WHAT DOES AN AUTOMATION TESTER DO?

Published: May 19, 2025 - The Automation Tester is responsible for testing software systems, identifying issues, proposing solutions, and recommending improvements in software quality. This position develops and maintains comprehensive test plans, automation frameworks, and automated test cases to validate software and infrastructure components. This role ensures software reliability through collaboration with cross-functional teams and alignment with user requirements and vehicle-level integration.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Automation Tester

1. Automation Tester Duties

  • Unit Testing: Perform unit testing, integrated testing, troubleshooting, deployment, maintenance, and documentation.
  • Test Strategy: Develop a test strategy, create and execute test cases, analyze results, identify defects, and help the team troubleshoot defects.
  • Application Review: Manage periodic review of complicated applications and design, develop, and deploy system enhancements.
  • Configuration Management: Perform configuration management for the Application Software.
  • Technology Assessment: Search, assess, and recommend new technology, solutions, and products to meet present and future business needs.
  • Status Reporting: Provide updates on the development and/or maintenance of Application Software.
  • Test Framework: Develop a test plan/test reference/test automation framework for new and existing applications based on specifications for Desktop and Mobile.
  • Automation Testing: Execute automation tests and propose necessary automation solutions for improvement.
  • Test Execution: Execute test cases according to the test plan.
  • Progress Tracking: Follow up on project progress & raise issues/bugs.
  • Test Coverage: Establish test coverage and fill gaps in existing automation.
  • Product Understanding: Understand the product in detail to ensure optimal test coverage.
  • Continuous Improvement: Assist in building a culture of learning and continuous improvement.

2. Automation Tester Details

  • Automation Scripting: Create automated test scripts using Selenium WebDriver and Java (minimum 3 years’ experience).
  • Script Maintenance: Maintain and enhance existing automated test plans/scripts.
  • Test Data: Create/modify test data using SQL.
  • Manual Testing: Perform accurate manual Functional, Non-Functional, System, and Regression testing.
  • Defect Logging: Document, investigate, and log any errors during test execution and work closely with developers to resolve defects.
  • Test Design: Design comprehensive test cases and scripts from business rules/functional requirements.
  • Regression Scripts: Update and maintain manual regression test script packages.
  • Process Improvement: Contribute to continually improving test processes and techniques.
  • Sector Exposure: Exposure to testing within the IT health sector (desirable).
  • Test Execution: Write and execute tests and testing scenarios.
  • Strategy Definition: Participate in the definition of testing strategies.
  • Frontend Testing: Write automated tests – e.g., frontend integration tests written in Cypress.

3. Automation Tester Responsibilities

  • Test Coverage: Help the team define smart test coverage with new testing plans and strategies.
  • Stakeholder Understanding: Understand stakeholder expectations from a functionality and quality point of view.
  • Bug Management: Work with developers to track, analyze, and fix bugs.
  • Project Planning: Create and execute timely project work plans with proven ability to manage multiple projects effectively.
  • Time Tracking: Responsible for time management tracking by project.
  • Stakeholder Management: Establish and maintain key stakeholder relationships and ensure stakeholder expectations are managed.
  • Customer Satisfaction: Maintain a high degree of customer/client/sponsor satisfaction while also managing the team roster and allocation.
  • Communication Skills: Demonstrate excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  • Leadership Judgment: Demonstrate consistent leadership and judgment.
  • Test Design: Detailed testbook design with all test cases to be automated.
  • Script Development: Develop and maintain the suite of automated test scripts.
  • Script Execution: Execute automated script tests and review documentation.

4. Automation Tester Job Summary

  • Process Compliance: Ensure all work is done in accordance with set processes, guidelines, and recommendations.
  • Test Automation: Design, implement, and maintain automated test assets to ensure desired quality and test coverage.
  • Effort Estimation: Contribute to estimates on test engineering efforts for features and new initiatives as part of the definition of done.
  • Status Reporting: Send elaborate automation status reports on a regular basis.
  • Improvement Alerts: Proactively identify and alert the team to areas of improvement.
  • Requirement Adherence: Ensure all work is done as per defined requirements, priorities, and timelines.
  • Meeting Attendance: Attend meetings and other appointments.
  • Knowledge Sharing: Learn from senior team members.
  • Integrity Acting: Act with high integrity by telling things as they are, even if it means bad news.
  • Respectful Behavior: Treat all co-workers and staff with respect.
  • Failure Analysis: Perform first-level analysis of failures from automated test script execution and resolve issues.
  • Daily Reporting: Report daily on the design, implementation, and execution of automated test scripts.
  • Result Verification: Verify results of corrective actions for detected anomalies.
  • Documentation Support: Support the preparation of operational documentation for scheduling, execution, and monitoring of test scripts.

5. Automation Tester Functions

  • Web Development: Build web applications focused on the client side.
  • UI Redesign: Redesign UIs and implement new UIs with backend Java development.
  • Framework Design: Design and build scalable frameworks for web applications.
  • UX Design: Explore and design dynamic and compelling consumer experiences.
  • Testing Code: Write unit and integration tests.
  • Code Review: Perform regular code reviews.
  • Effort Estimation: Participate in estimation sessions.
  • Requirement Clarification: Clarify requirements and communicate with customers.
  • Progress Reporting: Communicate project progress during scrum and status meetings.
  • Feature Implementation: Implement features and bug fixes, writing reusable, maintainable, efficient, and unit-tested code.
  • Review Participation: Participate in rigorous code review processes.
  • Security Implementation: Implement security and data protection rules.
  • Documentation Writing: Document technical decisions and designs.

