Software Test Automation Team Lead

WEKA is architecting a new approach to the enterprise data stack built for the age of reasoning. NeuralMesh by WEKA sets the standard for agentic AI data infrastructure with a cloud and AI-native software solution that can be deployed anywhere. It transforms legacy data silos into data pipelines that dramatically increase GPU utilization and make AI model training and inference, machine learning, and other compute-intensive workloads run faster, work more efficiently, and consume less energy.

WEKA is a pre-IPO, growth-stage company on a hyper-growth trajectory. We’ve raised $375M in capital with dozens of world-class venture capital and strategic investors. We help the world’s largest and most innovative enterprises and research organizations, including 12 of the Fortune 50, achieve discoveries, insights, and business outcomes faster and more sustainably. We’re passionate about solving our customers’ most complex data challenges to accelerate intelligent innovation and business value. If you share our passion, we invite you to join us on this exciting journey.

About the role
At WEKA, we are building NeuralMesh™ - the world's first intelligent, adaptive mesh storage system, purpose-built for the age of AI. To ensure our platform remains unbreakable at the world's largest AI and GPU clusters, we don't simply test our code. We build an adversarial distributed system as complex and sophisticated as the product itself. The Quality Testing & Reliability group is not a traditional QA team.We are a high-octane engineering force that treats reliability as a first-class software problem. We build the systems, frameworks, and infrastructure that prove our platform's correctness at scale - and we move with the urgency and ambition of a category-defining company.
We are looking for a Software Engineer in Test Team Lead - to lead a team of highly skilled Automation Engineers responsible for ensuring the quality, stability, and scalability of WEKA's distributed storage platform.
This is a hands-on leadership role for an experienced engineering leader who is passionate about building high-quality automation infrastructure, mentoring engineers, and driving technical excellence. You will combine people leadership with deep technical involvement, working closely with Software Engineers, Architects, Product Managers, and Customer Engineering teams to continuously improve product quality across complex distributed systems and build the infrastructure that challenges WEKA's platform to its theoretical limits.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of Automation Engineers, fostering technical excellence, ownership, and collaboration.
• Remain hands-on by actively designing, developing, and reviewing Python-based automation frameworks, tools, and system tests.
• Define and execute the team's automation strategy, ensuring broad and scalable test coverage across new and existing product capabilities.
• Drive the design and implementation of automation infrastructure for large-scale distributed environments.
• Collaborate closely with R&D, Product Management, and Architecture teams throughout the development lifecycle.
• Lead technical investigations, root cause analysis, and quality improvements for complex distributed system issues.
• Continuously improve automation methodologies, development processes, and engineering best practices.
• Support release readiness by ensuring product quality, stability, performance, and reliability.
• Coach team members through technical guidance, code reviews, career development, and day-to-day leadership.

Requirements:

• 8+ years of experience in Software Development, QA Automation, or Test Infrastructure Engineering.
• 3+ years of experience managing software engineering or automation teams.
• Strong hands-on Python development experience with deep understanding of Python internals and best practices.
• Proven experience designing and developing automation frameworks and test infrastructure from the ground up.
• Experience testing or developing complex distributed systems.
• Strong Linux knowledge and scripting experience.
• Excellent debugging, troubleshooting, and root cause analysis skills.
• Experience collaborating closely with software development teams throughout the product lifecycle.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and mentoring skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with distributed storage, networking, cloud infrastructure, or Kubernetes environments.
• Experience with CI/CD tools such as Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or similar.
• Knowledge of virtualization and cloud technologies.
• Experience with performance, stress, integration, and end-to-end system testing.
• B.Sc. in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical discipline.

What You'll Bring

• A passion for building high-quality engineering organizations.
• A strong ownership mindset and the ability to drive execution in a fast-paced environment.
• A hands-on approach combined with strategic thinking.
• Excellent collaboration skills and the ability to influence cross-functional teams.
• Curiosity, continuous learning, and a desire to solve complex engineering challenges.