Lead QA Engineer at Wabtec

It’s not just about your career or job title… It’s about who you are and the impact you will make on the world. Because whether it’s for each other or our customers, we put People First. When our people come together, we Expand the Possible and continuously look for ways to improve what we create and how we do it. If you are constantly striving to grow, you’re in good company. We are revolutionizing the way the world moves for future generations, and we want someone who is ready to move with us. It’s not just about your career or job title… It’s about who you are and the impact you will make on the world. Because whether it’s for each other or our customers, we put People First. When our people come together, we Expand the Possible and continuously look for ways to improve what we create and how we do it. If you are constantly striving to grow, you’re in good company. We are revolutionizing the way the world moves for future generations, and we want someone who is ready to move with us.   Who are we?   Wabtec Corporation is a leading global provider of equipment, systems, digital solutions, and value-added services for freight and transit rail as well as the mining, marine, and industrial markets. Drawing on nearly four centuries of collective experience across Wabtec, GE Transportation, and Faiveley Transport, the company has grown to become One Wabtec, with unmatched digital expertise, technological innovation, and world-class manufacturing and services, enabling the digital-rail-and-transit ecosystems.  Wabtec is focused on performance that drives progress and unlocks our customers’ potential by delivering innovative and lasting transportation solutions that move and improve the world. We are lifelong learners obsessed with making things better to drive exceptional results. Wabtec has approximately 27K employees in facilities throughout the world. Visit our website to learn more! Who will you be working with? TCOS (Train Control Office Suite) team has dedicated group of professionals committed to delivering high-quality results. We have a diverse set of skills and experiences that allow us to tackle complex challenges. Through open communication and collaborative problem-solving, we continuously strive to improve our processes and outputs. The team is composed of individuals with expertise in areas such as software development & quality assurance. We work closely together to ensure seamless integration of our efforts. By leveraging each member's strengths, we can provide innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our stakeholders. Our shared passion for excellence drives us to go above and beyond in supporting the organization's objectives. How will you make a difference? As a Lead QA Engineer within the TCOS (Train Control Office Suite) team in the Signaling & Systems P&L under the Digital Intelligence group, you will play a pivotal role in ensuring that our software products meet the highest standards of quality, reliability, and safety. You will be responsible for planning, designing, and executing comprehensive test strategies for key customer features, components, and end‑to‑end workflows. This includes functional testing, regression validation, integration testing, performance assessments, and maintainable automation coverage. Your role will require leveraging modern QA methodologies, quality engineering principles, automation frameworks, and CI/CD‑based testing practices. We are looking for a quality‑driven engineer who can convert complex requirements and system behaviors into robust, scalable, and automated test solutions that strengthen the overall product quality. In this position, you will partner closely with developers, architects, and product managers to influence design decisions, identify risks early, and ensure that quality is built into every stage of the SDLC. You will help shape the testing roadmap, advocate for best practices, and introduce process improvements that enhance efficiency, coverage, and reliability. As a lead, you will also mentor junior QA engineers, guide the team on automation, drive test maturity, and enable continuous improvement in both manual and automated testing capabilities. Your contribution extends beyond defect detection—you will champion a quality mindset that ensures system performance, scalability, and long‑term maintainability.   What do we want to know about you? You must have below key skills or responsibilities: 1) Quality Strategy & Test Planning • Break down complex features and identify system-level quality risks and dependencies early. • Define test strategy, scope, and risk-based coverage across functional, integration, and end-to-end workflows. • Create and maintain test plans, entry/exit criteria, and traceability from requirements to tests and defects. • Provide accurate test effort estimates and schedule risk assessments.2) Test Design & Documentation • Author clear, maintainable test cases (functional, regression, exploratory), including edge cases and boundary conditions. • Define and maintain test data, stubs/mocks, and environmental prerequisites. • Use structured design techniques (equivalence partitioning, boundary value analysis, decision tables, BDD/Gherkin where applicable).3) Test Automation & Framework Ownership • Design and evolve scalable automation frameworks for UI, API, and integration layers. • Implement reliable, maintainable automated tests (smoke, regression, acceptance) with robust locators and data strategies. • Integrate automation into CI/CD pipelines, enforce coding standards for tests, and reduce flakiness through smart waits and retries. • Conduct reviews of test code and test design; drive adoption of automation best practices.4) Test Execution & Quality Gates • Lead end-to-end test execution across services and platforms; coordinate regression and release validation. • Define and enforce quality gates (pass/fail thresholds, defect leakage limits, test coverage minimums) before approvals. • Maintain smoke/sanity suites for rapid validation and release confidence.5) Defect Management & Root Cause Analysis • Triage issues efficiently, ensuring precise reproduction steps, logs, and