Senior QA Engineer, UI Services

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior QA Engineer, UI Services

Company: Rakuten Viki

Location: Singapore (Crimson House Singapore)

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Quality Assurance / Software Engineering

Date Posted: November 05, 2025

Experience Level: 5-10 Years

Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• This Senior QA Engineer role focuses on ensuring the quality and stability of Rakuten Viki's backend services and UI, acting as a grey box tester to delve into software internals.

• The position involves architecting automation frameworks, defining test strategies, and developing automated tests to validate use cases against product specifications and requirements.

• A key aspect is driving comprehensive test coverage by collaborating closely with engineering and product teams, prioritizing execution, and reporting on progress and results.

• The role demands strong programming fundamentals and the ability to contribute to code-level unit tests, demonstrating a deep understanding of software internals and debugging complex issues.

📝 Enhancement Note: The job title "Senior QA Engineer, UI Services" combined with the description emphasizing "backend applications in functional and non-functional areas (usability, security and performance) with strong coding skills" and being a "grey box tester" indicates a role that bridges both backend service quality and its impact on the user interface. This suggests a need for understanding how backend changes affect frontend behavior and performance, requiring a broader testing perspective beyond just pure backend API validation.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Develop, extend, and maintain automated test plans and scripts specifically for Rakuten Viki's Core Platform Services, ensuring high code coverage and maintainability.

• Design, execute, and automate tests for both backend and frontend applications across diverse architectures and cutting-edge technologies, focusing on functionality, usability, security, and performance.

• Architect robust automation frameworks, define clear automation strategies, and implement automated tests that accurately validate use cases against product specifications and requirements, ensuring system stability.

• Ensure comprehensive test coverage by actively participating in design and specification reviews, and collaborating closely with engineering and product teams to prioritize testing efforts and communicate progress.

• Assist cross-functional teams, including engineering and product management, in effective troubleshooting and swift problem identification, contributing to faster issue resolution cycles.

• Conduct code-level unit tests and contribute to the overall quality assurance process, leveraging a grey-box testing methodology to understand software internals and debug issues effectively.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of traditional QA duties and more advanced engineering tasks. The emphasis on "architect automation frameworks," "define automation strategies," and "contributing to code level Unit tests" suggests this is not just an execution role but one where the candidate will shape the QA engineering practices for backend services and their UI implications.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

Experience:

• 6 to 9 years of progressive working experience in web application testing, with a significant focus on automation. This level of experience indicates the need for proven expertise in developing and implementing QA strategies, not just executing them.

Required Skills:

• Backend Testing Expertise: Proven ability to test backend applications, including functional, usability, security, and performance testing.

• Automation Framework Architecture: Experience in designing and architecting robust, scalable, and maintainable automation frameworks.

• Programming Proficiency: Solid programming fundamentals, object-oriented concepts, and fluency in at least one relevant language such as Golang, Ruby, Python, or Java. This is critical for writing effective automated tests and unit tests.

• API Testing: Hands-on experience with API testing tools like POSTMAN, including understanding API protocols and data structures.

• Scripting Skills: Proficient with scripting languages such as Bash, Python, or JavaScript for test automation and utility tasks.

• Cloud Environment Familiarity: Hands-on experience with at least one major public cloud environment (GCP, AWS, or Azure) for testing cloud-native applications.

• Troubleshooting & Debugging: Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with excellent troubleshooting and debugging capabilities.

• Test Planning & Strategy: Ability to write comprehensive test plans and test strategy documents, outlining scope, objectives, and methodologies.

• Agile Methodologies: Enjoy working in a startup/agile environment, demonstrating adaptability, collaboration, and a focus on continuous delivery.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with Selenium or Cucumber for UI automation is a plus, indicating a potential need to bridge backend testing with UI validation.

• Good knowledge of Networking and Operating System concepts, essential for understanding system behavior and potential failure points.

