AVP, Technical Lead (Automation) - TCOE.MGN Pak - TECH - Transformation Office.MIT - PAKCOE

The transformation office is working on establishing Mashreq’s Testing Center of Excellence (TCOE). It is a centralized testing framework within an organization that standardizes processes, tools, best practices, and governance. In a global bank like Mashreq, it acts as a quality assurance hub that provides strategy, tools, and resources across technology and business domains spanning retail, digital, corporate, investment banking, and regulatory areas. The purpose of the job is to augment TCOE automation process and artifacts, ensure their implementation on the project under test, creating test KPIs, metrics and dashboards and capturing them across Mashreq projects. The role must be self-directed and comfortable supporting the needs of multiple teams, systems, and products. The right candidate will be excited by the prospect of optimizing or even re-designing our company’s automation testing practices, SOPs and architecture to support our next generation of products and Quality initiatives.

Key Result Areas
· Define the vision and roadmap for automation testing, performance testing, and test data management aligned with organizational goals. · Drive innovation and continuous improvement across technical QA practices. · Establish automation first mind set · Establish governance frameworks for automation, performance, and data strategies, ensuring compliance with internal policies and industry standards. · Conduct technical audits and reviews to validate implementation quality and adherence across portfolios. · Tech Auditors act as the Technical Lead’s eyes, ensuring consistent execution of strategies across delivery teams. · Design and maintain scalable, reusable frameworks for UI, API, performance, and data testing. · Standardize tools and processes across teams to ensure consistency, scalability, and quality. · Evaluate and integrate modern and AI-driven tools into the QA ecosystem. · Ensure seamless integration of automation tools with CI/CD pipelines and test management systems. · Define and track KPIs for automation, performance, and data quality (e.g., coverage, execution time, reliability). · Implement dashboards to monitor effectiveness, identify gaps, and drive improvements. · Leverage analytics and historical data to proactively identify risks and optimization opportunities. · Develop training programs and documentation to upskill QA teams on tools, frameworks, and technical strategies. · Facilitate knowledge-sharing sessions to disseminate best practices and lessons learned. · Mentor QA engineers and promote technical excellence across teams. · Work closely with QA portfolio leads, developers, DevOps, and business stakeholders to
align technical strategies with project goals. · Act as a consultant/advisor to project teams on automation, performance, and data implementation. · Support delivery teams in resolving technical challenges and optimizing testing approaches. · Foster a culture of experimentation and innovation, encouraging the use of emerging technologies such as AI/ML in testing. · Continuously assess and refine strategies, frameworks, and tools to stay ahead of industry trends. · Benchmark internal practices against industry standards to identify improvement opportunities.
Operating Environment, Framework and Boundaries, Working Relationships
· Able to Effectively Plan & Organize automation strategy · Strong Interpersonal Communication · Assist others in the completion of their tasks to support the group goals · Build and maintain cooperative work relationships with others
Problem Solving
· Experienced in application designing, architecting, development and deployment of TCOE automation manifesto. Must be efficient in banking domain and know QA best practices. · Strong testing design and implementation skills. Experienced in banking applications automation. · Feasibility Analysis- Analyze the requirements to define scope and evaluate technical feasibility for test automation.
Decision Making Authority & Responsibility
· Work on the right tasks by ensuring they know their top deliverables · Assume personal responsibility for achieving outcomes
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
· Define and evolve the automation roadmap, integrating performance, data, and security testing aligned with CI/CD pipelines. · Architect reusable, scalable frameworks for UI, API, performance, and data testing using tools like Selenium, Playwright, Appium, and Rest Assured · Establish automation governance, ensuring adherence to internal QA policies and regulatory standards. · Evaluate and integrate modern tools into the QA ecosystem, ensuring seamless CI/CD integration and test management system compatibility. · Define KPIs such as automation coverage, defect leakage, execution time, and ROI. Implement dashboards for real-time monitoring. · Languages: Java, Python, JavaScript · Tools: Selenium, Playwright, Appium, JMeter, Jenkins, Git, Azure DevOps · Frameworks: BDD (Cucumber), TestNG, JUnit · API Testing: Postman, SoapUI · Database: SQL, Oracle, MongoDB · Experience embedding automation into CI/CD pipelines and DevSecOps workflows. · Expertise in synthetic data generation, Excel-based input handling, and validation logic. · Build and maintain dashboards for execution history, defect tracking, and scenario-wise success rates. · Lead and mentor automation engineers across pods and geographies. · Collaborate with QA managers, DevOps, business analysts, and product owners. · Drive knowledge-sharing sessions and capability-building initiatives.
· Act as a technical advisor in stakeholder demos and internal audits. · Define and maintain automation strategy and frameworks. · Conduct feasibility studies and tool evaluations. · Oversee script development, dry runs, and batch execution. · Ensure traceability and coverage across test artefacts. · Troubleshoot and resolve technical issues. · Track and report automation metrics and ROI. · Ensure alignment with QA policy and regulatory mandates. · Bachelor’s/Master’s in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field. · ISTQB or equivalent certification preferred. · Minimum 8–10 years in QA with 5+ years in automation leadership roles.