Charlotte QA Job Market Intel

Job-Intel has helped 100+ job seekers land interviews. The counter stopped. The mission didn’t💞

Ryan Rossbach

I was able to pivot my career and land an AI-driven testing role through this community. Great experience all around.

Ryan Rossbach, Automation Engineer @ LoopQA

Straight From the Source

A firsthand read on Charlotte QA hiring – from open roles and recruiter activity to interview trends, team expectations, and what candidates are hearing.

  • Not a Straight Line: Career Moves

    Ovidius AI added headcount this week, bringing on a local engineer who was ready to step away from corporate dev life and move into a technical sales engineering role focused on driving custom solutions. This hire came through networking, but leadership is known to use staffing firms when needed on large projects😉

    LoopQA added headcount this week. An engineer with early-career testing experience spent the last five years working as a systems engineer. With AI reshaping the landscape, he re-engaged his interest in QA automation, refreshed his skills, and successfully landed an AI-driven testing role with LoopQA. This was possible because LoopQA’s leadership has strong credibility with their client partners and uses thoughtful evaluation processes that assess real knowledge not just someone’s most recent title. That’s something I don’t see as often with other staffing partners

    , ,

  • LoopQA – Automation QA

    Full-time | $90–95K + benefits/PTO

    Hybrid (Tues/Wed) in Charlotte, NC
    Reports to: Ben Fellows
    Note: Ben said feel free to reach out directly, just reference the site🙂

    QA Automation Engineer (Playwright / API / AI-Assisted Workflows)

    This role focuses on improving automation coverage for a team that ships continuously. You will build and maintain end-to-end and API test suites, help close coverage gaps, and support CI/CD pipeline reliability. The goal is to ensure quality keeps pace with development.

    We use AI tooling (Claude, Cursor) as part of our development workflow. Familiarity or curiosity in using these tools in practical work is a strong plus.

    What You Will Do

    • Build and maintain automated tests using Playwright across UI and API layers
    • Contribute to expanding end-to-end test coverage by identifying gaps and writing new scenarios
    • Run, monitor, and help triage failures in CI/CD pipelines
    • Debug test failures and work to determine whether the issue is in the test, data, or application
    • Collaborate with engineers to improve test structure and reliability
    • Use AI tooling to support testing, debugging, and workflow efficiency

    What We Need

    • 2 to 6 years in QA, software testing, or test automation
    • Hands-on experience with Playwright, Cypress, Selenium, or similar frameworks
    • Working knowledge of APIs and how web applications function
    • Familiarity with JavaScript, TypeScript, or another scripting language
    • You are comfortable debugging issues before escalating them
    • Experience with AI-assisted tools is a plus, or strong interest in adopting them

    How We Evaluate

    A hands-on Playwright exercise built around real-world scenarios. We are evaluating your debugging process and how you navigate unfamiliar behavior—not just correctness.

    Interview Process

    Technical exercise followed by a hiring manager conversation.

    **Update: Week 5/4, interviews in play**

    , ,

  • Charlotte QA: Market Watch

    Hearing consistant signals from the market around hybrid Automation Engineer roles (UI / API / AI-driven initiatives) at Ally Financial

    Spoke with a tech lead this week who mentioned they just brought on an automation engineer Monday: and they’re still actively interviewing to build out the teams further (strong q2 hiring)

    Sharing a contact I was pointed to by my network: Selah Boughner & Meghan Robinson @ Optomi

    If you’re closer to the Ally ecosystem or know strong staffing partners with real-time delivery pipelines there, feel free to DM me

    **Disclaimer: I don’t manage or represent this role and am simply tracking market activity**

    , ,

  • LoopQA: Senior QA Automation Engineer (Playwright / Internal Tooling)

    Full-time | $105 to $115K + benefits/PTO
    Hybrid (Tues/Wed) in Charlotte, NC
    Reports to: Ryan Anderson **I spoke with him 4/21. This is a backfill role**

    This team builds internal web applications that power day-to-day operations across the business. This role exists because our development velocity has outpaced traditional QA. We need someone who can build automation that scales with how we actually ship. The environment is fast, iterative, and increasingly AI-assisted. You will not just add tests. You will define how quality works across a growing internal platform.

    What You Will Own

    • Architect and maintain automated test coverage using Playwright across internal web applications at both UI and API layers
    • Establish a repeatable QA strategy for internal tooling from test design through CI/CD integration and failure handling
    • Build automation that keeps pace with AI-assisted development workflows instead of traditional QA cycles
    • Investigate failures across the full stack including frontend, API, and database without waiting on handoffs
    • Create systems and patterns the team can reuse and elevate overall engineering standards through output

    What You Bring

    • Proven experience shipping Playwright-based automation in production environments
    • Strong API testing skills with the ability to trace requests, debug failures, and validate system behavior end to end
    • Comfort working in a full-stack environment with the ability to read and reason through application code
    • Experience using tools like Claude, Cursor, or similar AI coding assistants as part of your daily workflow
    • Ability to quickly determine whether an issue is a test failure, data issue, or application bug

    How We Evaluate

    • A hands-on Playwright exercise focused on real-world scenarios, with emphasis on how you think, debug, structure automation, and leverage AI tools to improve speed and quality.
    • Interview Process: tech eval + hiring manager interview

    Update 4/22- Actively reviewing resumes and scheduling interviews

    ,

  • Candidate-Sourced Market Signal

    There have been mentions in the market of a potential contract QA automation opportunity focused on supporting the transition from manual QA to automation (Selenium / Cypress).

