Hire QA & Automation Engineers
Quality assurance staffing done properly: QA automation engineers screened on the suites they built, what those suites caught, and what they let through, permanent or contract.
Why STACK IT
Built to hire QA and automation engineers who clear a real bar.
Most agencies optimize for volume. We optimize for the one hire who’s right, vetted by people who understand the work.
Recruiters who speak test
We screen for how a tester decides what to automate and what to leave, and how they reason about risk and coverage. No candidate reaches you without two recruiters signing off.
Every candidate is real
Fake profiles, proxy interviews, and AI-assisted answers are everywhere in tech hiring. We meet each candidate face-to-face on video and screen for AI patterns, so who you interview is who shows up.
Screened to stay past the guarantee.
A hire that leaves in a year isn't a win. We align trajectory, growth, and total comp so the engineer grows with your team instead of moving on.
You pay only when they start
Success-based and non-exclusive, no upfront fees, no retainers. We invoice on your engineer's first day, not before.
How we screen
The QA & Automation Engineers Evaluation Rubric.
We screen for how QA and automation engineers actually think. Every shortlist is judged against the same five criteria that predict whether someone delivers in your codebase.
Strong signal
Automates the high-risk, high-churn paths first and knows what is cheaper to test by hand.
Falls short
Automates everything or nothing, with a brittle suite no one trusts.
Strong signal
Targets coverage by risk and impact, not by chasing a percentage.
Falls short
Reports a high coverage number while the risky paths go untested.
Strong signal
Knows their automation stack deeply and keeps the suite fast and stable.
Falls short
Copies snippets without understanding why tests flake or slow down.
Strong signal
Tracks a flaky or failing test to its real cause and makes it reliable.
Falls short
Re-runs until it passes and moves on, leaving the flake in place.
Strong signal
Works with developers to catch issues early and build quality in, not just file bugs.
Falls short
Throws defects over the wall late, after the cost of the fix has climbed.
Hire QA and automation engineers with confidence.
Real technical screening, a calibrated shortlist in days, and candidates vetted for fit, not just resumes. Let’s start your search.
- Pay only when they start
- First candidates in 24–48 hrs
- Screened for skills and fit
Specializations
QA & Automation Engineers, across your whole stack.
Whatever your team runs on, we screen for the people who do the work right.
Test Automation
End-to-end suites that teams actually trust.
API Testing
Contract and integration testing for services.
Performance Testing
Load and stress testing before users find the limit.
CI/CD & Pipelines
Tests wired into the pipeline, fast and reliable.
Mobile & Cross-Browser
Coverage across devices and browsers.
Test Strategy & Coverage
Risk-based plans that focus effort where it counts.
The cost of waiting
An open role isn’t free.
An empty seat doesn’t delay work, it redistributes it. The longer the search drags, the more it costs.
Every week a role stays open, the cost lands on the team you already have.
- Work waits in the backlog while priorities pile up.
- They cover work that isn’t theirs, until something slips.
- The longer the seat stays empty, the harder the restart.
Speed isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the difference between a gap and a setback.
Time to fill this role
How you hire
Permanent or contract, your call.
Two models, one standard of quality. Bring on the QA and automation engineers you need the way that fits your timeline and budget.
Permanent
Permanent hire
Best when you’re building the team for the long term.
- You only pay when they start, success-based, no upfront fee.
- Full-cycle vetting for technical and cultural fit.
- Backed by our 90-day replacement guarantee.
Contract
Contract hire
Best when you need delivery capacity now, without adding headcount.
- We’re the employer of record: payroll, compliance, and onboarding handled.
- Most contractors placed in 5–10 business days.
- Convert to permanent anytime, with a buyout discount that grows each month.
Not sure which fits? Compare permanent vs. contract
FAQ
Hiring QA and automation engineers, answered.
The questions teams usually ask before starting a search with us.
We test automation judgment, not just framework names. We walk through test suites a candidate has built, probe how they decided what to automate and what to leave manual, how they handled flaky tests, and how they wired testing into CI. Good automation is coverage that catches real regressions, not a green dashboard that tests nothing important. This role sits inside our software engineering recruitment practice, alongside front-end developer and mobile developer searches.
Strategy. A strong QA automation engineer knows what is worth automating and builds suites a team trusts, versus someone who automates everything and ends up with brittle, ignored tests. We screen for that judgment.
Both. Standing up a test framework can fit contract, while owning quality across a growing codebase is usually permanent.
You will typically see a first vetted candidate within 24 to 48 hours and a calibrated shortlist within about five business days.
Permanent hires are success-based: you pay only when someone starts, with no upfront fee, backed by our 90-day guarantee. Contract runs on a transparent hourly rate. We will walk you through the specifics on an intro call.
Decide what broken looks like for your product first, because QA engineers specialize: automation engineers build the suites, manual testers probe what automation misses, and QA analysts own the process between them. Screen automation candidates on suites they built and maintained, what those suites caught, flake management, and the honest answer to what still gets tested by hand. You interview a short list of two or three, and a fee is due only when your hire starts.
The title moves the number: QA automation engineers earn the most, typically within the band shown on this page; manual QA testers and analysts sit below it; QA managers clear it. Toronto and remote-first employers pay toward the top of every band. Whatever the title, automation skill is what commands the premium. Full bands by seniority and city are in our 2026 Canadian Tech Salary Guide.
Still have a question? Talk to a recruiter
Bill 190 compliant by default.
Every search keeps your hiring audit-ready in Ontario.
- Salary-range disclosure
- AI-use transparency
- Decisions within 45 days
Start a search
Tell us what you’re hiring for.
Share the role and we’ll reply within one business day with a calibrated shortlist of three to five QA and automation engineers, screened for your stack and your team.