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 platform in terms of technology, features, agility, revenue serving some of the largest mega events in the Kingdom surpassing over 2 billion sales.Role OverviewWe 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, DevOps, 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 AreasAutomation Strategy & Framework OwnershipLead 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 AutomationOwn 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 AutomationBuild and maintain automation suites for iOS 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 & ReliabilityIntegrate 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 EnhancementsDrive an AI-first approach to automationPromote automation-first, quality-by-design principles across engineering.Maintain up-to-date documentation for automation frameworks, patterns, and best practices.Cross-Team CollaborationCollaborate with Backend, Platform, Mobile, QA, DevOps, 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 GuidanceProvide 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 LeadershipLead 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.Essential Skills & ExperienceProven 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 iOS 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‑HaveExperience with performance tooling (k6, JMeter).Experience with observability platforms (Datadog, Sentry, Grafana, New Relic).Knowledge of microservices, queues, c