Quality Automation Architect

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This role is on-site Monday through Friday and sits at our Seattle office.
HOW WE TAKE CARE OF YOU:
For full time employees, Health, Dental, Vision, 401K with generous matching program, generous paid time off.
Potential Annual Bonus Opportunity.
50% discount at restaurants and retail locations.
Career advancement opportunities as we are growing!
For more benefit related information please click HERE.
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https://www.tommybahama.com/content/dam/tommy/Career%20pages/Tommy_Bahama_Benefits_Final_WA.pdf
SET THE COURSE
The QA Automation Architect/Manager leads the design, strategy, and execution of the organization's test automation practice. This role blends deep technical architecture with people leadership — building scalable automation frameworks, setting quality standards across the organization, and managing a team of automation engineers to deliver reliable, high-velocity releases.
The position exists to embed quality throughout the software development lifecycle — not just at the end of it — by partnering closely with engineering, product, and DevOps teams, and by standing up and maturing formal automation practices where they are early-stage or do not yet exist.
BE THE ISLAND GUIDE
Architecture & Strategy
Design, build, and own the enterprise test automation architecture across API, smoke, UI, functional, integration, performance, and regression testing
Stand up and mature the QA automation practice where it is early-stage or nonexistent today — establishing frameworks, tooling, standards, and team structure from the ground up
Define the long-term automation roadmap, tooling strategy, and technical standards for the QA organization
Evaluate, select, and introduce new tools, frameworks, and testing methodologies to improve coverage, speed, and reliability
Architect and maintain scalable, maintainable automation frameworks (e.g., Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, Appium)
Integrate automated test suites into CI/CD pipelines to enable continuous testing and fast feedback loops
Leadership & Management
Hire, mentor, and manage a team of QA automation engineers; set goals, conduct performance reviews, and support career growth
Establish coding standards, review practices, and best practices for test automation across teams
Manage resourcing, budget, and prioritization for the automation function
Act as the primary point of contact for automation strategy in cross-functional planning and release discussions
Execution & Quality Governance
Define and track quality metrics (test coverage, defect leakage, automation ROI, flakiness rate, etc.) and report on them to leadership
Drive root-cause analysis on production defects and feed learnings back into test strategy
Partner with development teams to shift testing left and embed quality practices earlier in the SDLC
Own risk assessment and go/no-go quality recommendations for major releases
ESSENTIALS FOR LIFE IN PARADISE
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent practical experience)
ISTQB or other relevant QA certifications (preferred)
Strategic thinking: Translates business and release priorities into a coherent, scalable automation roadmap
Technical leadership: Sets a credible technical direction and earns trust through hands-on expertise, not just title
People management: Hires, coaches, and develops engineers; gives clear, actionable feedback
Communication and influence: Explains technical tradeoffs and quality risk in terms non-technical stakeholders can act on
Judgment under ambiguity: Makes sound calls with incomplete information, especially when building new practices from scratch
Cross-functional collaboration: Works effectively across engineering, product, and DevOps without formal authority over those teams
Accountability and ownership: Takes responsibility for quality outcomes across the full release lifecycle, not just automation execution
Required:
8+ years of experience in QA/test engineering, with at least 3+ years architecting automation frameworks at scale
2+ years of experience managing or leading a QA/automation team
Demonstrated experience building a QA automation practice from the ground up — establishing frameworks, tooling, processes, and team structure where none previously existed (rather than only maintaining or scaling an existing practice)
Strong hands-on programming skills in at least one language commonly used for test automation (Java, Python, or JavaScript/TypeScript)
Proven experience with automation frameworks/tools such as Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, or Appium
Experience integrating automated testing into CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, CircleCI, etc.)
Solid understanding of API testing (Postman, RestAssured, or similar)
Experience with version control (Git) and Agile/Scrum development practices
Preferred:
Experience with performance/load testing tools (JMeter, Gatling, k6)
Familiarity with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes)
Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
Exposure to BDD frameworks (Cucumber, SpecFlow)
Multiple factors will vary the applicable rate of pay for this role, including an individual’s experience, knowledge, and skillset, as well as work location and available budget.
Pay Range: $127,900 to $165,000
Mahalo (thank you) for your interest in Tommy Bahama!
Tommy Bahama is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against qualified applicants based on race, color, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, religious creed, sexual orientation, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, age, military and veteran status, marital status, physical or mental disability, protected medical condition, genetic information, reproductive health decision-making or any other characteristic protected by law. If you need an accommodation to complete an online application, please contact the location you are applying to or send an email to our recruiting team at recruiter@tommybahama.com.
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