Principal Quality Engineer - Manila, PH

Balsam Brands is a global eCommerce retailer with roots in holiday and home décor. Our flagship brand is Balsam Hill™, the world’s leading retailer of artificial Christmas trees and holiday décor. We strive for excellence in everything we do and present a unique opportunity for those seeking to have an impact in a people-first company that values relationship-building, authenticity, and doing the right thing. We have steadily growing teams in Boise, the Bay Area, Canada, Ireland, and the Philippines. 

The company's mission is to create joy together. We empower our team and partners to love what they do, provide products and experiences that inspire meaningful moments with family and friends, and give back to our communities. When you join Balsam Brands, you’ll find a culture of caring people doing challenging work while building a welcoming workplace.

• Balsam Brands on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/balsam-brands/
• Balsam Brands on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balsam_brands/
• Balsam Brands in Forbes: https://bit.ly/balsambrandsforbes

At Balsam Brands, we like to think of our people-first culture as more than just a tagline. It's the heart of our company. In fact, our Philippine ROHQ being recognized as one of the Philippine’s Best Work Places by the prestigious Great Place To Work organization is a testament to this. 

We know that you need to feel comfortable in your work environment, so we make sure that everyone in the team is supported and cared for. Team Manila has been working from home since 2010, with occasional in-person meet-ups and events to help build relationships and foster camaraderie. 

Team Manila represents nearly every function in the company—from Marketing to Operations and everything in between. Everyone gets to enjoy company-issued laptops and full employee benefits, including HMO coverage, mental health support, paid time off, 13th-month pay, and many more. The company trips, wellness benefits, and other perks are just the cherry on top of our permanent work-from-home setup.

• Balsam International on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BalsamInternationalPH
• Balsam International on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/balsam-international-unlimited

At Balsam International, we strive to build a diverse, equitable, and inclusive team to fulfill our purpose to create joy together. Balsam International is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We encourage people from all backgrounds, ages, abilities, and experiences to apply. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, citizenship, marital or family status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy or caregiver status, or any other legally protected status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations to participate in the job application and interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.

Balsam International is looking for a Principal Quality Engineer to help shape the future of test automation, driving innovation in testing frameworks and ensuring scalability, efficiency, and reliability across all efforts. This role requires deep expertise in Playwright, modern automation tools, and industry best practices. You’ll be architecting, implementing, and optimizing automation frameworks, mentoring engineers, and working cross-functionally to embed automation into our CI/CD pipeline and DevOps strategy, while also influencing the QA automation roadmap to align with company-wide engineering standards. This role reports to the Director, QE and DevOps.

What you’ll be doing:

Test Automation Strategy & Framework Architecture

•  Designs and implements scalable, reusable automation frameworks, focusing on Playwright for end-to-end (E2E) testing.
• Leads the evolution of test automation architecture, ensuring best-in-class design patterns, performance, and maintainability.
• Defines and enforces automation standards, establishing a center of excellence for test automation practices.
• Conducts research and evaluation of cutting-edge tools to improve automation coverage, performance, and efficiency.

Leadership & Mentorship

• Acts as a subject matter expert (SME) in Playwright and automation best practices, mentoring junior and mid-level engineers.
• Provides strategic guidance on test automation adoption across teams, influencing company-wide QA strategy.
• Conducts code reviews and establish best practices for automation test development.
• Leads training initiatives for manual QA engineers transitioning to automation roles.

Automation Development & CI/CD Integration

• Develops, maintains, and optimizes highly efficient automated test scripts for functional, regression, performance, and API testing.
• Ensures seamless integration of automated tests into the CI/CD pipeline, enabling continuous testing and deployment.
• Implements parallel execution, distributed testing, and cloud-based automation solutions to improve test efficiency.
• Collaborates with DevOps and Engineering teams to enhance test execution strategies and reporting.
• Writes non-functional test scripts and executes, with good understanding of performance testing.

Software Quality Assurance & Governance

• Defines and tracks automation KPIs, ensuring measurable improvements in test coverage, execution time, and defect detection.
• Establishes and maintains test data management strategies for automated testing.
• Drives adoption of shift-left testing, ensuring early-stage automation within the SDLC.
• Implements AI-driven automation techniques to optimize test selection and execution.  

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partners with Software Architects, Developers, Product Managers, and DevOps to drive quality-first development.
• Actively participates in Agile ceremonies, advocating for automation-driven testing approaches.
• Drives strategic initiatives that align automation efforts with business and technology goals.
• Advocates for and champion a culture of automation-first testing across engineering teams.
• Provides training for manual test engineers on automation tools and processes. Helps them to transition as an automation engineer.

Other Duties and Responsibilities

Performs other duties that may be assigned from time to time.

What we’re looking for:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or a related field.
• Minimum of fourteen (14) of experience in QA Automation.
• Must have experience in test automation tools such as Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, WebdriverIO, Typescript, etc.
• Must have a solid understanding of software testing principles, methodologies, design patterns, software testing processes, best practices, and be accustomed to Agile Development.
• Must be familiar with CI/CD concepts and tools and performance testing and security testing.
• Must be able to work a flexible night shift schedule (typically 8pm-4am PHT, adjusting to 8pm-5am PHT after Daylight Saving Time ends).

Location: The Principal Quality Engineer position is a remote working position for Balsam International Unlimited Company - Philippine ROHQ in Manila. Team members in the Philippines are located within Metro Manila, Bataan, Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, Rizal, and Tarlac areas only.

Our must-haves:

• Must attend occasional in-person meetings.
• Must have a fast, reliable DSL, Fiber, or Broadband connection (not mobile or broadband stick) as the primary internet connection with a minimum actual speed of 50MBPS.

Note: An online assessment will also be part of the recruitment process.

Status: This is a full-time, permanent position with benefits.

Hardware Provision: Company-issued Laptop will be provided on your first day.

At Balsam International, we strive to offer a competitive compensation and benefits package. For permanent, full-time team members, this includes:

• Government-mandated Benefits (SSS, PAG-IBIG, PhilHealth)
• 13th Month Pay
• Paid Leaves. We use time off to rest, go on vacation, or just sleep in! Our paid time off is flexible to our needs.
• Internet Subsidy. With internet allowance, we are set up for success.
• Healthcare Coverage (+ 2 dependents). We worry less about rising medical costs with flexible quality healthcare benefits.
• Maternity, Paternity, and Solo Parent Benefit. We make sure parents are supported while they navigate work and family life.
• Continuous Learning and Professional Development Benefit. Our professional and personal development are fully supported. Whether it be online courses, workshops or books!
• Mental Health Support. We manage work and life's challenges through Mental Health Day breaks, 24/7 professional counselling, and curated webinars.
• Company Incentive. An additional cash-based perk for all our Brandits based on company's performance.
• Meeting and Team Building Allowance. Happy tummies make our meetings more fun and productive!
• Shutdown Week. We can spend more time on things that matter with an additional one-week paid time off on top of paid leaves.
• Volunteer Time Off. With two paid days off, we are able to volunteer for advocacies we believe in.
• Bereavement Leave. We get additional paid leaves when a loved one passes to grieve and provide immediate support to our families.