QA Lead Engineer

As a QA Lead Engineer at Deepgram, you will be the technical backbone of the QA function, responsible for building automation, running tests, and ensuring product reliability. You will execute daily/weekly test cycles, own automated test frameworks integrated into CI/CD pipelines, manage test cases, and support product squads. This role involves participating in release signoffs, performing exploratory testing, tracking KPIs, and integrating customer feedback to enhance regression tests, all within a fast-paced, AI-first environment.

Must Have

• Run daily/weekly test cycles across products and environments
• Build and maintain automated test frameworks in CI/CD
• Author, update, and optimize test cases
• Partner with product squads for feature validation
• Participate in release readiness reviews and signoff
• Perform edge case and exploratory testing
• Contribute to QA dashboards and track KPIs
• Integrate customer feedback into regression tests
• 4–6 years experience in QA or Software Engineering
• Strong background in test automation frameworks
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps tooling
• Understanding of exploratory testing and edge case design
• Clear communication with product and engineering teams
• Detail-oriented and systematic to prevent regressions

Good to Have

• Audio compression, codec or analysis experience

Perks & Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision benefits
• Annual wellness stipend
• Mental health support
• Life, STD, LTD Income Insurance Plans
• Unlimited PTO
• Generous paid parental leave
• Flexible schedule
• 12 Paid US company holidays
• Quarterly personal productivity stipend
• One-time stipend for home office upgrades
• 401(k) plan with company match
• Tax Savings Programs
• Learning / Education stipend
• Participation in talks and conferences
• Employee Resource Groups
• AI enablement workshops / sessions

Company Overview

Deepgram is the leading voice AI platform for developers building speech-to-text (STT), text-to-speech (TTS) and full speech-to-speech (STS) offerings. 200,000+ developers build with Deepgram’s voice-native foundational models – accessed through APIs or as self-managed software – due to our unmatched accuracy, latency and pricing. Customers include software companies building voice products, co-sell partners working with large enterprises, and enterprises solving internal voice AI use cases. The company ended 2024 cash-flow positive with 400+ enterprise customers, 3.3x annual usage growth across the past 4 years, over 50,000 years of audio processed and over 1 trillion words transcribed. There is no organization in the world that understands voice better than Deepgram.

Company Operating Rhythm

At Deepgram, we expect an AI-first mindset—AI use and comfort aren’t optional, they’re core to how we operate, innovate, and measure performance.

Every team member who works at Deepgram is expected to actively use and experiment with advanced AI tools, and even build your own into your everyday work. We measure how effectively AI is applied to deliver results, and consistent, creative use of the latest AI capabilities is key to success here. Candidates should be comfortable adopting new models and modes quickly, integrating AI into their workflows, and continuously pushing the boundaries of what these technologies can do.

Additionally, we move at the pace of AI. Change is rapid, and you can expect your day-to-day work to evolve just as quickly. This may not be the right role if you’re not excited to experiment, adapt, think on your feet, and learn constantly, or if you’re seeking something highly prescriptive with a traditional 9-to-5.

The Opportunity

You’ll be the technical backbone of the QA function—building automation, running tests, and ensuring every release is qualified. As QA Lead Engineer, you’ll directly protect product reliability and customer trust while raising the bar for testing across engineering.

What You’ll Do

• Test Execution & Evaluation: Run daily/weekly test cycles across multiple products and environments
• Automation Ownership: Build, maintain, and extend automated test frameworks integrated into CI/CD pipelines
• Test Case Management: Author, update, and optimize test cases across product lines
• Cross-Product Quality Support: Partner with product squads to enable feature validation and regression coverage
• Release Candidate Signoff: Participate in release readiness reviews and provide test evidence for release evaluation and qualification
• Edge Case & Exploratory Testing: Hunt for failure modes beyond the “happy path"
• Metrics & Reporting: Contribute to QA dashboards and track product-level KPIs
• Customer Feedback Integration: Help map production issues into regression tests

You’ll Love This Role If You

• Thrive in a fast-paced, impact-driven environment where learning new skills on-the-fly is not only encouraged but a regular necessity

It’s Important To Us That You Have

• 4–6 years experience in QA or Software Engineering
• Strong background in test automation frameworks (e.g., Playwright, Cypress, Selenium, PyTest, Jenkins)
• Hands-on experience with CI/CD pipelines and modern DevOps tooling
• Solid understanding of exploratory testing and edge case design
• Ability to communicate clearly with product and engineering teams
• Detail-oriented, systematic, and motivated to prevent regressions

It’d Be Nice If You Have

• Audio compression, codec or analysis experience is a bonus

Benefits & Perks

Holistic health

• Medical, dental, vision benefits
• Annual wellness stipend
• Mental health support
• Life, STD, LTD Income Insurance Plans

Work/life blend

• Unlimited PTO
• Generous paid parental leave
• Flexible schedule
• 12 Paid US company holidays
• Quarterly personal productivity stipend
• One-time stipend for home office upgrades
• 401(k) plan with company match
• Tax Savings Programs

Continuous learning

• Learning / Education stipend
• Participation in talks and conferences
• Employee Resource Groups
• AI enablement workshops / sessions

Backed by prominent investors including Y Combinator, Madrona, Tiger Global, Wing VC and NVIDIA, Deepgram has raised over $85 million in total funding. If you're looking to work on cutting-edge technology and make a significant impact in the AI industry, we'd love to hear from you!

Deepgram is an equal opportunity employer. We want all voices and perspectives represented in our workforce. We are a curious bunch focused on collaboration and doing the right thing. We put our customers first, grow together and move quickly. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, pregnancy, parental status, genetic information, political affiliation, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate.

We are happy to provide accommodations for applicants who need them.