers and coaching developers on writing more testable, quality-oriented code.
• Strong collaboration skills across squads and with external partners, with the ability to advocate for necessary testing time or resources and find win-win solutions when quality and schedule pressures conflict.
• Experience authoring test cases in test management software (e.g., qTest).

What will make you stand out:

• Experience using WebdriverIO (JavaScript or TypeScript).
• Experience with Postman / Newman for API testing.
• Hands-on experience in a Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) environment using Gherkin / Cucumber.
• Experience performing accessibility testing (e.g., aXe).
• Experience with cloud technologies (AWS preferred).
• Experience with containerization (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes) for managing test environments.
• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code concepts (e.g., Terraform) for managing test environments and deployments.
• Experience with service virtualization or contract testing for distributed systems.
• Exposure to chaos engineering or resilience testing practices.
• Familiarity with observability and monitoring tools (e.g., Splunk, Dynatrace) and using them to support testing and defect diagnosis.
• Track record of driving test automation framework improvements that benefit multiple teams.
• Experience presenting quality metrics, risks, and strategy to senior stakeholders.
• Active participation in communities of practice or guilds focused on Quality Engineering.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES: None.

LOCATION: Cincinnati preferred will consider remote for the right canidate.

At Fifth Third, we understand the importance of recognizing our employees for the role they play in improving the lives of our customers, communities and each other. Our Total Rewards include comprehensive benefits and differentiated compensation offerings to give each employee the opportunity to be their best every day.

The base salary for this position is reflective of the range of salary levels for all roles within this pay grade across the U.S. Individual salaries within this range will vary based on factors such as role, relevant skillset, relevant experience, education and geographic location. In addition to the base salary, this role is eligible to participate in an incentive compensation plan, with any such payment based upon company, line of business and/or individual performance.

Our extensive benefits programs are designed to support the individual needs of our employees and their families, encompassing physical, financial, emotional and social well-being. You can learn more about those programs on our 53.com Careers page at: https://www.53.com/content/fifth-third/en/careers/benefits.html or by consulting with your talent acquisition partner. 

Attention search firms and staffing agencies: do not submit unsolicited resumes for this posting.  Fifth Third does not accept resumes from any agency that does not have an active agreement with Fifth Third.  Any unsolicited resumes – no matter how they are submitted – will be considered the property of Fifth Third and Fifth Third will not be responsible for any associated fee.

Fifth Third Bank, National Association is proud to have an engaged and inclusive culture and to promote and ensure equal employment opportunity in all employment decisions regardless of race, color, gender, national origin, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status, veteran status or any other legally protected status.