data for quick isolation. • Drive prioritization (severity/priority) and facilitate cross-functional defect resolution. • Lead/participate in RCA; implement preventive actions (test gaps, monitoring, coding/requirements changes).7) Shift‑Left Quality & CI/CD • Embed quality earlier: refine acceptance criteria, support unit/contract tests, and advocate static analysis and code quality metrics. • Own test environments and test data management; enable ephemeral environments and containerized test infra. • Ensure tests run continuously with pipelines (Jenkins/GitHub Actions/Azure DevOps) and provide fast feedback.8) Requirements & Risk Management • Clarify functional and non-functional requirements; resolve ambiguity and contradictions proactively. • Maintain requirements–test–defect traceability; drive risk-based prioritization of backlog items. • Validate operational scenarios aligned with TCOS domain use cases.9) Collaboration & Leadership • Act as quality lead in ceremonies (backlog grooming, design reviews, release readiness). • Collaborate with architects, developers, and product managers to influence design for testability and reliability. • Mentor QA engineers; upscale team capability in automation, exploratory testing, and analysis.10) Communication & Stakeholder Management • Provide clear quality reporting—dashboards, burn-downs, pass/fail trends, and risk callouts. • Communicate release readiness and escalate blockers with data-driven rationale. • Promote transparency in test approach, tool choices, and trade-offs.11) Innovation & Continuous Improvement • Evaluate and pilot new tools/techniques to reduce cycle time and increase coverage. • Systematically reduce flaky tests, optimize test suites for speed and value, and adopt exploratory testing charters. • Maintain living documentation (test strategy, architecture/test maps, runbooks).   Qualifications and Requirements: 1. Education • Master's or Bachelor's in Electrical & Electronics, Electronics and Telecommunication, Computer Science, Instrumentation, or equivalent2. Experience • Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or in “STEM” Majors (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) • A minimum of 8 years of professional experience in both manual and automation testing for enterprise grade software products • Knowledge of QA methodology and industry-standard testing and bug tracking tools • Knowledge in both API based automation (using tools like RestAssured etc.) and UI automation using tools like Eggplant/Ranorex/Selenium/Protractor - desired • Expert in either one of scripting language OR tools : Java-Selenium/Javascript - desired • Expert in creating and maintaining standard automation frameworks - desired • Working knowledge of CI/CD to support continuous automation and deployment process • Experience driving quality through process, instrumentation, requirements and testing • Expert in developing test strategies, test plans and test cases • Experience working within an Agile/Scrum environment. • Exposure to tools like Jenkins, Rally, Azure Dev-Ops etc and should have minimum experience in SQL database management. • Experience working in Linux/Unix/QNX and Windows environments. • Expert in communicating cross-functionally and across management levels in formal and informal settings • ISTQB Test Analyst OR equivalent test certification desired • Having the knowledge of Rail Road industry is a plus • Having the knowledge of any CAD System is a plus   3. Methodologies • Agile Scrum experience4. Personal Qualities • Strong oral and written communication skills • Ownership mentality and focus on high-quality delivery5. Desired Attributes • Experience with modern software tooling • Demonstrate basic knowledge of AI principles, LLM modelsWe would love it if you had: Business Acumen: • Understand large-scale distributed application infrastructure • Awareness of industry trends and competitorsPersonal Attributes: • Thorough problem analysis before implementation • Identify and propose innovative solutions • Initiative to experiment with new software frameworks • Adaptability to changing environments and requirements • Quick pivoting when necessary • Responsive to coaching and seeks diverse information sources  What will your typical day look like? • Standup Meeting: Participating in a brief daily standup meeting with the development team to discuss progress, blockers, and plans for the day. • Design, coding and Debugging: Spending a significant portion of the day writing, testing, and debugging code to implement new features or fix bugs. • Documentation: Updating project documentation, such as technical specifications, user guides, and internal wikis, to ensure knowledge sharing and maintainability. • Continuous Integration and Deployment: Monitoring and troubleshooting the continuous integration and deployment pipeline to ensure smooth and reliable software releases. • Learning and Skill Development: Dedicating time to learning new technologies, programming languages, or best practices to stay up-to-date with industry trends and improve personal skills.Our Commitment to Embrace Diversity: Wabtec is a global company that invests not just in our products, but also our people by embracing diversity and inclusion. We care about our relationships with our employees and take pride in celebrating the variety of experiences, expertise, and backgrounds that bring us together. At Wabtec, we aspire to create a place where we all belong and where diversity is welcomed and appreciated.    To fulfill that commitment, we rely on a culture of leadership, diversity, and inclusion. We aim to employ the world’s brightest minds to help us create a limitless source of ideas and opportunities. We have created a space where everyone is given the opportunity to contribute based on their individual experiences and perspectives and recognize that these differences and diverse perspectives make us better. We believe in hiring talented people of varied backgrounds, experiences, and styles… People like you! Wabtec Corporation is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or expression, or protected Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.