Vacancy details
Role title
QA Automation Engineer Lead### Your role
Principal QA Automation Engineers perform a critical role - both building and implementing the automation strategy for measuring the quality of new features, but also of mentoring and improving all aspects of quality within a Product Team. There should be a consistent focus on improving automation practices, shifting quality checks left and collaboration across the team. Context
The Principal QA Automation Engineer is a key role working within the QA leadership team and across multiple Product teams to improve how the team deliver new and existing features with minimum issues. Principal Accountabilities:* Work with QA and Engineering Leadership to define and implement the QA Automation strategy with a strong initial focus on web / front-end automation.
Work across Product teams to ensure the strategy is feasible, well understood and fit for purpose.
Collaborate with other Quality Engineers and Software Developers, to identify the challenges and gaps with existing automation and tooling with a view to building end-to-end plans for solving these.
Drive and evolve the automation strategy ensuring alignment across Web, Backend and Mobile.
Build and maintain robust frameworks – for example Playwright, Selenium, TestNG and Appium.
Align test automation solutions for Agile, DevOps, and CI/CD practices ensuring test suites are integrated into CI/CD pipelines.
Partner with Engineering, Product to embed testability from day one.
Define and Own automation KPIs and track ROI and adoption.
Mentor engineers (onshore/offshore) and grow automation capability.
Design the test matrix as part of planning automation to ensure correct coverage is included in the test design.
Use data analytics to inform test approaches.
Adhere to the Test Value Pyramid for test case identification.
Ensure that testing is carried out in a measurable and traceable manner.
Drive a culture of proactive testing and shared quality ownership.
There will be a line management aspect to this role with up to 3 automation engineers reporting into it.
Your qualifications and key criteria
Essential Qualifications/Experience:* Bachelor’s degree in management information systems, Computer Science or equivalent formal training.
8+ years of work experience in QA, with 2+ years in an SDET or Principal Automation role.
Excellent knowledge of Playwright, Selenium and TestNG
Experience working in a fast paced, Agile environment
Ability to identify the right fit automation approaches.
Excellent communication skills with the ability to efficiently report to key stakeholders
Strong CI/CD - experience - Jenkins Pipelines, Github Actions, Azure etc
Essential competencies/skills:* Strong Java, and OOP experience
Strong experience with tools like Appium, Jersey, REST Assured or equivalent.
Experience with most performant selectors for automation
Experience with Atlassian applications such as JIRA, Zephyr and Confluence.
Experience with a variety of different approaches to functional testing: Automation, Exploratory, Scripted etc.
Experience working in an Agile environment and working closely with other software and quality engineers
Hands-on experience in Build Automation and code quality tools, such as Jenkins, Gradle, SonarQube etc.
Understanding of opportunities presented to software engineering practices by developments in AI
Strong experience with AI coding tools such as Cursor, GitHub Co-Pilot, Code Rabbit etc
Desirable Criteria* Internationally recognised QA certifications such as ISTQB
Relevant AWS Certifications
Closing Date: 20th March 2026
At Aer Lingus, we embrace diversity and believe in providing equal opportunities to all qualified individuals. We are dedicated to cultivating an inclusive and respectful work environment that values employees' unique backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We do not discriminate based on race, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, or any other protected status. If you have any questions or require any accommodations to support you in your application, please contact us at recruit@aerlingus.com.
Division / Department
Digital \& Information - Software Engineering### Contract type
employee recruitment - permanent
Job location
Job location
Republic of Ireland, Dublin, Dublin
General information
Vacancy Reference number
005230
About us
At Aer Lingus, we believe in going above and beyond to connect people, places and possibilities. Whether working at the airport, in our offices or at home - every employee has a role to play in making Aer Lingus the heart of travel to, through and beyond Ireland for generations to come.
How do we do this? We Put Safety First. There's nothing more important. We Are Customer Focused. We champion the customer and go above and beyond to get things just right for them. We're Stronger Together. With a ‘how can I help?' attitude, we communicate and collaborate to achieve shared success. We Own It. We do what we say we're going to do and always follow through. We Look Forward. We build the future by embracing change today.### What we offer
As well as offering you a competitive salary, career advancement opportunities and staff travel benefits (with Aer Lingus and many other international airlines), you will also have the opportunity to work in a dynamic and collaborative environment and to join a team of amazing professionals who are passionate about the aviation industry. To learn more about the exciting benefits and opportunities that await you at Aer Lingus please visit our website.
At Aer Lingus, we embrace diversity and believe in providing equal opportunities to all qualified individuals. We are dedicated to cultivating an inclusive and respectful work environment that values employees' unique backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We do not discriminate based on race, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, or any other protected status. As an equal opportunity employer, we encourage applications from all candidates who share our passion for aviation. If you have any questions or require any accommodations to support you in your application, please contact us at recruit@aerlingus.com.