• Familiarity with writing and maintaining unit tests as part of the overall testing strategy.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for "6 to 9 years" and the emphasis on "architect automation frameworks" and "defining automation strategies" clearly positions this as a senior individual contributor role with leadership potential in shaping QA practices, rather than a purely execution-focused position.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Automated Test Suite: Showcase a well-structured automated test suite for backend services or APIs, demonstrating proficiency in a chosen programming language and automation framework. Highlight the architecture and maintainability of the suite.

• Test Strategy Documents: Include examples of test plans and test strategy documents that you have authored, detailing scope, test objectives, methodologies, resource allocation, and risk assessment for complex features or systems.

• API Testing Case Studies: Present case studies of API testing efforts, including the types of tests performed (functional, performance, security), tools used (e.g., Postman, custom scripts), and how issues were identified and resolved.

• Cloud-Based Testing Scenarios: Demonstrate experience testing applications deployed in cloud environments (GCP, AWS, Azure), perhaps showing how you leveraged cloud-native services or tested for cloud-specific behaviors.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Optimization: Provide examples of how you have analyzed existing testing workflows, identified bottlenecks, and implemented improvements to enhance efficiency, reduce execution time, or increase test coverage.

• Automation Framework Design: Document the design principles and architecture of an automation framework you have developed or significantly contributed to, explaining decisions made regarding modularity, reusability, reporting, and integration.

• Defect Management & Reporting: Illustrate your process for defect tracking, reporting, and analysis, including how you provide clear, actionable bug reports with reproduction steps, logs, and impact assessments.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Senior QA Engineer role, a portfolio is crucial. It should not only demonstrate technical skills but also strategic thinking. The emphasis on "architect automation frameworks" and "defining automation strategies" means candidates should be prepared to discuss the 'why' behind their technical choices, not just the 'what'.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for a Senior QA Engineer in Singapore with 6-9 years of experience, a competitive salary range is estimated to be between SGD 80,000 to SGD 120,000 annually. This estimate considers the cost of living in Singapore, the demand for skilled QA professionals, and the specific requirements of the role, including backend expertise and automation architecture.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive health insurance coverage (medical, dental, vision) for employees and eligible dependents.

• Paid time off, including annual leave, sick leave, and public holidays, aligning with Singaporean labor laws.

• Opportunities for professional development, including training, certifications, and conference attendance relevant to QA and software engineering.

• Access to Rakuten's global employee benefits and perks, potentially including discounts on Rakuten services or products.

Working Hours:

• Standard full-time working hours are typically 40 hours per week, Monday to Friday. However, given the agile environment and the nature of software development, some flexibility may be expected to meet project deadlines, with potential for occasional overtime.

📝 Enhancement Note: A specific salary range is provided, derived from research into Senior QA Engineer roles in Singapore. This is a critical piece of information for candidates. The benefits listed are standard for a tech company in Singapore, with an emphasis on professional development relevant to a senior engineering role.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: E-commerce, Digital Content, Entertainment, and Communications. Rakuten Viki operates within the digital entertainment streaming sector, a highly competitive and rapidly evolving market driven by content, user experience, and technological innovation.

Company Size: Rakuten International oversees 7 businesses with over 4,000 employees globally. Rakuten Viki has offices in San Mateo, Singapore, Seoul, and Shanghai, indicating a significant but distributed operational footprint. This size suggests a balance between established processes and the agility of a growing tech company.

Founded: Rakuten was founded in 1997. Rakuten Viki, while not explicitly dated in the provided text, has been a significant player in Asian content streaming for many years, implying a mature platform with established user bases and technical infrastructure.

Team Structure:

• The Senior QA Engineer will report to an Engineering Manager, indicating a clear reporting line within the engineering department.

• The role involves close collaboration with engineering and product teams, suggesting a matrixed or cross-functional team structure common in agile development environments.

Methodology:

• Agile Development: The description explicitly mentions an "agile environment" and the "startup(agile) environment," indicating that Scrum or Kanban methodologies are likely employed for iterative development, continuous integration, and rapid feedback loops.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: While not explicitly stated for QA, Rakuten's broader mission implies a focus on data to understand user behavior and improve services, which QA efforts would support through performance and usability testing.

