Can I interview the engineers before they start?

Yes. We send a shortlist matched to your stack and you interview and choose the engineers you want.

Yes. Many teams pair a manual QA engineer with an SDET, or add a performance or security specialist for a release. Use the skill matrix to spot gaps.

How fast can someone start?

Usually within 3–5 days of agreeing the roles.

What if an engineer is not the right fit?

Tell us and we will replace them. A QAonTOP lead also checks in regularly so issues are caught early.

Can I try before committing?

Yes. Every engagement can start with a free one-week POC on your product.

Should I hire engineers or choose another engagement model?

Hiring engineers into your team is staff augmentation, or a dedicated QA team if you want us to manage them. If you’d rather hand QA over entirely, book a fixed-price project, or start with an audit.

How much does it cost to hire a QA engineer?

The cost to hire a QA engineer is customised to your needs, based on the role, seniority, number of engineers and how long you need them. Tell us the roles you have in mind and we will send a proposal with a price. Every engagement can also start with a free one-week POC on your product.

Can I hire part-time?

Yes, you can hire QA engineers part-time as well as full-time. Tell us how many hours or which days you need, and we will match engineers from our team to that schedule. You still interview a shortlist before anyone starts, and a QAonTOP lead checks in regularly to keep the work on track.

What skills do your testers have?

Our testers' skills depend on the role you hire. Manual QA engineers cover functional, regression and UAT testing in Jira, TestRail and Zephyr; SDETs build automation in Playwright, Selenium and Cypress; mobile engineers use Appium, Espresso and XCUITest; performance engineers use JMeter, k6 and Gatling; and security testers use OWASP ZAP, Burp Suite and Nmap.

QA engineers who join your team, not just your tickets

Hire manual testers, SDETs, mobile, performance and security specialists, or a QA lead. They work in your sprints, stand-ups and tools, and we back them with our own leads.

Hire QA engineers See the roles

Roles at a glance

01Manual QA engineer 02Automation engineer / SDET 03Mobile QA engineer 04Performance engineer 05Security tester 06QA lead

Start in

3–5 days

Billing

Monthly

[ Roles ]

Six roles, one standard

Every engineer is screened by our leads, trained on our playbooks and backed by the wider QAonTOP team. Pick a role to see what they do and the skills they bring.

Manual QA engineer

Functional, regression and UAT testing by people who think like your users.

Jira

TestRail

Zephyr 02

Automation engineer / SDET

Engineers who build suites your team keeps running, not rewriting.

Playwright

Selenium

Cypress 03

Mobile QA engineer

iOS and Android tested on real devices and real networks.

Appium

Espresso

XCUITest 04

Performance engineer

Load, stress and endurance tests that show where your system bends.

JMeter

Gatling 05

Security tester

Attacker-style testing, with every finding verified by hand.

OWASP ZAP

Burp Suite

Nmap 06

QA lead

Strategy, reporting and team setup, so QA runs without you managing it.

Jira

TestRail

Zephyr

[ Role 01 ]

Manual QA engineer

Functional, regression and UAT testing by people who think like your users.

Hire one when

Regression is slipping as you release more often
New features need human judgement before go-live

Seniority: mid-level, senior or lead

Hire a manual QA engineer

What they do

Write and run test cases from stories and specs
Run exploratory sessions on new features
Complete regression passes before every release
Log defects with clear repro steps and evidence
Support UAT with your stakeholders

Deliverables

01Test cases and checklists
02Defect reports with evidence
03Release sign-off notes
04Weekly QA summary

Skill coverage

FunctionalRegressionExploratoryUATCompatibilityUsability

Tools & languages

Jira

TestRail

Zephyr

Postman

Chrome DevTools

BrowserStack

[ Role 02 ]

Automation engineer / SDET

Engineers who build suites your team keeps running, not rewriting.

Hire one when

Manual regression takes days
You want tests running on every pull request

Seniority: mid-level, senior or lead

Hire an automation engineer

What they do

Design and build the automation framework
Automate web, mobile and API regression
Wire suites into CI/CD with quality gates
Fix flaky tests and keep suites green
Report coverage and trends

Deliverables

01Maintainable framework in your repo
02Automated regression suite
03Pipeline quality gates
04Allure / HTML reports

Skill coverage

UI automationAPI automationRegressionSmokeContract testingCI/CD

Tools & languages

Playwright

Selenium

Cypress

WebdriverIO

REST Assured

GitHub Actions

Jenkins

Java

TypeScript

Python

[ Role 03 ]

Mobile QA engineer

iOS and Android tested on real devices and real networks.

