QA Test Automation Lead

Imagine preventing wildfires before they start, or ensuring power grids stay resilient during extreme weather. That’s the real-world impact we create every day at Neara. We build 3D physics-enabled digital twins of critical infrastructure networks that help utilities and infrastructure companies run scenarios, assess risks, and make smarter decisions that affect millions of lives. We’re not just another tech company - we’re TIME’s 2024 Most Influential Company making tangible differences in communities worldwide. We're backed by some of the world’s leading venture capital investors. Our team is passionate, brilliant, and genuinely excited about solving problems that matter. We’ve built something special here: a culture where everyone owns our mission, innovation thrives, and great work gets recognised. And now we’re ready for our next chapter of growth. Some of the world’s largest utilities depend on Neara to answer their most pressing investment, disaster management, and strategic questions across risk, safety, resiliency, and more. Our software stands apart by uniquely mixing engineering-grade detail with network-wide scale. Our ambition is to redefine the future of critical infrastructure intelligence. We need smart, creative, driven people to help us achieve it. We are seeking an experienced and enthusiastic QA Test Automation Lead to establish and lead Neara’s Quality Assurance Automation practice. As our platform expands rapidly in complexity and scale, you’ll play a pivotal role in embedding automated quality assurance across our entire development lifecycle: Driving faster releases, higher confidence, and fewer regressions. This is a hands-on engineering role and a strategic build opportunity. You’ll architect, design, and own our end-to-end automation frameworks for acceptance and integration testing, covering UI interactions, backend APIs, and system-level validations. From selecting tools and defining best practices to integrating test suites into our CI/CD pipeline, you’ll ensure every release is stable, accurate, and production ready. You’ll have direct influence over how testing is engineered into our workflow and will be the key gatekeeper of our product’s release quality.

What you'll do:

Build & Lead Test Automation

• Design, build, and own Neara’s automated testing framework for acceptance and integration testing, ensuring coverage across UI, API, and backend layers.
• Select and implement modern test automation tools (e.g. Selenium, Playwright, Cypress), integrating them into our CI/CD pipelines for continuous validation.
• Translate product test plans into efficient, maintainable automation scripts that enhance release reliability and developer confidence.
• Define the testing architecture, infrastructure, and documentation that will scale with the product and the business.
• Engineer for Quality & Velocity
• Embed quality early in the development lifecycle by collaborating closely with engineers and product managers.
• Analyse results, identify root causes, and drive the resolution of quality issues through proactive test design.
• Build quality metrics and dashboards that clearly communicate release readiness and product health.
• Balance automation with smart manual testing and designing efficient processes for areas that require human validation.

Run and champion “Test Parties” to engage teams in collective quality ownership. Shape the Future of QA at Neara Establish and scale the company’s QA automation function from the ground up: Defining the tools, processes, and standards that will guide quality for years to come. Continuously evolve QA practices to reduce customer-facing bugs, prevent regressions, and validate the accuracy of complex calculations in a sophisticated SaaS environment. Serve as Neara’s trusted quality advisor, ensuring that testing strategies align with business outcomes and product goals. Drive a measurable increase in release confidence and a reduction in manual testing overhead through automation coverage.

Experience we're looking for:

• Strong software engineering fundamentals with the ability to write clean, maintainable code in Python or JavaScript.
• Deep hands-on experience with modern test automation frameworks (Selenium, Playwright, Cypress).
• Proven experience in API test automation using Postman, Insomnia, or custom scripts.
• Working knowledge of CI/CD environments (e.g. Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions).
• Experience testing complex, cloud-based SaaS platforms.
• Experience leading or mentoring others in QA automation is a plus, as we expect this function to scale over time.

Nice-to-haves:

• Experience with performance or security testing desirable.
• Familiarity with Dart or other modern languages an advantage.
• Experience building reports or visualising test metrics using data dashboards.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field; or equivalent hands-on experience.

3–5+ years in a software development or test automation role.

Characteristics we look for:

No-ego, outcome-oriented team players. We always have each other’s backs.

• Builder Mindset: Excited to create a scalable automation system from scratch.
• Detail-Oriented: Obsessed with accuracy, precision, and clean design.
• Analytical: Naturally curious; digs deep to identify root causes and systemic improvements.
• Collaborative: Communicates clearly across teams; builds strong relationships with developers and product managers.
• Self-Starter: Operates with autonomy and initiative, translating goals into execution.

Why join us:

• Competitive salary + ESOP. Significant career development and growth opportunities.
• Fully flexible working arrangements with a well-stocked office in Redfern.
• Highly meritocratic, non-bureaucratic, and no-ego work culture.
• The opportunity to work on complex, meaningful products and real-world problems.
• The opportunity to play a direct, critical role in the trajectory of a high growth company.
• Neara values diversity, belonging, and equal employment opportunities. We encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply.