Lead Test Automation Engineer

Summary

Join Guidewheel, a fast-growing startup on a mission to empower factories to reach sustainable peak performance, as their Lead Test Automation Engineer. You will play a pivotal role in ensuring the quality, reliability, and scalability of their FactoryOps platform. This role involves designing, implementing, and maintaining automated test frameworks, leading the evolution of the test automation infrastructure, collaborating with various teams, mentoring engineers, and analyzing system behaviors. You will contribute to a culture of excellence and ownership, ensuring quality is embedded throughout the development lifecycle. Guidewheel offers a 100% remote culture, flexible PTO, generous equity, health benefits, and additional perks such as a 401k match and parental leave. The ideal candidate possesses at least 8 years of experience in software engineering or test automation and a strong technical foundation.

Requirements

• At least 8 years of experience in software engineering or test automation, with a strong focus on architecting automated test solutions for modern web applications
• Deep hands-on expertise with automation frameworks (e.g., Cypress, Playwright, Selenium, Jest, Mocha), CI/CD pipelines, and cloud-based testing strategies
• Experience designing scalable and maintainable test architectures for distributed systems and data-intensive applications
• Strong programming skills (ideally in TypeScript/JavaScript) and familiarity with our stack
• A builder mindset with a bias for action-comfortable jumping in, unblocking others, and driving quality through code and collaboration
• An entrepreneurial attitude—you want to be part of building something from the ground up
• Experience in Agile development environments, ideally with globally distributed teams
• Relentless curiosity, high standards, and a sense of urgency—you set the tone for excellence in the team
• Strong communication and prioritization skills, with the ability to balance technical depth and leadership
• A desire to contribute to Guidewheel’s mission and culture, with radical candor and shared ownership

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain robust automated test frameworks and strategies across Guidewheel’s tech stack (TypeScript, Node, Vue, PostgreSQL, Redis, Google Cloud)
• Lead the architecture and evolution of our test automation infrastructure, driving best practices for test coverage, CI/CD integration, and continuous improvement
• Collaborate closely with engineering, product, and design teams to define testable requirements, acceptance criteria, and quality benchmarks
• Mentor and upskill engineers on automation techniques, frameworks, and quality mindset, fostering a culture of excellence and ownership
• Analyze and troubleshoot complex system behaviors, proactively identifying risks and driving root cause analysis for defects
• Partner in planning and prioritization to ensure quality is embedded throughout the development lifecycle, supporting rapid feature delivery and long-term platform scalability
• Model resilience, transparency, and adaptability in a fast-paced startup environment

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience scaling automation for SaaS products with large data volumes
• Familiarity with performance, security, and reliability testing in cloud environments
• Prior startup experience and comfort wearing many hats

Benefits

• You’ll lead and grow a world-class engineering team working on cutting-edge technologies and high-impact systems
• You’ll play a critical role in shaping the technical future of a product-first startup with huge ambition
• You’ll get to build side-by-side with amazing humans on a mission to reach a $10B IPO by 2030—and see the real-world impact of your leadership
• You’ll get to work on meaningful challenges every day, supporting the backbone of the global economy while helping the planet
• You’ll join early and help build the FactoryOps layer for the world’s factories—and a company with generational impact
• You’ll be an equity partner in the business through our generous employee equity program—we want all our teammates to have a stake in Guidewheel’s success
• Fair & equitable pay. Annual on-target earnings for this role are in the range of $150,000-$160,000 USD for domestic hires. For candidates located outside of the US, compensation will reflect fair market trends for that location. All compensation is dependent on many factors and our internal compensation and role bands
• 100% remote culture. Work from wherever, whenever - we hired you to get a job done, and as long as that is happening, you have the autonomy to get it done where and when you feel comfortable
• Flexible PTO policy. We value balance and boundaries. To be the best version of you, you need time away from your screen, so we want you to take it
• Generous equity. Everyone at Guidewheel receives equity in the business. You will be working hard to build something great, and when we reach the finish line, you should be rewarded for your hard work
• Health Benefits. We offer different health benefits to cover your personal needs from day one of employment - you pick the plan that makes the most sense to you
• Additional Perks. Included but not limited to, 401k (match up to 4%), $500 home office set-up, parental leave, company laptop, retirement plan, paid company holidays, and some (if you choose) company travel to spend time with your Guidewheel peers