Senior Software Quality Assurance Engineer

Job Title: Senior Software Quality Assurance Engineer

Reports to: Delivery Manager

Direct Reports: N/A

Location: Cape Town

About Azakaw

azakaw is a RegTech SaaS platform serving financial institutions with compliance-critical workflows. We handle regulated data, PII, and complex business logic where quality, security, and auditability are non-negotiable.

Role Summary

We're looking for a Senior Software Quality Assurance Engineer who is ready to get their hands dirty from day one — and stay hands-on long term. This is not a strategy-only or people-management role. We have a real testing backlog and an evolving platform. You will spend most of your time executing tests, validating complex workflows, and building automation, while also helping us mature our QA practices over time.

You will own quality across the platform: writing test cases, executing tests, building automation, diagnosing failures, and ensuring every release is production-ready and audit-defensible.

Bottom line: If you want to lead without doing, this isn't the role. If you enjoy building and executing, you'll thrive here.

What You'll Actually Do

Hands-On Testing (60–70% of your time) • Execute functional, regression, integration, and exploratory testing • Work through and continuously reduce an existing test backlog • Validate complex workflows including onboarding, transactions, compliance rules, and scoring engines. • Test REST APIs using Postman or similar tools. • Write and execute SQL / T-SQL queries to validate backend data integrity. • Coordinate and support UAT with internal and external stakeholders. • Produce clear, reproducible defect reports with risk assessment.

Note: Test execution is a core, ongoing responsibility, not a temporary cleanup phase)

Automation & Tooling (20–30% of your time) • Design, build, and maintain API test automation (primary focus) • Develop UI automation for critical user journeys • Integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines • Own and evolve the automation approach — not just scripts • Select and implement tools pragmatically (Playwright, Cypress, Selenium — tool choice is flexible) • Debug failing tests using logs, test output, and basic source-code understanding

Quality Strategy & Process (10–20% of your time) • Define and enforce release readiness criteria and quality gates • Establish test coverage metrics, dashboards, and reporting • Improve defect triage and root-cause analysis processes • Document QA standards, test strategies, and best practices • Promote a shift-left testing mindset within the engineering team • Ensure test evidence and results support auditability and regulatory expectations

Your First 90 Days

Days 1–30 Deep product understanding, execution of backlog tests, documentation of critical test scenarios, identification of high-risk areas

Days 31–60 Baseline test coverage for core modules, API automation framework in place, defined release checklist

Days 61–90 Measurable backlog reduction, automated smoke tests running in CI/CD, quality metrics presented to leadership

Required Skills & Experience

Experience • 5+ years in Software Quality Assurance • Proven hands-on experience testing web applications and REST APIs • Experience with SaaS platforms (FinTech / RegTech / Banking strongly preferred) • Hands-on exposure to Azure-based environments • Comfortable operating in fast-paced, backlog-heavy environments

Technical skills • Test Design: Test planning, case design, defect lifecycle management • API Testing: Postman or equivalent, REST validation, schema & response checks • Database: SQL / T-SQL for backend and data integrity validation • Automation: Hands-on experience with at least one framework (Playwright, Cypress, Selenium) • CI/CD: Familiarity with pipelines (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or similar) • Performance: Basic load and performance testing knowledge • Security: Understanding of access control, data isolation, PII handling • Engineering: Comfortable reading logs and basic source code to diagnose issues • Tools: JIRA (or equivalent), Git basics

Nice to Have • Experience with multi-tenant SaaS architectures • Exposure to AML / KYC / regulatory compliance workflows • ISTQB certification (practical experience matters more) • Experience working with distributed or international teams

Qualifications • Bachelor's degree in computer science or related field • Strong English communication skills (written and verbal)

Who You Are • Execution-focused: You take pride in clearing backlogs and shipping quality • Hands-on by default: You test, automate, and debug yourself • Detail-oriented: You spot edge cases others miss • Pragmatic: You balance ideal processes with real-world constraints • Proactive: You raise risks early and propose solutions • Adaptable: Comfortable switching between manual and automated • Quality-driven: You understand quality is everyone's job — and you champion it

This Role Is Not for You • You want to manage testers instead of testing yourself • You expect a greenfield QA environment with no backlog • You prefer rigid processes over practical execution • You are uncomfortable operating with evolving requirements

What We Offer • Competitive salary and benefits package • Opportunity to own and shape QA at a growing RegTech company • Exposure to international clients and compliance-driven systems • Collaborative, low-bureaucracy environment • Clear growth path as the platform and team • A chance to work on the latest tools and technologies