Lead Software Engineer in Test

About FlightSafety International FlightSafety International is the world's premier professional aviation training company and supplier of flight simulators, visual systems and displays to commercial, government and military organizations. The company provides training for pilots, technicians and other aviation professionals from 167 countries and independent territories. FlightSafety operates the world's largest fleet of advanced full-flight simulators and award-winning maintenance training at Learning Centers and training locations in the United States, Canada, France and the United Kingdom. Purpose of Position Servin g as a hands-on "player-coach," the Lead Software Engineer in Test sets the Testing directio n for quality across a highly complex , multi-application business domain. You will champion application quality , driving the evolution of our manual and explorat ory testing suites while remaining actively engaged in our functional and non-functional automation frameworks to ensure comprehensive quality. Because navigating this complex legacy and greenfield ecosystem is our biggest challenge, deep internal domain knowledge is weighed equally to formal automation experience. You will possess, or have the proven ability to rapidly learn, a deep understanding of the Training Experience domain and how our applications are used by our customers, leveraging this knowledge to better develop test cases and guide development Tasks and Responsibilities Leverage deep system and business knowledge of the Training Experience domain to ensure testing strategies map accurately to real-world user workflows and complex downstream data impacts.* Own the requirements reviews and help Test Automaters design, develop, and maintain robust, scalable automation frameworks (utilizing Playwright where applicable) across UI, backend, API, and Mobile using behavior-driven and test-driven development practices.* Architect and maintain continuous testing pipelines within Azure DevOps, implementing intelligent test execution strategies (e.g., subset testing, parallelization) to optimize build times.* Mentor and coach QA engineers on scrum teams to adopt modern Test Automation techniques such as Behavior Driven Development, apply design patterns, etc.* Define and implement our organizational AI strategy for QA, establishing guidelines and tool recommendations for leveraging AI to improve testing efficiency securely.* Collaborate with functional test engineers to automate test cases and ensure efficient execution of automation tests.* Enable a value-driven and risk-based approach to testing across the organization.* Establish organization-wide best practices and standards for Test Automation.* Recommend appropriate tools and architectures for the organization's Test Automation needs across all functional domains.* Lead test automation delivery of projects, collaborate with resource managers, technical leads, and DevOps to ensure alignment on quality goals and test automation efforts.* Prioritize and manage workload, issues, and risks.* Limited travel when required Minimum Education * Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution or equivalent industry experience Minimum Experience * 8+ years of experience in software quality engineering OR 8+ years of deep, hands-on domain experience within FlightSafety's operational, technical support, or product ecosystems.* Demonstrated technical aptitude through previous scripting, troubleshooting complex system logic, or a proven track record of rapidly upskilling in programming and automation frameworks.* 5+ years of hands-on experience troubleshooting, navigating, or manually validating complex custom applications.* Experience in a Scrum/Agile software development environment.* Familiarity or expe