Staff Quality Assurance Engineer

Title: Staff Quality Assurance Engineer Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE

About AI71

AI71 builds enterprise-grade AI and data platform software for organisations operating in regulated, mission-critical environments.

Our solutions are delivered in two deployment modes:

• Managed SaaS — multi-tenant, cloud-hosted, continuously updated.
• On-premises — single-tenant installs in customer data centres, including fully disconnected and air-gapped environments.

Quality engineering at AI71 means proving that releases behave correctly in the cloud and behind a firewall, including fully disconnected, air-gapped installs where a shipped defect can't be quietly patched the next day.

The Mission

As a Lead / Staff QA Engineer you set the quality strategy and testing architecture for AI71's platform. You own test architecture and release-quality standards across both SaaS and on-prem operating models, mentor QA engineers across teams, and drive multi-quarter quality strategy. You are a force multiplier.

Key Responsibilities

• Define test architecture and quality standards across the platform (test pyramid, automation strategy, release gates).
• Lead major decisions on test tooling, automation investment, and release-quality processes.
• Mentor senior QA engineers; raise the quality bar across multiple teams.
• Drive cross-team initiatives that reduce defect escape rate and improve release confidence.
• Partner with engineering and product leadership on multi-quarter quality strategy.
• Own the release sign-off process, including for fully air-gapped / on-prem release candidates.
• Ensure quality practices scale across managed SaaS and disconnected on-prem deployments.

What You’ll Bring

• 10+ years of QA, test engineering, or quality architecture with a history of architectural ownership.
• At least 2 years focused on testing complex data-driven applications, ML models, or AI agents.
• Proven track record designing test architecture and quality processes at scale.
• Expert proficiency in Python (Pytest) and standard libraries (Selenium/Playwright, Requests).
• Mentorship record — engineers you have grown now operate independently at higher levels.
• Track record of leading major quality initiatives end-to-end.
• Deep comfort architecting test strategy for systems that run in both managed SaaS and on-premises / disconnected air-gapped environments.

Nice to have

• Conference speaking, technical writing, or industry thought leadership.
• Open-source test tooling contributions.
• Arabic language skills.

Why AI71?

• Final Line of Defence: You define whether an AI agent is "trusted" to negotiate a contract or design a critical system component in a safety-critical environment.

• Tax-Free Compensation: A market-leading, 100% tax-free salary and benefits package.

• Full Relocation Support: Comprehensive assistance including flights, housing support, and visa sponsorship for you and your family to Abu Dhabi.

• Pioneering Work: Set the global standard for how organisations validate intelligent systems using world-leading models.