WHAT DOES A LEAD AUTOMATION ENGINEER DO?

Published: Jan 13, 2026 - The Lead Automation Engineer leads a team of test automation engineers, defining project scope, planning automation activities, designing frameworks, and ensuring milestones are met while mentoring junior staff. This role involves developing test scripts, executing and reporting automated tests, enhancing in-house tools, and clearly communicating issues to engineering stakeholders. The engineer also drives continual improvement by introducing new tools, methods, and reusable solutions to increase quality, efficiency, and delivery speed.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Lead Automation Engineer

1. Lead Automation Engineer Key Accountabilities

  • Quality Management: Establish and manage all operations that affect quality and stability.
  • Quality Standards: Design, implement, and improve company quality standards.
  • Productivity Strategy: Formulate strategies to increase productivity.
  • Test Execution: Design and execute tests.
  • Progress Reporting: Create reports to track progress.
  • Cross-Team Collaboration: Work independently and in close cooperation with all R&D team members.
  • System Architecture: Understand system design and implementation aspects.
  • Agile Collaboration: Work closely as part of an Agile team.

2. Lead Automation Engineer Details and Accountabilities

  • Automation Strategy: Work with product specialists and engineers to create an automation strategy.
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work in cross-functional teams.
  • Test Identification: Identify automation tests covering important workflows.
  • Feature Expansion: Continue to include new functionality as it is built.
  • Selenium Testing: Develop test cases using Selenium that cover the entire application, including functional and performance tests.
  • DevOps Automation: Develop automation coverage that can be executed daily as part of the DevOps procedure.
  • Issue Management: Take ownership of triaging and escalating issues found from automation tests, especially regressions and performance impacts that are introduced.
  • Quality Advocacy: Demonstrate a passion for software quality, care deeply about the product, and seek to work with the latest technologies and tools.

3. Lead Automation Engineer Accountabilities

  • Industrial Software Programming: Program industrial software for upgrades of existing product automation.
  • Project Coordination: Interface with clients, vendors, and internal teams to coordinate project schedules and plans.
  • Software Verification: Implement software verification testing.
  • Defect Troubleshooting: Troubleshoot software defects and customer issues.
  • Technical Support: Resolve technical questions and concerns through interaction with customers, vendors, and internal personnel.
  • Technical Reviews: Participate in cross-functional technical reviews and risk assessments.
  • Test Planning: Establish test plans to determine compliance with functional and design requirements.
  • Requirements Definition: Generate detailed requirements for automation projects, both internally and with external customers, for assigned projects.

4. Lead Automation Engineer Details

  • Project Leadership: Lead small project teams that implement standard Honeywell migration solutions with customised specials, to successful completion and within budgeted time and cost constraints.
  • Technical Design Ownership: Responsible for the overall technical design and technical scope of the systems and/or solutions in scope of the project, fully in line with Honeywell standards, design rules and guidelines.
  • Project Execution Support: Support the implementation of projects in line with Honeywell objectives, including continuous improvement of margin, customer satisfaction, schedule, and safety performance.
  • Customer Interface: Act as a technical interface with customers, establishing professional relationships.
  • Requirements Management: Ensure that the technical project requirements are fully defined, agreed, and delivered within schedule and cost constraints.
  • Supplier Integration: Act as technical interface to third-party suppliers to assure correct functionality of deliverables, including proper integration into Honeywell systems or solutions.
  • Project Readiness: Ensure that required prerequisites (e.g., design inputs, tools, documentation, deliverables, schedule, budget) are in place prior to commencing work.
  • Technical Leadership: Produce and/or approve functional and detailed design specifications and provide technical leadership, support, and expertise for the project team.

5. Lead Automation Engineer Roles and Details

  • Solution Compliance: Ensure that the engineered solution meets project requirements across all disciplines in terms of functionality.
  • Design Governance: Responsible for Honeywell standard designs and design rules, quality, supporting documentation, and the implementation process at minimum cost by optimizing the use of global productivity tools and other Standard Builds deliverables.
  • Global Integration: Ensure flawless integration of Global Engineering Services in the projects.
  • Resource Optimization: Maximize utilization of global support services.
  • Scope Control: Monitor and control technical project scope against the Project Execution Plan and Functional and Detailed Design Specifications, ensuring effective change control and identifying risks and opportunities.
  • Continuous Improvement: Proactively recommend potential quality and efficiency improvements.
  • Knowledge Sharing: Share technical knowledge back to Discipline Communities, the EEX organization, and the project team.
  • Project Reporting: Report progress and technical problems and/or changes to the project manager.

6. Lead Automation Engineer Overview

  • Team Leadership: Lead a team of test automation engineers.
  • Work Scope Analysis: Analyse project requirements, define the scope of work, provide support, and track the team’s progress.
  • Technical Mentoring: Mentor and support less experienced engineers.
  • Automation Planning: Perform test automation planning and effort estimation.
  • Project Milestone Management: Understand key milestones in the project plan and ensure the plan correctly provisions required activities.
  • Framework Development: Design and develop a testing framework.
  • Test Script Development: Develop test scripts according to company-defined standards.
  • Tool Enhancement: Support and enhance in-house tools.
  • Test Execution Support: Support the team in the execution of automated tests.
  • Stakeholder Reporting: Provide test automation reporting to stakeholders.
  • Failure Communication: Clearly communicate details of failures to the respective engineering functions.
  • Test Execution: Carry out test execution and provide clear reporting of results.
  • Automation Adoption: Seek to automate testing using an automated testing platform.
  • Continuous Improvement: Support continual improvement by increasing team effectiveness and efficiency through tools, methods, and process improvements, and by coordinating with Continuous Improvement leaders.
  • Product Methodology: Support a standard product methodology mindset by reusing solutions, improving quality and reliability, and reducing delivery timelines and associated costs.
Relevant Information
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