• Quality Focus: The core of the role is quality assurance, emphasizing rigorous testing practices, automation, and collaboration to ensure product stability and user satisfaction.

Company Website: https://www.viki.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Understanding Rakuten's "5 Shugi Principles of Success" (Always improve, Always Advance; Passionately Professional; Hypothesize - Practice - Validate – Shikumika; Maximize Customer Satisfaction; Speed!! Speed!! Speed!!) is crucial for aligning with the company's operational ethos. These principles emphasize continuous improvement, high standards, iterative learning, customer focus, and urgency – all highly relevant to a QA role.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Senior Individual Contributor. This role is for an experienced QA professional who can operate independently, mentor junior team members, and significantly influence testing strategies and implementation. It's a step towards potential lead or architect roles.

Reporting Structure: The role reports to an Engineering Manager, placing it within the broader engineering function. This structure allows for strong technical guidance and alignment with development roadmaps.

Operations Impact: The QA Engineer directly impacts product quality, stability, and user experience, which are critical for customer satisfaction and retention in the competitive streaming market. By ensuring robust backend services and a smooth UI, they contribute directly to Rakuten Viki's ability to deliver reliable entertainment to millions of global users.

Growth Opportunities:

• Technical Specialization: Opportunity to deepen expertise in backend testing, API security, performance engineering, and advanced automation techniques, potentially specializing in specific technologies like Golang or cloud-native testing.

• Leadership Development: Potential to grow into a QA Lead or Test Architect role, taking on more responsibility for team mentorship, strategy definition, and technical direction of QA initiatives.

• Cross-Functional Exposure: Gain deeper insight into product development lifecycles, user experience design, and business objectives by working closely with product and engineering teams.

• Industry Trends: Staying at the forefront of QA best practices, emerging automation tools, and new testing methodologies within the fast-paced entertainment tech industry.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Senior" designation implies a level of autonomy and influence. Candidates should be prepared to discuss how they have previously mentored others or driven process improvements, demonstrating their readiness for increased responsibility.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is based in Singapore at "Crimson House Singapore," suggesting a modern office environment designed for collaboration and productivity in the tech sector.

Office Location(s): Singapore. This location offers a vibrant tech hub environment with access to a diverse talent pool and a strong regional presence for Rakuten Viki.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The emphasis on working closely with engineering and product teams indicates a highly collaborative workspace where cross-functional communication is key.

• Technology-Rich: As a tech company, expect access to modern development and testing tools, robust IT infrastructure, and potentially dedicated testing environments.

• Agile & Fast-Paced: The "startup(agile) environment" suggests a dynamic workspace where quick iteration, adaptation to change, and efficient execution are valued.

Work Schedule: A standard 40-hour work week is typical, but the agile nature might necessitate flexibility to meet project deadlines. This could involve occasional extended hours or working during critical release periods.

📝 Enhancement Note: The mention of "Crimson House Singapore" implies a specific, potentially modern office space. Candidates should consider how this physical environment supports collaboration and innovation, and how they personally thrive in such settings.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A recruiter or hiring manager will likely conduct an initial call to assess basic qualifications, experience, and cultural fit. Be prepared to articulate your relevant experience in backend testing and automation.

• Technical Interview(s): Expect one or more technical interviews focusing on core QA principles, automation strategies, programming skills (e.g., coding challenges in Python or Golang), API testing, and problem-solving scenarios.

• Portfolio Review: A dedicated session to discuss your portfolio will likely occur. Be ready to walk through specific examples of test plans, automation frameworks, and case studies, explaining your contributions and the impact of your work.

• System Design/Architecture Interview: Given the emphasis on "architect automation frameworks," you may face a system design question related to building or improving a QA automation infrastructure for backend services.

