Senior QA Automation Engineer

Introduction

Ling is a language learning app with 2M+ learners across 70+ languages. Our engineering team is small, and we test alongside development rather than at the end.
We already use Maestro, Bruno, AI code-review agents, and nightly AI-driven chaos testing. We want someone to take our automation and AI-driven testing to the next level.
You'll own the automation roadmap, automate what is still manual, and help engineers take greater ownership of testing. We're looking for a hands-on builder who uses AI tooling daily and turns new ideas into reliable workflows.
This is a senior IC role with mentorship responsibility for two QA engineers, with potential to grow into QA leadership as the team expands.
Roughly 60% of the role is automation and tooling; 40% is hands-on testing and release sign-off.

Expectations and Outcomes

Your year-one priorities

There is a lot we could automate, but these are the areas we expect you to focus on first:

• Build AI-driven testing into the engineering workflow - develop and maintain Claude routines, MCP-based device automation, and agents that identify what needs testing based on code changes and tickets.
• Build out mobile automation - own and expand our Maestro coverage across iOS and Android, prioritizing the most important user journeys and regression risks.
• Make API testing part of the development workflow - expand Bruno coverage and run the relevant API tests automatically in CI on every merge.
• Improve our feedback loop from production to tests - triage production issues, identify the missing coverage, and turn real-world failures into regression tests.

Chaos testing, exploratory testing, release coverage, and continuous improvement of the broader QA stack remain important parts of the role.

Responsibilities

Automation and tooling

• Own and grow the Maestro test suite across iOS and Android.
• Extend API test coverage in Bruno and integrate it into CI.
• Build and maintain AI-driven testing workflows using Claude, MCP device automation, and tools such as Maestro MCP, Agent Device, and Argent MCP.
• Build agents that compare code changes against tickets and flag what needs testing.
• Keep nightly AI-driven chaos testing running and make it better, including video capture and reporting back into tickets.
• Decide what should be automated next, prioritize it based on risk and value, and make the case to the team.
• Evaluate new AI and testing tools as the ecosystem evolves and bring useful ones into the team's workflow.

Testing and releases

• Perform hands-on testing of new features, edge cases, and exploratory scenarios.
• Own release regression and smoke coverage across iOS and Android.
• Test in-app purchases and subscriptions on the App Store and Google Play.
• Triage production issues using Firebase Crashlytics, Bugsnag, and related diagnostics, then add regression coverage for the underlying issue.
• Read specs and designs early and give feedback before code exists.
• Verify feature flags and Firebase Remote Config rollouts, including A/B variants.
• Use Firebase Test Lab and other device-testing infrastructure where appropriate.
• Balance automation with targeted manual testing where human judgment adds the most value.

Team

• Mentor the two QA engineers on automation, scripting, and AI tooling, including regular pairing sessions.
• Run knowledge-sharing sessions and keep testing documentation current.
• Help move the team from manual-first testing toward an automation-first mindset.
• Work with engineers to make testing part of their development process rather than something QA handles at the end.

Requirements

• 4+ years of hands-on QA experience, including significant experience testing mobile applications.
• Strong hands-on experience testing both iOS and Android.
• Experience building and maintaining automated tests used by a real engineering team.
• Strong experience with mobile automation, ideally including Maestro.
• Experience with API test automation, ideally including Bruno.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and integrating automated tests into development workflows.
• Experience with AI-assisted testing or AI agent tooling, with shipped automation or workflows you can demonstrate.
• Hands-on experience with MCP-based tooling or agent-driven device automation.
• Experience with chaos testing, fuzz testing, or other approaches to finding unexpected failures.
• Experience testing in-app purchases and subscriptions on the App Store and Google Play.
• Experience testing Stripe payments or similar web payment flows.
• Hands-on experience with Firebase Crashlytics, Remote Config, and Test Lab.
• Experience mentoring or leading other QA engineers.
• Scripting experience in JavaScript/TypeScript or similar.
• Strong written and spoken English communication.
• A track record of taking ownership: you see a gap in the testing process and build something to close it.

Desired Qualifications

• Playwright or similar web automation experience.
• Experience designing or maintaining AI agents for software testing.
• Experience with MCP tooling beyond mobile automation.
• Experience with performance testing or observability tooling.

About us

Founded in 2016, Ling is one of the fastest-growing tech companies in the world. Our mission is simple: we want to unite the world by connecting people from different cultures. That's why our team developed the Ling