Position : QA Engineer - Machine Learning Systems (5 - 7 years)
Location : Remote (Company in Mumbai)
Immediate Joiners only.
Summary :
The QA Engineer will own quality assurance across the ML lifecyclefrom raw data validation through feature engineering checks, model training / evaluation verification, batch prediction / optimization validation, and end-to-end (E2E) workflow testing.
The role is hands-on with Python automation, data profiling, and pipeline test harnesses in Azure ML and Azure DevOps.
Success means probably correct data, models, and outputs at production scale and cadence.
Key Responsibilities :
Test Strategy & Governance :
- Define an ML-specific Test Strategy covering data quality KPIs, feature consistency checks, model acceptance gates (metrics + guardrails), and E2E run acceptance (timeliness, completeness, integrity).
- Establish versioned test datasets & golden baselines for repeatable regression of features, models, and optimizers.
Data Quality & Transformation :
Validate raw data extracts and landed data lake data : schema / contract checks, null / outlier thresholds, time window completeness, duplicate detection, site / material coverage.Validate transformed / feature datasets : deterministic feature generation, leakage detection, drift vs. historical distributions, feature parity across runs (hash or statistical similarity tests).Implement automated data quality checks (e.g., Great Expectations / pytest + Pandas / SQL) executed in CI and AML pipelines.Model Training & Evaluation :
Verify training inputs (splits, windowing, target leakage prevention) and hyperparameter configs per site / cluster.Automate metric verification (e.g., MAPE / MAE / RMSE, uplift vs. last model, stability tests) with acceptance thresholds and champion / challenger logic.Validate feature importance stability and sensitivity / elasticity sanity checks (price / volume monotonicity where applicable).Gate model registration / promotion in AML based on signed test artifacts and reproducible metrics.Predictions, Optimization & Guardrails :
Validate batch predictions : result shapes, coverage, latency, and failure handling.Test model optimization outputs and enforced guardrails : detect violations and prove idempotent writes to DB.Verify API push to third party system (idempotency keys, retry / backoff, delivery receipts).Pipelines & E2E :
Build pipeline test harnesses for AML pipelines (data-gen nightly, training weekly, prediction / optimization) including orchestrated synthetic runs and fault injection (missing slice, late competitor data, SB backlog).Run E2E tests from raw data store - ADLS - AML - RDBMS - APIM / Frontend; assert freshness SLOs and audit event completeness (Event Hubs -> ADLS immutable).Automation & Tooling :
Develop Python-based automated tests (pytest) for data checks, model metrics, and API contracts; integrate with Azure DevOps (pipelines, badges, gates).Implement data-driven test runners (parameterized by site / material / model-version) and store signed test artifacts alongside models in AML Registry.Create synthetic test data generators and golden fixtures to cover edge cases (price gaps, competitor shocks, cold starts).Reporting & Quality Ops :
Publish weekly test reports and go / no-go recommendations for promotions; maintain a defect taxonomy (data vs. model vs. serving vs. optimization).Contribute to SLI / SLO dashboards (prediction timeliness, queue / DLQ, push success, data drift) used for release gates.Required Skills (hands-on experience in the following) :
Python automation (pytest, pandas, NumPy), SQL (PostgreSQL / Snowflake), and CI / CD (Azure DevOps) for fully automated ML QA.Strong grasp of ML validation : leakage checks, proper splits, metric selection (MAE / MAPE / RMSE), drift detection, sensitivity / elasticity sanity checks.Experience testing AML pipelines (pipelines / jobs / components), and message-driven integrations (Service Bus / Event Hubs).API test skills (FastAPI / OpenAPI, contract tests, Postman / pytest-httpx) + idempotency and retry patterns.Familiar with feature stores / feature engineering concepts and reproducibility.Solid understanding of observability (App Insights / Log Analytics) and auditability requirements.Required Qualifications :
Bachelors or Masters degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field.5- 7 years in QA with 3+ years focused on ML / Data systems (data pipelines + model validation).Certification in Azure Data or ML Engineer Associate is a plus(ref : hirist.tech)