• Hiring Manager/Team Fit Interview: A final interview to assess your fit with the team culture, collaboration style, and alignment with Rakuten's Shugi Principles.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Quantify Impact: For each project in your portfolio, clearly articulate the business impact, such as improved defect detection rates, reduced testing time, increased test coverage, or faster release cycles. Use metrics whenever possible.

• Showcase Architecture: When presenting automation frameworks, focus on the design decisions, scalability, maintainability, and reusability aspects. Be prepared to explain why you chose specific tools or patterns.

• Detail Problem-Solving: For case studies, describe a complex technical challenge you faced, your approach to diagnosing and resolving it, and the lessons learned. Highlight your grey-box testing methodology in action.

• Tailor to Rakuten Viki: Research Rakuten Viki's platform and services. Try to frame your portfolio examples in a way that demonstrates how your skills would directly benefit their specific challenges and goals in the entertainment streaming space.

Challenge Preparation:

• Coding Exercises: Practice coding problems in languages like Python, Golang, or Java, focusing on data structures, algorithms, and object-oriented design relevant to test automation.

• API Testing Scenarios: Prepare for questions on designing test cases for RESTful APIs, covering various HTTP methods, status codes, request/response structures, and error handling.

• System Design for QA: Think about how you would design an end-to-end testing strategy for a microservices-based backend, considering integration testing, contract testing, and performance testing.

• Behavioral Questions: Prepare to answer questions related to teamwork, problem-solving, handling ambiguity, and demonstrating the Rakuten Shugi Principles.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "UI Services" in the job title, despite the focus on backend, suggests interviewers might probe how the candidate ensures backend changes translate to a stable UI. Be ready to discuss this connection.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Programming Languages: Golang, Ruby, Python, Java (proficiency in at least one is required).

• API Testing Tools: POSTMAN (essential), potentially others like Insomnia or custom scripting.

• Automation Frameworks: Experience designing and building frameworks using languages mentioned above, potentially with libraries like Pytest (Python), Go testing package (Golang), JUnit (Java), or RSpec (Ruby).

• Cloud Platforms: GCP, AWS, or Azure (hands-on experience required).

Analytics & Reporting:

• Test Management Tools: Tools for test case management, execution tracking, and reporting (e.g., TestRail, Zephyr, or custom solutions).

• CI/CD Tools: Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines for automated test execution (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions).

• Monitoring Tools: Basic understanding of application performance monitoring (APM) tools that might be used to observe backend behavior during tests (e.g., Datadog, New Relic - though not explicitly mentioned, relevant for performance testing).

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly a CRM role, understanding how backend services integrate with customer-facing platforms is beneficial. Familiarity with microservices architecture and inter-service communication protocols (e.g., REST, gRPC) is implied.

• Scripting for Automation: Bash, Python, JavaScript for scripting test setup, teardown, and utility functions.

Potential Add-ons (Preferred):

• Selenium or Cucumber: For UI automation, indicating a potential need to work across the stack.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of specific programming languages and tools like POSTMAN is critical. Candidates should highlight their experience with these, and if they have experience with similar tools, be prepared to draw parallels.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Continuous Improvement (Kaizen): A strong drive to always improve processes, code quality, and testing methodologies, reflected in maintaining and extending automated test suites.

• Passionately Professional: A commitment to high standards, dedication to producing robust and reliable software, and a proactive approach to quality.

• Hypothesize - Practice - Validate (Shikumika): An experimental mindset for testing, forming hypotheses about potential issues, rigorously testing them, and validating results to drive product improvements.

• Maximize Customer Satisfaction: An understanding that the ultimate goal of QA is to ensure a positive and seamless user experience for millions of viewers, directly impacting customer retention and satisfaction.

• Speed!! Speed!! Speed!!: An appreciation for efficiency and timely delivery, balancing thoroughness with the need for rapid iteration in an agile environment.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Expect a highly collaborative environment where QA works hand-in-hand with software engineers and product managers from design reviews through to release. Strong communication skills are paramount.

• Proactive Feedback: A culture that encourages open and constructive feedback on specifications, designs, and code to catch issues early in the development cycle.

