Senior Automation Engineer

Meet Ozow Ozow is a leading fintech company that's redefining digital payments in South Africa and beyond. We're dedicated to making payments more accessible, secure, and convenient for both businesses and consumers. As a fast-growing player in the financial technology sector, Ozow fosters a culture of innovation, diversity, and inclusivity. We believe in pushing the boundaries of what's possible and are committed to making a positive impact on the world through our payment solutions. More about this Ozow fantastic position The Senior Automation Engineer leads the design, development and implementation of scalable quality-engineering and automation solutions across Ozow's payments ecosystem — owning automation architecture and standards, strengthening release confidence, and advancing AI-assisted, observable and production-ready testing practices across teams. This is a full-stack quality role covering both back-end and front-end. Alongside owning automation, the engineer performs hands-on manual and exploratory testing and the test analysis that informs what gets covered and how, operating as a senior quality owner across the product rather than an automation specialist alone. Your role and responsibilities Mentorship and Collaboration * Perform peer reviews and mentor the Intermediate Automation Engineer, QA practitioners and developers on automation standards. * Provide technical direction to the Intermediate Automation Engineer and influence automation decisions across teams. * Contribute to technical assessments, documentation and quality-engineering governance. Automation Architecture & Framework Ownership * Lead the analysis, design, development and maintenance of reusable automation frameworks across Ozow products and payment platforms. * Define framework architecture, coding standards, patterns, governance and review practices. * Develop and optimise UI and API automation using Playwright, RestSharp and tools aligned with Ozow's technology stack. * Build utilities that improve test-data management, execution, diagnostics and engineering efficiency. Automation Strategy & Coverage * Translate business and technical risk into an end-to-end automation strategy and prioritised roadmap. * Identify high-value automation opportunities across UI, API, integration, contract and service layers. * Design automation for critical payment journeys, including authentication, idempotency, reconciliation and settlement scenarios. Manual, Exploratory and Analytical Testing * Perform hands-on manual and exploratory testing across front-end and back-end, with a focus on new features, high-risk changes and areas not yet suited to automation. * Carry out requirements and test analysis, turning specifications and payment workflows into clear test conditions, cases and coverage, ahead of and independent of automation. * Apply human judgement to usability, edge-case and end-to-end behaviour that automated checks are not designed to catch. * Own the balance between manual and automated coverage, deciding what is validated manually and what graduates into the automated regression suite. AI-Assisted Quality Engineering * Lead responsible adoption of AI-generated test design, LLM-assisted exploratory testing and regression risk analysis. * Evaluate self-healing locator approaches and intelligent flaky-test detection and triage. * Define controls that protect accuracy, security, maintainability and human oversight when using AI-assisted testing. Continuous Testing & CI/CD * Integrate automated suites and quality gates into TeamCity and Bitbucket-based delivery pipelines. * Optimise test selection, parallel execution and feedback times to support frequent releases. * Partner with DevOps on reliable environments, containerised execution and production-like test data. Reliability, Observability & Reporting * Implement meaningful automation logging, metrics, dashboards and failure-analysis capabilities using Allure, Datadog or comparable tools. * Analyse unstable tests and continuously improve framework reliability, execution performance and reporting quality. * Use production signals to refine automated coverage and prevent repeat incidents. Contract, Performance & Non-Functional Testing * Establish contract-testing practices between distributed services and payment integrations. * Lead performance and reliability-testing initiatives using k6 or comparable tooling. * Ensure non-functional risks are included in release-quality decisions. You are an ideal candidate if you have * Relevant tech qualification is preferred, with any additional certification a bonus. * At least five years of automation and quality-engineering experience in a Senior Automation Engineer, Quality Engineer or comparable role. * Strong experience designing scalable automation frameworks and modern test architecture. * Advanced programming capability in C#, Java, Python or a comparable object-oriented language. * Hands-on expertise with Playwright and modern UI and API automation practices. * Experience integrating automated testing into TeamCity, Bitbucket pipelines or comparable CI/CD platforms. * Strong understanding of shift-left testing, distributed systems, microservices, API testing and contract testing. * Comfort operating as a full-stack quality engineer, combining automation ownership with hands-on manual testing, rather than focusing on automation alone. * Experience in fintech, banking or payments, including transactional workflows, reconciliation, settlement, payment gateways or orchestration. * Experience with cloud platforms and container technologies such as AWS, Azure, Docker or Kubernetes. * Strong troubleshooting, debugging, root-cause analysis, stakeholder engagement and technical mentoring skills. * Experience with performance testing using k6 or a comparable tool. Your skills and competencies * You eagerly embrace change, absorb cross-functional skills, and connect ideas across disciplines to drive fresh thinking and innovation. * Ability to initiate, develop, maintain and leverage outstanding relationships to influence a wide network, both inside and outside the company. * A trailblazer who steps up, takes charge, and creates meaningful impact—those driven by performance and purpose to lead from the front and make a real difference every day. * You thrive in collaboration, embrace inclusion, and bring a genuine curiosity for global cultures—valuing collective success over individual credit. * Demonstrate strategic foresight, sound judgement, and the ability to make confident decisions under uncertainty, always working toward the best possible outcomes. * You challenge norms, champion innovation, and constantly seek growth—for themselves, their team, and the solutions they build. * You are a decisive doer—those who take initiative, follow through with confidence, and ensure results through courageous, hands-on leadership. * We value optimism, agility, and the strength to persevere under pressure—balancing performance with positivity, even in challenging environments. * You are driven, proactive individuals who take ownership, face challenges with grit, and consistently push for excellence—not just as participants, but as catalysts for success. Interview process During the interview process you will meet with the People team, the hiring manager, and relevant CSuite. Our process may include psychometric and technical assessments, giving you an opportunity to demonstrate your strengths, skills and potential beyond your CV and interview. In office perks * Healthy breakfast, lunches and snacks * Monthly team connects * On-site Barista Perks for South African based employees * Medical aid subsidy * Group Risk Insurance * Generous paid annual leave * Birthday leave * Learning and Development opportunities * Mentorship programme * Quarterly team building * Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) * Community initiatives * Access to cutting edge technology - Ozow Tech Stack Our Employee Value Proposition At Ozow, we don't just process payments. We are redefining the future of how money moves. Our promise to our people is simple. Ozow is built for high impact: clear expectations, genuine investment in you, and the room to do work you are proud of. We back you to own what you deliver and how you grow, and we recognise the people who lift others, not just themselves. People are trusted to make decisions and own outcomes, where the growth you create, in yourself and in others, is part of how we succeed together. Compliance As a fintech company, we prioritize data security, confidentiality, regulatory and compliance. Due to the sensitive nature of our work, we require individuals with a high level of integrity and trustworthiness to ensure adherence to financial regulations and industry standards. Given the sensitive nature of our work, all employees are expected to demonstrate professionalism, accountability, and a commitment to ethical conduct in line with financial regulations and industry standards Ready to be exceptional? Keen to know more? Interested in joining our rocket ship? To find out more about life at Ozow, head over to our Careers Page here!