DESCRIPTION In this QA Engineer role, you will be responsible for end-to-end Quality Assurance for the Japanese market, covering products developed at our US headquarters (Web applications, mobile apps, and in-vehicle device integration features). Your responsibilities will range from test planning, test case design, and execution to localization testing based on Japan-specific requirements, establishing local acceptance criteria, developing and maintaining automated tests, investigating technical customer inquiries, escalating issues to the US engineering team, and aligning on release criteria. In our lean Japan entity, you are expected to take a hands-on approach across everything from manual testing to building and improving the automated testing framework. Utilizing native-level Japanese and business-level English communication skills, you will serve as a quality hub connecting Japanese customer expectations with the US development team. RESPONSIBILITIES • Quality Assurance for Japanese Market Releases • Plan, design, and execute acceptance tests for new features and updates developed by the US HQ (Web, iOS / Android). • Perform localization validation (Japanese display/translations, date/number/currency formats, Japanese text input, etc.). • Establish Japan-specific acceptance criteria based on feedback from Japanese customers, Customer Success, and Product Managers. • Align on release criteria with the US engineering team and participate in release readiness decisions. • Verify features integrating with in-vehicle hardware (including physical device testing in collaboration with the hardware team). • Test Automation & Quality Infrastructure Setup • Develop and maintain E2E automated tests (e.g., Playwright, Cypress) and API tests (e.g., Postman). • Integrate tests into CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions), maintain test environments, and optimize test execution time. • Organize test assets and visualize test results using test management tools (e.g.,TestRail). • Drive testing efficiency using Generative AI / LLMs (e.g., script generation from test cases, extracting test scenarios). • Reduce flaky tests and improve the reliability of automated test results. • Issue Resolution & Escalation • Investigate customer inquiries regarding product quality and features, isolating technical root causes. • File bug tickets in Jira with clear reproduction steps, expected vs. actual results, and environment details, and escalate them to the US engineering team. • Verify fixes and coordinate with the development team to decide which release cycle the fix belongs to. • Investigate the blast radius during critical outages (P0 equivalents) and report to internal stakeholders. • Maintain records and knowledge bases using Jira, Confluence, etc. REQUIREMENTS Technical skills & qualifications  • 3+ years of hands-on experience as a QA Engineer or Test Engineer. • Experience designing and executing test cases, including standard, edge-case, and boundary value scenarios—based on specs and UI designs. • Experience testing Web applications and Mobile apps (iOS / Android). • Experience developing and maintaining E2E automated tests (e.g., Playwright, Cypress, etc.). • Hands-on experience writing test code using JavaScript / TypeScript. • Experience with bug tracking and documentation using Jira / Confluence. • Native-level Japanese. • Business-level English (daily communication with the US engineering team in English is required). WHAT WE OFFER • The chance to have a meaningful and positive impact on roads and cities’ safety • Flexibility - in schedule, work location, benefits • Competitive compensation • A fast-paced work environment full of kind, smart, and highly driven people • Great professional and personal growth opportunities • Regular team-building events and well-being initiatives/facilities WHO WE ARE Empiric Earth holds a record of how the physical world behaves. 300M+ real-world miles are captured every month across 98% of US roads and 50 or more countries, built on more than 10 billion miles of driving history and 60 million edge cases, de-identified. Because Empiric Earth does not build vehicles, pick winners, or compete with the systems it measures, developers, automakers, fleets, insurers and public agencies can rely on it as independent ground truth. Empiric Earth was formed in 2026 through the merger of Nexar and Nauto.