Lead Quality Engineer Position at Discovery Machine®, Inc.

Job DescriptionJob DescriptionWe are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Lead Quality Engineer to take full ownership of our quality assurance efforts. This is a high-impact, ground-floor opportunity to define, build, and scale our Quality Assurance (QA) function from scratch. You will leverage both a strong QA mindset and deep technical expertise to establish a repeatable and scalable QA process. As a core member of the delivery team, you will ensure our products meet the highest standards of reliability, performance, and user experience. Work Includes:Quality Engineer Strategy and Process OwnershipDesign, implement, and own an organization-wide, scalable QA framework, upholding quality as a proactive, first-line of defense.Define and institutionalize best practices for bug identification, prevention, and resolution, while reinforcing QA beyond basic peer review.Define, plan, and run a comprehensive User Acceptance Testing (UAT) cycle every release/sprint.Partner with Product and Engineering to write detailed QA plans before development begins, ensuring full coverage of business and technical requirements. Hands-On Testing and AutomationPerform hands-on QA using a risk-based approach, leveraging manual, exploratory, and automated testing techniques.Create, execute, and maintain automated test scripts, primarily for React UIs, with deep experience required in Playwright.Maintain and evolve automated testing frameworks to support growing product needs and team capacity.Decompose product requirements into comprehensive test cases, ensuring full coverage of business and technical needs.Write and execute SQL queries to validate data integrity and troubleshoot backend issues.Complete code review analysis. Collaboration, Mentoring, and Defect ManagementIdentify, track, document, and triage bugs, collaborating with Engineering to determine severity and prioritization for efficient resolution.Work within a Scrum/Agile team, sharing QA best practices, and mentoring teammates to improve overall testing strategies.Make informed decisions on what, when, and how to automate, balancing efficiency with development speed and aligning with CI/CD pipelines. QualificationsMust be a U.S. Citizen; Work Visa is not eligible.5+ years of experience as a Quality Engineer.3+ years of experience leading a teamProven success owning or building QA processes from scratch, particularly within small or mid-sized technology companies.Deep experience with automated testing frameworksExperience debugging applications, analyzing logs, and using developer tools to investigate issues.Ability to write and optimize SQL queries for testing and troubleshooting purposes.Strong proficiency with GitHub and familiarity with modern development workflows and version control (e.g., Git).A strong QA MindsetAbility to clearly articulate test findings, risks, and recommendations to technical and non-technical stakeholders across various time zones.Strong understanding of Agile methodologies and familiarity with ticketing systemsCompany DescriptionAt Discovery Machine® Inc., we are revolutionizing the future of technology with our pioneering Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions. We are scaling cutting edge AI solutions throughout the Department of Defense (DoD). If you are passionate about technology; if you love finding ground-breaking solutions to complex, cutting-edge technical problems; if you are determined to work at a small company, with a team of mentors and colleagues dedicated to helping you grow; then look no further, we want you to apply!Made of a small, tight-knit team of talented engineers, Discovery Machine develops and deploys a set of software solutions that push the boundaries of AI technology. From advanced research into completely novel AI technologies, to the utilization of cutting-edge natural language processing applications, work at Discovery Machine constantly exposes our employees to new and interesting engineering challenges.Company DescriptionAt Discovery Machine® Inc., we are revolutionizing the future of technology with our pioneering Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions. We are scaling cutting edge AI solutions throughout the Department of Defense (DoD). If you are passionate about technology; if you love finding ground-breaking solutions to complex, cutting-edge technical problems; if you are determined to work at a small company, with a team of mentors and colleagues dedicated to helping you grow; then look no further, we want you to apply!\r\rMade of a small, tight-knit team of talented engineers, Discovery Machine develops and deploys a set of software solutions that push the boundaries of AI technology. From advanced research into completely novel AI technologies, to the utilization of cutting-edge natural language processing applications, work at Discovery Machine constantly exposes our employees to new and interesting engineering challenges.