    Pratt Miller does not currently show a publicly posted role of this type on its careers page, so if it exists, it may be handled through external staffing partners rather than direct posting.

    Pratt Miller is an established engineering firm with a strong Midwest presence and work across advanced manufacturing and product development. They do have other engineering roles posted publicly. I’ve heard good things about this firm.

    Update
    – Spoke with an engineer at Pratt. Good firm/cultue
    – Candidates interviewed week of 4/20 through a vendor (1 candidate had final round 5/13- team style interview. Great group)

    Disclaimer: I do not manage or represent this role and am simply tracking market activity.

    , ,

  • How to Vet a Staffing Firm Submission Process

    A friend got double-submitted by two staffing firms and ended up in a dispute after an offer last week for a performance gig. The details were vague, client name was shared, a canned job description was used, but there was no req ID, R2R or hiring manager listed. That made it almost impossible to track at an active enterprise bank.

    We walked through the scenerio and came up with a simple set of questions candidates can use to understand how a firm actually operates and how transparent their process is.

    1) Req ID or approval status

    • “What is the req ID for this role?”
    • If there is no ID: “Where is this role in the approval process?”

    2) Hiring context

    • “Can you share the hiring manager or at least the team or business unit?”
    • “If not, can you give more detail on the project or scope beyond the job description?”

    3) Relationship depth

    • “How long have you supported this client and this specific manager?”
    • “Do you currently have anyone on payroll there?”

    4) Submission process

    • “How is my resume submitted and presented?”
    • “Do you hop on a call with the manager, or submit directly via email? Or does it go through a coordinator, or vms portal?”
    • “Do you personally present candidates or is it handled by an account manager?”

    5) Submission volume

    • “How many submissions is your firm allowed for this role?”
    • “How many other vendors have this role?”

    These are not meant to be combative. They simply help clarify how the process works, reduce ambiguity, and surface how transparent the relationship really is. It’s very easy to bake these into conversations.

    You know what they say…clear process upfront usually means fewer surprises later.

    Don’t know why these questions are important, or have one of your own you want answered? DM.

What People Are Saying

In an employer-driven market, it’s rare to find a resource that combines hiring insight with real candidate experiences. Highly recommend InsitePeek as a valuable source of market intelligence.

Jonathan Hofler
Senior AI Augmented QA Engineer
Chris Bettini

InsitePeek provides credible, high-signal insight into the Charlotte job market; valuable information for the community

Chris Bettini

Head of Portfolio Analytics Product Management

John Dye

I’ve mentored Jaclyn for years and have watched her grow into a true recruiting SME. She’s built a strong resource for the Charlotte engineering community, especially around quality engineering, hiring, and industry insights.

John Dye

Hands-On Platform Engineering Leader

Deepak Nagabhushanam

This is a fantastic site for staying up to date on the Quality Engineering market, from hiring trends to evolving skill demands. It keeps you grounded in what teams are actually prioritizing so you can stay ahead of where the industry is headed.

Deepak Nagabhushanam

Technical Director, R&D Portfolio Lead

Austin Meadows

I’ve worked with Jaclyn for years. Exceptional recruiter with a great understanding of the market. InsitePeek is a valuable source of insight covering everything from hiring activity to real candidate experiences, and helping professionals better navigate and control the interview process.

Austin Meadows

Lead Software Engineer

Krista Strzeszkowski

InsitePeek has helped me land conversations and interviews, while also providing insight into testing trends and helping me prepare more effectively for the interview process.

Krista Strzeszkowski

Senior QA

Ben Fellows

I work closely with engineering teams in Charlotte on hiring and running hands-on AI-driven workshops to help standardize and optimize QA practices. It’s great to see a platform surfacing real hiring and talent movement in motion.

Ben Fellows

Founder & CEO of LoopQA, AI-Driven QA and Automation Leader

Will Rauddi

A unique resource for the Charlotte tech and business community filled with smart insights and the kind of information you don’t find anywhere else.

Will Rauddi

Engineering Leader

Steven Boucher

What a great hub for real market insight and genuine community connection…I find myself coming back for the blogs.

Steven Boucher

Senior Automation Engineer

Natalie Brennan

Jaclyn’s been in the Charlotte tech scene for a long time. Always appreciate how she shares what she’s seeing and helps keep the community informed in a market like this.

Natalie Brennan

Senior QA Engineer, Automation & AI Initiatives