6. Automation Tester Job Description

  • Test Collaboration: Work with Product Owners and developers to agree on test cases and acceptance criteria.
  • Scenario Validation: Validate end-to-end test scenarios to cover solution requirements, and discuss these with senior stakeholders for approval.
  • Data Management: Request test data sets to cover pre-agreed test scenarios and manage this data to ensure viability at testing.
  • Solution Testing: Oversee testing of newly developed solutions (Digital Workers) to ensure high quality.
  • Regression Testing: Perform regression testing in an agile environment with deployment of new releases (Fix forward release).
  • Defect Management: Identify defects, prioritize them, ensure they are raised in Jira, and track to closure.
  • Agile Framework: Work within an agile framework during sprints.
  • Independent Execution: Execute testing tasks independently while collaborating with the team.
  • Culture Building: Create a culture of transparency, ownership, collaboration, accountability, and quality.
  • Cross-Functional: Work cross-functionally with release managers, test leads, suppliers, and stakeholders.
  • QA Reporting: Report to the Service Transition and Test Manager and manage quality assurance activities.
  • Product Validation: Perform validation tests of new or modified product configurations.
  • System Testing: Conduct system tests of in-house developed applications (OSS).

7. Automation Tester Overview

  • Software Testing: Undertake testing of software, identify problem sources, and propose solutions.
  • Quality Recommendation: Make recommendations concerning software/system quality.
  • Test Planning: Develop, implement, and document test plans for IT software.
  • Validation Testing: Perform software validation and regression tests of service and infrastructure components provided by third-party suppliers.
  • Infrastructure Validation: Conduct validation tests of new or changed infrastructure configurations applied by other teams.
  • Application Maintenance: Develop and maintain the adopted application suite.
  • Automation Testing: Test automation in cooperation with other involved teams.
  • Framework Development: Develop and maintain a test automation framework.
  • Automated Execution: Develop and execute automated test cases; perform bug tracking and management.
  • Feature Understanding: Understand user features and create test plans and cases for assigned features.
  • Automation Scaling: Contribute to building a flexible and scalable automation solution.
  • Vehicle Testing: Test and release in alignment with vehicle integration, ensuring vehicle-level quality.
  • Strategy Advocacy: Advocate and work closely with the team to ensure testing strategy and environments resemble customer use cases.

8. Automation Tester Tasks

  • Automation Management: Responsible for automation and test data management for the Entitlement Calculation Engine Programme.
  • Requirement Analysis: Analyze business requirements and processes to develop test scenarios and test cases.
  • Iterative Development: Work within iterative development cycles embedded with development resources.
  • Automation Implementation: Implement test automation in line with the Automation Framework for the Programme.
  • Automation Types: Handle automation including GUI, Model 204, API, SAP, etc.
  • Data Matrices: Develop test data matrices to ensure maximum coverage in automation.
  • Status Reporting: Report on status, tasks, development of testing artifacts, and execution of testing.
  • Script Creation: Create end-to-end automation scripts to form a regression baseline across the Programme.
  • Team Liaison: Liaise and work closely with development teams and vendors to ‘shift-left’ automation.
  • CI/CD Contribution: Participate and contribute to CI/CD implementation and automation to support IT.
  • Process Adherence: Develop and maintain execution artifacts adhering to DHS testing processes and procedures.
  • Asset Transition: Transition automation assets from the project to the Business As Usual teams.
  • Data Scripting: Develop scripts for the Test Data Management Strategy to support complex and high transaction processing needs.

9. Automation Tester Roles

  • Technical Collaboration: Work with the Technical Enablement Team to prove obfuscation and test generation possibilities.
  • Tool Analysis: Analyze tools and processes to enable Test Data Management on a large scale.
  • Automation Testing: Serve as an automation tester for the Division of Security Application domain.
  • Setup Coordination: Coordinate setup, data requirements, security updates, and testing of applications developed in the MDE.
  • Integration Support: Support the integration of applications developed with Agile methodologies in DevOps/MDE into Production.
  • Documentation Generation: Generate documents for automation testing supporting Agile and Modern Development Environment (MDE).
  • Environment Coordination: Coordinate environmental setup efforts with the Division of Environmental Testing (DIET) for the MDE process and report to management.
  • Data Coordination: Coordinate data needs within the integration environment, working with development components and providing status to management.
  • Issue Prevention: Assist proactively to avoid intermittent software functionality problems.
  • Meeting Facilitation: Attend work order meetings to introduce key personnel, define roles, and review meeting scope and objectives.
  • Communication Skills: Communicate technical topics to management and non-technical audiences, interfacing daily with the customer.

10. Automation Tester Additional Details

  • Team Participation: Actively participate in team meetings.
  • Lifecycle Involvement: Take part in all application development lifecycle phases.
  • Test Automation: Implement automated test cases and design testing frameworks.
  • Collaboration Skills: Work closely with Product Owner, Developers, and Testers to deliver tasks on time and with expected quality.
  • Script Creation: Create and run test scripts, contributing to reusable test assets demonstrating product status.
  • Product Evaluation: Contribute to team evaluation of products and services, identifying issues and escalating to the function principal.
  • Idea Translation: Take ideas from peers and translate into fully described proposals for improved working practices.
  • Process Influence: Influence peers on potential process or tool improvements to assure quality delivery.
  • Tech Awareness: Develop awareness of emerging technologies and take responsibility for driving development.
  • End-to-End Testing: Conduct end-to-end testing to ensure business, technical, and functional requirements are met throughout SDLC.
  • Test Design: Design, build, and execute test scripts based on strategy/plans to identify defects before production.
  • Process Improvement: Identify and develop ways to improve quality, capability, or efficiency of testing processes.
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