QA Automation Engineer (Test Automation & AI) – Hybrid Algarve
Location:
Greater Faro / Loulé, Algarve – Hybrid (2–3 days/week in office)
Employment Type:
Full-time
Seniority Level:
Mid–Senior
Compensation:
€35.000–€45.000 gross annual (depending on experience)
About Aiera
We're helping
, a fast-growing, well-funded American startup in the
financial technology
industry, to build their first
European engineering hub in the Algarve
.
Aiera develops a next-generation financial research platform, including its
own AI models tailored to financial markets
, used by institutional investors and financial professionals globally.
As a
QA Automation Engineer
in this new Algarve team, you'll play a key role in ensuring
quality, reliability, performance, and UX
for both traditional web features and
AI-powered workflows
across the platform.
Why This Opportunity Stands Out
* Real impact on product quality:
Your work directly affects the
stability, performance, and usability
of a platform used by demanding financial professionals.
* Modern testing & automation stack:
Work with
pytest, Selenium
, and other frameworks (Playwright, Cypress, etc.), plus CI/CD (GitHub Actions), to build robust, scalable test automation.
* AI domain:
Help test
AI-powered features and language-model-based tools
, where output quality and edge cases really matter.
* Cross-functional collaboration:
Partner closely with
backend, DevOps, product, and support
to define testing strategies, investigate bugs, and keep quality high as the platform evolves.
* Developer-friendly culture:
Low bureaucracy, high ownership, and direct collaboration with senior engineers and leadership in the US.
* Lifestyle + career:
Grow your tech career in a
US-backed fintech
while living a mediterranean lifestyle in the
Algarve
.
What You'll Work On
As a QA Automation Engineer, you will:
* Collaborate with the QA Lead and engineering teams
to design and maintain
scalable automation frameworks
for UI, API, and backend services.
* Design and document test plans, test cases, and scenarios
for both manual and automated testing, focusing on critical user journeys and high-risk areas.
* Build and enhance reusable test automation frameworks
* -- using
Selenium
and
Playwright,
or similar tools where appropriate.
* Develop and maintain API testing frameworks
for
-----------------------------------
REST and GraphQL APIs
,
- -- and
WebSocket endpoints
that power real-time data pipelines and streaming features.
* Integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines
(e.g., GitHub Actions) to ensure:
* -- Continuous validation during deployments, and
* -- Reliable nightly or scheduled regression runs.
* Perform manual testing
to validate:
* -- Application
functionality
and correctness
-----------------------------------
Usability and UX
of key workflows
* Basic
performance and behaviour under load
(in collaboration with DevOps where needed)
* Test AI-powered features and language-model-based tools
:
* Define and run
test scenarios and evaluation sets
for model outputs (relevance, correctness, consistency).
* Validate
edge cases, failure modes, and guardrails
(e.g. hallucinations, incomplete answers, unexpected behaviours).
* Help compare model versions (A/B) and track
quality regressions
when models, prompts, or data change.
* Execute and maintain automated test suites
, updating them as features evolve to keep coverage high and relevant.
* Investigate and reproduce bugs
:
* -- Use logs, browser dev tools, and test environments to narrow down issues.
* -- Provide
clear, actionable bug reports
(steps, expected vs actual behaviour, scope, environment).
* -- Use tools like
Jira
(or similar) to
log, track, and follow up
on defects.
* Collaborate with developers
to ensure timely resolution of defects and regression issues, aligning on impact and priorities.
* Participate actively in
agile ceremonies when needed
(daily stand-ups, sprint planning, reviews, retrospectives) and be a key voice for quality in each cycle.
* Suggest and help implement
improvements to testing processes, tools, and data
, always looking for ways to increase efficiency and reliability.
Who We're Looking For
Must-have qualifications
* 4+ years
of experience in
QA / software testing
, including web applications in a professional software development environment.
* Hands-on experience with
test automation
, including:
* -- pytest
(or similar Python-based testing frameworks), and
* -- Selenium
(or similar browser automation tools) as a core part of your test automation work.
* Solid understanding of
testing methodologies and types
(STLC awareness is a plus): functional, regression, integration, exploratory, and basic performance/load testing.
* Proven experience
designing and documenting test plans, test cases, and scenarios
.
* Comfortable
investigating and reproducing bugs
, using browser dev tools, logs, and test environments.
* Experience using
bug tracking and collaboration tools
such as Jira or similar.
* Ability to read and understand
technical specs, API docs, and logs
; comfortable working around backend services and APIs.
* Professional proficiency in English
(written and spoken).
* Willingness to work
2–3 days/week in the office
in the Greater Faro / Loulé area.
Nice-to-have
* Programming & backend familiarity
* -- Experience working in environments with a
backend focus
(microservices, real-time data, etc.).
* -- Comfortable with
Python
and related frameworks for writing tests, utilities, or lightweight automation.
* -- Experience with
GraphQL
and testing or interacting with APIs (REST, GraphQL, WebSockets).
* -- Understanding of
relational databases
(e.g., Postgres, MySQL) and using them to validate data flows and test results.
* Automation & tooling
* -- Experience with additional automation tools/frameworks such as
Playwright, Cypress, TOSCA
, or similar.
* -- Experience with
API testing
(e.g., Postman, REST clients, or pytest-based API tests).
* -- Familiarity with
performance testing tools
(e.g., Locust, JMeter, k6).
* -- Experience with
BDD practices
and
Gherkin syntax
(feature files, scenarios).
* -- Familiarity with
test management tools
and plugins such as
Zephyr for Jira
(test case management, traceability).
* -- Practical exposure to the
Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC)
and related QA processes.
* Domain & AI
* -- Experience testing
AI / ML-based systems
(e.g. LLM tools, recommendation engines, search/ranking).
Location & relocation
We're especially interested in candidates who are:
* Already
based in the Algarve
and seeking an international engineering/product environment,
or
* EU / EEA / Swiss / Brazilian citizens
(or others with the
right to work in Portugal without sponsorship
) interested in
relocating to the Algarve
.
How You Work (About You)
You'll thrive here if you:
* Have
3+ years in a professional software development environment
and enjoy working closely with engineers (especially around backend & APIs).
* Are
interested and excited by the challenges and opportunities of startup life
: changing requirements, fast iteration, and high impact.
* See
quality as a shared responsibility
, not just a final gate.
* Are
curious and systematic
, and you enjoy exploring how features (and AI models) can fail in real-world scenarios.
* Care about
clarity
— in test cases, automation code, bug reports, and communication with teammates.
* Communicate well with
cross-functional teams
and are comfortable clarifying requirements and testing expectations.
* Participate actively in
agile rituals
and like having a say in what gets shipped and how.
* Are always looking for ways to
improve testing processes, tools, coverage, and automation frameworks
, not just execute predefined scripts.
* Value
taking initiative and getting things done
over rigid processes.
If you're energized by the idea of ensuring quality for a
mission-driven, AI-focused fintech
, and you'd like to grow your QA/automation career in the Algarve, we'd love to hear from you.