Test Lead Engineer

1. Test Strategy & Planning • Lead the development of comprehensive test strategies, test plans, test approaches and test schedules for AFC and e-payment projects. • Analyse business, functional, technical, interface and system requirements to determine test scope, coverage and risks. • Establish end-to-end test coverage and maintain traceability between requirements, test cases, test results and defects. • Define appropriate testing approaches for: • Front-end AFC devices • Embedded software • Android/mobile applications • Back-office systems • APIs and interfaces • Payment processing • Database and transaction processing • Estimate testing effort, resources and timelines and coordinate testing activities to meet project milestones. • Identify testing risks and recommend appropriate mitigation measures. 2. Hands-on Test Engineering • Personally design, develop and execute complex test cases and test scenarios. • Perform functional, integration, system, regression, end-to-end, performance, reliability and stress testing. • Validate complete transaction flows across reader devices, payment applications, communications networks and back-office systems. • Develop test data and test conditions covering normal, abnormal, boundary and failure scenarios. • Conduct exploratory testing to identify defects and system behaviours not covered by scripted test cases. • Participate directly in system integration, customer acceptance and production verification activities. 3. Test Automation& Engineering • Design, develop and maintain automated test frameworks and reusable test utilities. • Identify suitable test scenarios for automationbased on risk, frequency, complexity and expected return on investment. • Integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines. • Develop automation for UI, mobile, API, databaseand end-to-end transaction testing. • Maintain test scripts and frameworks to minimisetest flakiness and ensure repeatable results. • Evaluate and introduce new testing technologies, including AI-assisted testing where appropriate. • Coach Test Engineers in automation practices and coding standards. 4. AFC & Payment System Testing • Lead testing of AFC transaction flows involving: • Contactless smart cards • CEPAS • EMV contactless payments • NFC/mobile wallets • Reader/validator devices • Fare gates • Back-office transactionprocessing • Clearing and settlement • Validate transaction integrity, including successful, declined, interrupted, duplicate and failed transactions. • Test device-to-back-office communication and transaction synchronisation. • Support testing of card clash/card collision scenarios and other contactless transaction edge cases. • Analyse transaction logs, device logs, protocol traces and backend records to identify transaction failures. • Ensure testing adequately covers revenue-impacting scenarios and potential transaction discrepancies. 5. Performance & Reliability Testing • Plan and execute performance, load, stress and endurance testing. • Establish performance benchmarks and monitor: • Transaction response time • Throughput • Transaction success rate • Failure rate • System resource utilisation • Network latency • Device performance • Analyse performance bottlenecks across device, application, network, middleware, database and backend components. • Work with development and infrastructure teams to identify and resolve performance issues. • Conduct reliability and endurance testing for systems operating continuously in public transport environments. 6. Defect Management & Root Cause Analysis • Lead defect identification, classification, prioritisation and tracking through to closure. • Conduct defect triage with development, system engineering and project teams. • Perform technical rootcause analysis for complex defects. • Analyse logs, stack traces, database records, network traffic and transaction traces to isolate defects. • Distinguish between application, device, communication, infrastructure, configuration and data-related issues. • Verify fixes and conduct appropriate regression testing before release. • Identify recurring defectsand recommend preventive actions. 7. Test Environment & Laboratory Management • Coordinate and maintain test environments covering devices, applications, databases, network components and supporting systems. • Work with LTA/customer test laboratories and external testing facilities where required. • Coordinate test equipment, test cards, mobile devices, simulators, test data and test configurations. • Ensure test environments are properly configured, controlled and documented. • Support Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), System Integration Testing (SIT), User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Site Acceptance Testing (SAT) and other customer acceptance activities. 8. Technical Leadership • Provide technical guidance and mentoring to Test Engineers and junior engineers. • Review test plans, testcases, automation scripts and test reports prepared by team members. • Establish testing standards, coding practices and quality guidelines. • Lead technical problem-solving sessions involving testing and development teams. • Promote shift-left testing by identifying defects and testability issues early in the SDLC. • Remain hands-on in complex testing and troubleshooting activities rather than focusing solely on test administration. 9. Documentation & Reporting • Prepare and maintain: • Test Strategy • Master Test Plan • Test Specifications • Test Cases • Test Scripts • Automation Framework Documentation • Test Reports • Defect Reports • Performance Test Reports • Traceability Matrix • Test Completion/Acceptance Reports • Prepare testing status reports highlighting progress, risks, defects, quality metrics and outstanding issues. • Ensure test documentation is maintained throughout the SDLC and complies with project and customer requirements. 10. Stakeholder Management • L…