Defines organizational algorithmic strategy for test engineering: enterprise test optimization standards, cross-team test execution efficiency governance, testing infrastructure computational frameworks. Makes strategic decisions on test automation performance investments.
Roles · QA Automation Engineer · Principal
What a Principal } should know
37 core skills, 52 in total. Expectations per skill, and what changes at the next level.
This page lists what a Principal } is expected to know and do, skill by skill. Core skills are the ones a manager and peers assess in a review cycle; the rest count only in self-assessment. Main areas: Programming Fundamentals, Backend Development, Database Management.
Core skills for a Principal
Grouped by area. The label on the right is the expected depth: Awareness, Working, Advanced or Expert.
Programming Fundamentals · 6
Defines organizational async strategy for test engineering: enterprise parallel test execution standards, cross-team async test infrastructure governance, async maturity model for test automation. Makes strategic decisions on async infrastructure for testing at scale.
Defines organizational code quality strategy for test automation: enterprise test framework governance, cross-team test infrastructure standards, quality assurance process frameworks. Makes decisions on testing tool investments and shapes organization-wide test engineering culture.
Defines organizational data structure strategy for test engineering: enterprise test data governance, cross-team test result correlation standards, quality metrics data frameworks. Makes strategic decisions on test infrastructure data architecture.
Defines organizational strategy for design patterns in quality engineering: evaluates enterprise approaches to test architecture patterns, makes technology decisions on test framework and infrastructure standards, mentors leads on strategic pattern application for organizational test automation maturity.
Defines organizational OOP strategy for test engineering: enterprise test framework architecture standards, cross-team POM design governance, test code quality maturity programs. Makes strategic decisions on test automation architecture investments.
Backend Development · 2
Defines enterprise Node.js test automation strategy and platform decisions. Evaluates testing frameworks, cloud testing infrastructure, and AI-assisted testing tools. Shapes organizational quality engineering standards with Node.js ecosystem.
Defines company-wide strategy for QA infrastructure web platforms, evaluating FastAPI and Django for test management systems. Establishes enterprise standards for test reporting APIs, CI/CD dashboard architectures, and reference designs for quality metrics portals.
Database Management · 1
Defines organizational data testing strategy: evaluates enterprise approaches for database test automation at scale, designs governance for test data management across multiple teams, establishes standards for database testing practices and test infrastructure architecture organization-wide.
API & Integration · 4
Defines organizational API test documentation strategy spanning automated contract verification and quality compliance reporting. Designs platform-level documentation architecture for API testing standards, schema validation reports, and compatibility certification. Establishes enterprise governance ensuring API documentation and test coverage meet quality gates across all service teams.
Sets the strategic direction for API quality assurance across the enterprise. Designs organization-wide API testing platforms supporting hundreds of microservices with automated contract validation, performance benchmarking, and regression detection. Drives industry-level initiatives in API observability-driven testing and AI-assisted test generation. Influences API specification standards and represents the company in API quality communities and conferences.
Defines organizational GraphQL API quality strategy spanning hundreds of services and schema domains. Designs platform-level testing infrastructure for automated schema compatibility verification and federated graph validation. Establishes enterprise GraphQL testing governance and self-service testing frameworks for engineering teams.
Defines organizational API testing strategy: enterprise API test infrastructure standards, cross-team API quality governance, API testing platform investment decisions. Designs enterprise-grade API testing architecture and establishes API quality programs.
Cloud & Infrastructure · 3
Defines organizational cloud strategy for test infrastructure evaluating multi-cloud vs AWS-centric test automation platforms. Designs enterprise-grade test environments with self-service provisioning, cross-account governance, and scalable compute management. Establishes FinOps practices for testing compute resource optimization across all engineering teams.
Defines organizational container strategy for test engineering: enterprise test infrastructure standards, cross-team test execution governance, containerized testing platform frameworks. Designs enterprise-grade container infrastructure for test automation at scale and establishes FinOps for test resources.