• Knowledge Sharing: Opportunities to share best practices, new testing techniques, and insights gained from troubleshooting complex issues with the wider engineering team.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "5 Shugi Principles of Success" are explicitly mentioned and are core to Rakuten's culture. Candidates should prepare to discuss how their work and approach align with these principles, providing concrete examples.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Complex Backend Systems: Navigating and testing intricate backend services, potentially in a microservices architecture, requires a deep understanding of system interactions and interdependencies.

• Balancing Speed and Quality: In a fast-paced agile environment, ensuring comprehensive test coverage without becoming a bottleneck for development releases is a continuous challenge.

• Maintaining Automation ROI: Keeping automated test suites up-to-date, efficient, and relevant as the product evolves requires ongoing effort and strategic planning.

• Bridging Backend & UI: Ensuring that backend service quality translates directly into a stable and performant user interface, despite the primary focus on backend testing.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Automation Techniques: Opportunity to explore and implement cutting-edge automation strategies, potentially including performance testing at scale, chaos engineering, or advanced API testing methodologies.

• Cloud-Native Testing: Deepen expertise in testing applications designed for and deployed on cloud platforms like GCP, AWS, or Azure.

• Mentorship & Leadership: Grow into a mentorship role, guiding junior QA engineers, and potentially taking on leadership responsibilities for specific testing initiatives or features.

• Industry Exposure: Gain insights into the unique challenges and best practices of QA within the entertainment streaming industry, a dynamic and user-centric sector.

📝 Enhancement Note: Recognizing the "Challenges" section as a potential interview topic is key. Candidates should think about how they have overcome similar obstacles in their careers and how they approach continuous learning.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe your approach to architecting a backend automation framework for a microservices environment. What factors would you consider?" (Focus on scalability, maintainability, reporting, language choice).

• "How would you approach testing a new API endpoint that handles user authentication and data retrieval? What types of tests would you prioritize?" (Discuss functional, security, edge cases, and error handling).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "How do you see your role as a Senior QA Engineer contributing to Rakuten Viki's mission of bridging cultures through entertainment?" (Connect QA impact to user experience and business goals).

• "Can you provide an example of how you have embodied the 'Always improve, Always Advance' (Kaizen) principle in a previous QA role?" (Use a specific project or process improvement).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each portfolio item, use a STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) or similar framework. Clearly define the problem, your role, the actions you took, and the quantifiable results.

• Highlight Technical Depth: Be ready to deep-dive into your code, framework design, and testing methodologies. Explain why you made certain technical choices.

• Demonstrate Impact: Emphasize how your work directly benefited the product, team, or business. Use metrics (e.g., % reduction in bugs, % increase in test coverage, time saved) to support your claims.

• Engage and Discuss: Treat the portfolio review as a collaborative discussion, not just a presentation. Be open to questions and be prepared to elaborate on any aspect of your work.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparing specific examples that tie into the "UI Services" aspect, even if the focus is backend, will be advantageous. For instance, how backend performance impacts UI load times.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this operations position:

• Submit your application through the provided Workday link: https://rakuten.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/RakutenVikiSingapore/job/Singapore/Senior-QA-Engineer--UI-Services_1029916

• Tailor Your Resume: Ensure your resume highlights keywords and experiences directly relevant to backend testing, automation architecture, API testing, specific programming languages (Golang, Python, etc.), and cloud platforms. Quantify achievements with metrics.

• Prepare Your Portfolio: Curate 2-3 key projects that best showcase your skills in automation framework design, complex backend testing scenarios, and API testing. Be ready to discuss them in detail, focusing on your strategic contributions and impactful results.

• Research Rakuten Viki: Understand their business model, target audience, content offerings, and company culture, particularly the "5 Shugi Principles of Success." Prepare to articulate how your values and working style align with theirs.

• Practice Technical Scenarios: Brush up on coding exercises in your primary language, API testing principles, and system design concepts related to QA automation for backend services.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details, especially regarding salary ranges and specific benefits, should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.