Hire one when

Most of your users are on mobile
Bugs only appear on certain devices

Seniority: mid-level, senior or lead

Hire a mobile QA engineer

What they do

Test native, hybrid and cross-platform apps
Cover the device, OS and screen-size matrix
Check offline mode, interrupts and network changes
Validate store builds and upgrades
Automate key flows with Appium

Deliverables

01Device coverage matrix
02Defects with screen recordings
03Store release checklist
04Automated smoke suite

Skill coverage

FunctionalCompatibilityInterrupt testingNetwork conditionsAccessibilityInstall & upgrade

Tools & languages

Appium

Espresso

XCUITest

BrowserStack

Android Studio

Xcode

Charles Proxy

[ Role 04 ]

Performance engineer

Load, stress and endurance tests that show where your system bends.

Hire one when

A launch, sale or campaign is coming
Pages or APIs slow down under traffic

Seniority: mid-level, senior or lead

Hire a performance engineer

What they do

Model real traffic and peak scenarios
Script load, stress, spike and soak tests
Monitor servers, databases and APIs under load
Find bottlenecks and verify the fixes
Set performance budgets for CI

Deliverables

01Workload model
02Performance test scripts
03Bottleneck analysis report
04Before / after benchmarks

Skill coverage

LoadStressSpikeEnduranceScalabilityFront-end performance

Tools & languages

JMeter

Gatling

Locust

Grafana

Prometheus

Lighthouse

[ Role 05 ]

Security tester

Attacker-style testing, with every finding verified by hand.

Hire one when

You handle payments or personal data
A customer or auditor asks for a security report

Seniority: mid-level, senior or lead

Hire a security tester

What they do

Scan web apps and APIs for vulnerabilities
Test authentication, sessions and access control
Check against the OWASP Top 10
Verify and prioritise every finding
Retest fixes before release

Deliverables

01Risk-rated findings report
02Proof-of-concept evidence
03Remediation guidance
04Retest confirmation

Skill coverage

VAPTOWASP Top 10API securityAuth & sessionBusiness logicCompliance checks

Tools & languages

OWASP ZAP

Burp Suite

Nmap

Nikto

SonarQube

Postman

[ Role 06 ]

QA lead

Strategy, reporting and team setup, so QA runs without you managing it.

Hire one when

You are building a QA function from scratch
Several teams test in different ways

Seniority: mid-level, senior or lead

Hire a QA lead

What they do

Define test strategy and coverage goals
Plan QA across sprints and releases
Set up test management and defect workflow
Report quality metrics to leadership
Mentor testers and grow automation

Deliverables

01Test strategy document
02QA roadmap
03Quality dashboard
04Release readiness reports

Skill coverage

Test strategyRelease planningRisk-based testingProcess auditMetrics & reportingTeam coaching

Tools & languages

Jira

TestRail

Zephyr

Confluence

Allure

Azure DevOps

[ Skill matrix ]

Which role covers what

Most teams start with one or two roles. The matrix shows where each role leads and where it supports, so you can combine them without gaps.

Role	Functional	Regression	Automation	API	Mobile	Performance	Security	Strategy
Manual QA engineer2 core skills · View role →	Core	Core		Support	Support			Support
Automation engineer / SDET3 core skills · View role →	Support	Core	Core	Core	Support	Support		Support
Mobile QA engineer3 core skills · View role →	Core	Core	Support	Support	Core	Support
Performance engineer2 core skills · View role →			Support	Core		Core		Support
Security tester2 core skills · View role →			Support	Core	Support		Core	Support
QA lead1 core skill · View role →	Support	Support	Support	Support	Support	Support	Support	Core

CoreLeads this areaSupportSupports itPair with another role

[ How hiring works ]

Hire in three steps

No long procurement cycle. Most teams have engineers working inside their sprint within a week.

01
Share your needs
Tell us your stack, team size, release cadence and the roles you are missing.
02
Meet your shortlist
We send profiles matched to your stack. You interview and pick the engineers you want.
03
Start in 3–5 days
Engineers join your sprints, stand-ups, Jira, Slack and CI, with a QAonTOP lead behind them.

Start in

3–5 days

Team size

1–10 engineers

Billing

Monthly

Commitment

Scale up or down monthly

[ FAQ ]

Questions about hiring

{{ f.a }} all six engagement models compared.

Tell us who you need. We will shortlist engineers this week.

We reply the same working day.

QA engineers who join your team, not just your tickets

Six roles, one standard

Manual QA engineer

Automation engineer / SDET

Mobile QA engineer

Performance engineer

Security tester

QA lead

Manual QA engineer

Automation engineer / SDET

Mobile QA engineer

Performance engineer

Security tester

QA lead

Which role covers what

Hire in three steps

Share your needs

Meet your shortlist

Start in 3–5 days

Questions about hiring

{{ f.q }}{{ f.sign }}

Tell us who you need. We will shortlist engineers this week.