Senior Automation Engineer

The Role

As a Senior Automation Engineer, you will be the founding member of our QA automation function — responsible for designing, building, and scaling our automation capability from the ground up. You will sit at the core of our product delivery engine, establishing the frameworks, strategy, and processes that ensure every release meets the highest standards of reliability, performance, and user experience.

This is a greenfield opportunity. We have not previously had a dedicated QA automation function, which means you will define the strategy, select the tooling, design the architecture, and implement best-in-class automation frameworks across web and mobile platforms. You will take ownership of building scalable, maintainable test suites covering functional, regression, and smoke testing across modern web browsers and native mobile applications (Android and iOS).

Beyond hands-on implementation, you will shape how quality is embedded into our engineering culture. You’ll integrate automation into CI/CD pipelines, collaborate closely with developers to ensure features are built with testability in mind, and introduce structured processes for reporting, defect management, and continuous improvement.

You will play a strategic role in defining our automation roadmap — balancing speed, coverage, stability, and long-term scalability. As the function grows, you will help set the foundations for future QA team expansion, standards, and best practices.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives in ownership, enjoys building systems from first principles, and wants to leave a lasting technical imprint on a growing product. If you’re motivated by architecting scalable automation frameworks and embedding quality at the heart of product delivery — this is an opportunity to build something meaningful from day one.

About Guardhouse 
Guardhouse is a fast-growing workforce management platform purpose-built for the physical security industry. Founded in Australia, we help over 500+ security businesses globally streamline operations, stay compliant, and drive profitability through smart scheduling, compliance automation, and integrated workforce management tools. 

Our people are at the heart of everything we do.
We’re building something ambitious, and we’re looking for individuals who are excited to help drive the business forward. If you’re someone who wants to make an impact, take ownership, and grow with the company, you’ll thrive here. 

Skills and Experience 

We prioritise attitude and aptitude over direct experience. While the following are not essential, they would be advantageous. 

• Strong experience building and scaling automation frameworks for web and mobile applications
• Proven experience establishing QA automation processes in environments without an existing framework (greenfield experience highly valued)
• Proficiency in at least one programming language (Java, Python, JavaScript, C#, or similar)
• Hands-on experience with modern web automation tools (Selenium WebDriver, Playwright, Cypress, or similar)
• Hands-on experience with mobile automation tools (Appium for Android and iOS)
• Experience with test frameworks (TestNG, JUnit, PyTest, Mocha, or similar)
• Experience testing REST APIs using tools such as Postman, REST-assured, or similar
• Strong understanding of CI/CD integration and version control systems (Git)
• Experience designing maintainable, modular, and scalable test architecture
• Strong analytical and debugging skills with the ability to identify systemic quality issues
• Excellent collaboration skills and the ability to influence engineering culture toward quality-first practices
• Comfortable operating autonomously in a high-ownership, high-impact environment

Responsibilities

• Design and implement the company’s QA automation strategy from the ground up
• Select, architect, and build scalable automation frameworks for web and mobile applications
• Establish best practices, standards, and processes for automated testing across the engineering team
• Create and maintain automated test suites for functional, regression, smoke, and end-to-end testing
• Implement cross-browser testing (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) and cross-device testing (Android and iOS)
• Integrate automation frameworks into CI/CD pipelines to enable reliable, fast release cycles
• Define reporting, test coverage metrics, and quality benchmarks to improve visibility and accountability
• Collaborate closely with developers and product teams to ensure features are designed with testability in mind
• Perform code reviews for automation scripts and drive high engineering standards
• Analyse test results, identify root causes of defects, and partner with engineering to resolve issues efficiently
• Continuously improve test stability, reduce flakiness, and optimise execution time
• Contribute to long-term QA roadmap planning, including future team structure and tooling evolution

The right personality 

• Builder mentality – You enjoy creating systems from first principles and take pride in designing scalable foundations that others can build on.
• High ownership – You operate with autonomy and accountability, taking full responsibility for quality outcomes rather than waiting for direction.
• Strategic thinker with hands-on execution – You can zoom out to design long-term automation strategy, while also being comfortable writing and reviewing code daily.
• Quality advocate – You care deeply about product excellence and confidently influence teams to adopt quality-first practices.
• Structured and methodical – You bring clarity, documentation, and repeatable process to environments that are still evolving.
• Pragmatic and commercially aware – You understand trade-offs between speed and perfection, and know how to balance coverage with delivery timelines.
• Resilient and solution-oriented – You stay calm when defects arise, focus on root cause analysis, and drive issues through to resolution.
• Collaborative communicator – You build strong working relationships with engineers, product managers, and leadership, and can clearly explain risk, impact, and priorities.
• Growth-oriented – You are motivated by continuous improvement — of systems, processes, and yourself.

We look forward to reviewing your application