Lead QA - Sdet (Software Development Engineer In Test)

About FlexTrade Systems:

FlexTrade Systems is a provider of customized multi-asset execution and order management trading solutions for buy- and sell-side financial institutions. Through deep client partnerships with some of the world's largest, most complex, and demanding capital markets firms, we develop the flexible tools, technology, and innovation that deliver our clients a competitive edge. Our globally distributed engineering teams focus on adaptable technology and open architecture to develop highly sophisticated trading solutions that can automate and scale with your business strategies.

At FlexTrade, we hold our values close to heart, with pride and gratitude, as they guide us in everything that we do. We are dedicated to giving our clients a competitive edge, taking ownership of our responsibilities, being flexible to adapt to ever changing environment and technology, bringing integrity to ever interaction and we continue to improve, grow together, and collaborate as one team. All of these, while having Fun, truly make FlexTrade a wonderful place to work.

Role Overview:

We are looking for an experienced QA Team Lead to own quality across a complex, multi-technology product suite. You will bridge the gap between hands-on technical testing and team leadership - driving test strategy, building out automated coverage, and coaching a team of QA engineers to raise the quality bar across every release. This role sits at the intersection of C++, .NET, Java, and modern web technologies, requiring broad technical depth and strong organizational skills.

Key Responsibilities:

Leadership & Strategy-

• Define and own the overall QA strategy for manual and automated testing across all product areas.
• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of QA engineers, conducting regular 1:1s, code/test reviews, and performance feedback.
• Collaborate with engineering managers, product owners, and developers to embed quality at every stage of the SDLC.
• Prioritize the team's workload and manage QA effort across concurrent feature streams and bug-fix cycles.
• Report on quality metrics, test coverage trends, and automation ROI to engineering leadership.

Test Automation-

• Architect, build, and maintain automated test suites covering UI and backend APIs across C++, .NET, Java, and web stacks.
• Select and champion appropriate automation frameworks (e.g. Selenium/Playwright for UI; RestAssured, Postman/Newman, or equivalent for APIs; GoogleTest/Catch2 for C++ components; NUnit/xUnit for .NET).
• Increase automation coverage continuously - identifying gaps, writing new suites, and refactoring brittle tests.
• Integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines to provide fast, reliable feedback on every build.
• Define standards for test data management, environment configuration, and automation best practices.

Manual Testing-

• Lead and execute structured manual testing of UI features, ensuring functional correctness and consistent user experience.
• Verify application behavior against relevant system, application, and audit logs; escalate anomalies to development teams with clear evidence.
• Perform exploratory, regression, and edge-case testing across new and existing features.
• Triage incoming defects, reproduce consistently, and validate fixes prior to release.

Test Case Management-

• Create, review, and maintain comprehensive test cases and test suites in the team's test management tool.
• Ensure test cases are kept up to date as requirements and implementations evolve.
• Review test coverage against acceptance criteria and flag gaps to product and engineering stakeholders.
• Define and enforce consistent test case naming conventions, traceability, and documentation standards.