Freelance Senior QA Automation Engineer – Playwright

Freelance Senior QA Automation Engineer – Playwright

12-Month Rolling Contract

Freelance / Contract

ASAP Start

Optimus Search is currently looking for an experienced Freelance Senior QA Automation Engineer to support a long-term software development programme based in Köln.

This is an initial 12-month project with the intention to extend on a rolling basis, offering the opportunity to take ownership of test automation and help establish scalable QA processes across a complex software environment.

Responsibilities

You will be responsible for:

• Designing and implementing modern test automation frameworks
• Building and maintaining automated E2E tests using Playwright
• Analysing existing manual testing processes and identifying opportunities for automation
• Developing automated regression and functional test suites
• API testing using Postman / REST
• Integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines
• Creating and maintaining test strategies, test concepts and test plans
• Defect management, root-cause analysis and structured reporting
• Working closely with software developers, Product Owners and QA teams
• Supporting releases and ensuring software quality across multiple development environments
• Improving QA standards and introducing best practices across the development lifecycle

Technical Environment

• Playwright
• Git
• Confluence
• Postman / REST APIs
• Python
• Java
• E2E & Regression Testing
• Agile / Scrum

Your Profile

We are looking for someone with:

• 7+ years' experience within Software Testing / Quality Assurance
• Strong hands-on test automation experience
• Commercial experience with Playwright
• Strong knowledge of E2E, regression and functional testing
• Experience integrating automated testing into CI/CD environments
• Good knowledge of Jira, Xray or comparable test management tools
• Experience creating test strategies and structured QA processes
• Ability to operate independently within complex software environments
• Strong communication skills and experience working with development teams and stakeholders

Experience working as a QA Lead, Test Manager or Senior QA Consultant would be highly advantageous.