Defines organizational cloud strategy for test infrastructure spanning multiple clusters and environments. Evaluates multi-cloud Kubernetes architectures for testing platform portability and cost optimization. Designs enterprise-grade test automation platforms and establishes FinOps practices for testing compute resource governance.
DevOps & CI/CD · 2
Defines organizational DevOps strategy for quality engineering: designs internal platform for test infrastructure automation at scale, builds engineering excellence culture for continuous testing practices, evaluates test CI/CD platform approaches at organizational level.
Defines the organization's DevOps strategy. Designs internal developer platform. Builds engineering excellence culture.
Testing & QA · 13
Defines the organization's QA strategy. Builds quality engineering culture. Implements platform testing solutions.
Defines organizational QA strategy with E2E testing as a core quality practice. Builds quality engineering culture across all development teams. Implements platform solutions for test infrastructure, test data management, and quality analytics. Drives adoption of AI-assisted testing and self-healing test automation at organizational scale.
Defines organizational QA strategy for integration testing across entire technology portfolios spanning hundreds of services and third-party integrations. Builds quality engineering culture where teams own their integration contracts and continuously validate inter-service boundaries. Implements platform testing solutions including centralized service virtualization, contract verification registries, and self-service integration test environments.
Defines organizational performance testing strategy. Builds performance engineering culture across all development teams. Implements platform solutions for automated load testing, capacity planning, and performance regression detection. Drives adoption of AI-assisted performance analysis and prediction at organizational scale.
Defines the organization's QA strategy. Builds quality engineering culture. Implements platform testing solutions.
Defines the organization's QA strategy. Builds quality engineering culture. Implements platform testing solutions.
Defines organizational security testing strategy as part of overall quality engineering. Builds security-aware testing culture across all development teams. Implements platform solutions for automated security validation at scale. Drives adoption of AI-assisted security testing and continuous security assurance practices.
Defines the organization's QA strategy. Builds quality engineering culture. Implements platform testing solutions.
Defines the organization's QA strategy. Builds quality engineering culture. Implements platform testing solutions.
Defines the organization's QA strategy. Builds quality engineering culture. Implements platform testing solutions.
Defines the organization's QA strategy. Builds quality engineering culture. Implements platform testing solutions.
Defines the organization's QA strategy. Builds quality engineering culture. Implements platform testing solutions.
Defines organizational QA strategy for test engineering: enterprise test framework standards, cross-team test infrastructure governance, quality engineering maturity programs for automation. Implements platform-wide testing solutions optimizing test execution efficiency across all teams.
AI-Assisted Development · 2
Pioneers next-generation AI testing architectures that leverage large language models for autonomous test creation, intelligent failure analysis, and predictive test maintenance. Influences industry standards for AI-augmented quality assurance, publishing research and contributing to open-source frameworks that advance the state of AI-driven test automation.
Defines organizational GitHub Copilot strategy for quality engineering: evaluates enterprise AI-assisted test development approaches, designs governance for AI-generated test code quality and coverage standards, establishes organizational standards for measuring AI impact on testing effectiveness.
Observability & Monitoring · 2
Defines organizational observability strategy for quality engineering with Prometheus & Grafana: implements enterprise test infrastructure monitoring, builds quality-focused reliability culture, establishes enterprise SLO framework for test pipeline and environment reliability.
Defines organizational observability strategy for quality engineering: implements enterprise test infrastructure observability platforms, builds quality-focused reliability culture across engineering teams, establishes enterprise SLO framework for test pipeline and environment reliability.
Version Control & Collaboration · 2
Defines organizational code review strategy for test engineering: enterprise test code review standards, cross-team test review governance, review culture maturity model for QA teams. Mentors leads on test code review best practices.
Defines organizational Git strategy for quality engineering: evaluates enterprise approaches for test asset version management, designs governance for test infrastructure as code across multiple teams, establishes standards for Git-integrated test reporting and quality metrics tracking at scale.
Additional skills
Not assessed by the team, but part of the self-assessment and the development plan.
} in the open competency matrix: 52 skills across 5 levels. The matrix is free for individuals and stays free.