Automation Lead Engineer

Do you want to love what you do at work? Do you want to make a difference, an impact, transform peoples lives? Do you want to work with a team that believes in disrupting the normal, boring, and average? If yes, then this is the job you're looking for ,webook.com is Saudi's #1 event ticketing and experience booking platforms in terms of technology, features, agility, revenue serving some of the largest mega events in the Kingdom surpassing over 2 billion sales. Role Overview We are looking for a hands-on Automation Lead Engineer to join the Platform Team at webook. This is a technical role responsible for building, maintaining, and scaling automation frameworks that ensure high-quality, stable releases across our core backend, mobile, and platform services. The Automation Lead Engineer will work closely with Platform Engineering, Backend, Mobile, Dev Ops, and QA teams to drive an automation-first and AI-first testing approach, strengthen system reliability, and ensure we deliver consistent, well-validated releases. This includes automation for backend microservices and APIs, mobile applications, and all core platform user journeys. Key Responsibilities & Technical Focus Areas Automation Strategy & Framework Ownership Lead the automation strategy for the Platform Team in alignment with engineering and product goals Build, maintain, and scale automation frameworks for backend services, APIs, and distributed platform components Develop reusable automation libraries, shared components, and developer-friendly tooling Ensure the automation stack supports high-scale workloads, peak traffic events, and rapid deployments Backend & API Automation Own automation for backend microservices, APIs, and integration touchpoints Implement contract testing, integration testing, and cross-service E2E validation Ensure coverage for mission-critical platform flows such as checkout, payments, booking, reservations, and third-party integrations Use observability tools (logs, metrics, traces) to debug failures, find gaps, and continuously improve test accuracy Mobile Automation Build and maintain automation suites for i OS and Android using modern mobile automation frameworks Cover core user journeys, performance-sensitive flows, and version/device compatibility scenarios Integrate mobile automation into CI/CD for continuous regression testing and fast feedback loops CI/CD Integration & Reliability Integrate all automation layers (backend, mobile, API, platform) into the CI/CD pipeline for stable, parallelized execution Monitor and maintain high reliability across test pipelines by eliminating flaky tests and improving runtime performance Ensure automation feedback is fast, actionable, and aligned with release readiness goals AI-First Automation & Quality Enhancements Drive an AI-first approach to automation Promote automation-first, quality-by-design principles across engineering Maintain up-to-date documentation for automation frameworks, patterns, and best practices Cross-Team Collaboration Collaborate with Backend, Platform, Mobile, QA, Dev Ops, and Product teams to validate platform readiness Participate in architecture and integration discussions to ensure automated coverage is included early Validate platform integrations with queues, microservices, data pipelines, and third-party APIs Technical Guidance Provide guidance to engineers on writing scalable and maintainable automation code Support performance testing initiatives when needed Act as the technical authority for automation practices within the Platform Team Team Leadership Lead and mentor a team of 4-5 QA Automation Engineers, providing day-to-day guidance and support Define and communicate technical direction for the team, ensuring clarity on best practices, automation frameworks, coding standards, and testing strategies Review team members' work, offer constructive feedback, and help unblock technical challenges Coordinate task assignment, set priorities, and ensure high-quality, timely delivery of automation deliverables Foster a collaborative, high-performance environment focused on continuous improvement and technical excellence Requirements Essential Skills & Experience Proven experience as a Senior Automation Engineer or similar hands-on automation-focused role Strong experience in automation for backend services, APIs, and distributed systems Solid experience with mobile automation for i OS and Android Proficiency in modern automation frameworks (e.g., Playwright, Cypress, PHPUnit/Dusk, Jest, Appium, Postman/Newman) Familiarity with AI-enhanced testing tools or a clear desire to adopt AI-based QA practices Strong CI/CD knowledge and experience integrating automation in pipelines Deep understanding of debugging distributed systems using logs, metrics, and traces Strong technical communication and problem-solving skills Nice-to-Have Experience with performance tooling (k6, JMeter) Experience with observability platforms (Datadog, Sentry, Grafana, New Relic) Knowledge of microservices, queues, cloud-native environments (Docker, Kubernetes, GCP/AWS) Experience in a high-scale or fast-paced product engineering environment What We Offer A highly technical role with direct impact on platform reliability, automation maturity, and release stability The opportunity to own and shape automation within the Platform Team A modern engineering culture where automation and quality are core priorities Competitive compensation package Clear technical growth and ownership opportunities