Find the defects before customers do. Prove it with every release.
Gain real Quality Assurance (QA) experience, build automated testing skills and create evidence you can show employers. You test a live product at a tech startup, your checks run on every release, and you leave with deliverables and results you can point to.
For every level: new to QA, moving into automation, crossing over from development or already leading quality. Voluntary and fully remote, up to three hours a day across a 60 Volunteer day term.
Practice suites show skill. A live pipeline shows impact.
Hiring managers see many test scripts written against demo shops and sample apps. What stands out is testing that guards a real product, runs on every change and has caught real defects. A Volunteer Term gives you exactly that, whatever level you start from.
A real product
Test the screens, APIs and data that real customers depend on.
Tests that run
Your checks run in the release pipeline on every change, not on your laptop only.
Evidence you can show
Defect reports, a test suite and measured improvements you can talk through at interview.
Find your starting point.
Tech startups need QA at every level. Check which description fits you, what you should already know and what you would take on.
New to QA
Graduates, career changers and anyone who has completed a testing course or practice projects.
- You should already know
- The basics of test cases and bug reports, and how to use a web app methodically.
- You would take on
- Exploratory testing, clear defect reports, test cases for new features and your first automated checks with guidance.
Manual tester moving into automation
Testers with manual experience who want automation on their record.
- You should already know
- Manual and regression testing, defect tracking, and some coding or scripting, even if basic.
- You would take on
- Automating key journeys with Playwright or Cypress, adding API checks and running them in the release pipeline.
Developer moving into quality engineering
Developers and engineers who want to specialise in test automation and quality.
- You should already know
- A programming language such as TypeScript, Python or Java, Git and how a release pipeline runs.
- You would take on
- Designing the automated suite, contract and integration tests, test data and keeping the suite fast and stable.
Experienced QA professional
Senior testers, SDETs and QA leads, including people returning after a break or exploring AI testing.
- You should already know
- Test strategy, automation at scale and how to lead or mentor other testers.
- You would take on
- Setting the test strategy and quality gate, leading a small QA team, testing AI features and mentoring newer Volunteers.
What a Volunteer Term can look like.
Every tech startup is different. This example shows the kind of deliverables a QA Volunteer takes on, step by step, on a real product.
Learn the product and the risks
Walk through the sign-up journey, agree with the team which paths matter most and note what could go wrong.
Find and report a real defect
Explore the journey on different devices and log a defect with clear steps, screenshots and expected results, so a developer can reproduce it first time.
Automate the sign-up journey
Write a Playwright test that signs up a new user, checks the confirmation and cleans up its test data.
Guard the fix with a regression test
Once the defect is fixed, add a test that fails if it ever returns.
Run it on every release
Add the tests to the release pipeline, then report the results and time saved to the Tech Founder in your weekly update.
What a QA and automation Volunteer owns.
Most early tech startups need all four areas. The tags show where each level usually starts.
Test strategy
Decide what to test, how deeply and at which layer.
Exploratory and manual testing
Use the product the way customers do, and find what scripts miss.
Test automation
Turn the checks that matter into code that runs on every change.
Quality insight
Show the team where quality stands and where it is slipping.
Contributor, then owner, then lead.
Many Volunteers continue for up to three consecutive Volunteer Terms by mutual agreement. Each term can add more responsibility, and every handover matters, because succession planning keeps the product protected when you move on.
Contribute
Learn the product, test new features, report defects and add your first automated checks.
Own
Own an area of the suite, keep it stable in the pipeline and shape the release check.
Lead
Set the test strategy, mentor newer Volunteers and hand over a documented suite to your successor.
Leave with evidence, not a list of courses.
Depending on your role and the deliverables you complete, a Volunteer Term can leave you with evidence a hiring manager can open and check.
An automated suite
Tests you wrote that run in a real release pipeline.
A test strategy
The plan, risks and quality gate you agreed with the team.
Defects you found
Clear reports and the fixes they led to.
Measured improvements
Coverage added, flaky tests removed and release time saved.
A Tech Founder reference
You can ask the Tech Founder you collaborated with for a reference.
Global connections
Connections with developers, designers and founders across 158+ countries.
From the last step before release to part of every step.
Testing as a phase
A separate team tested finished software by hand, weeks after it was written.
First automation
JUnit and Selenium arrived, and Agile brought testers into the sprint.
Continuous testing
Daily releases put tests in the pipeline and made the SDET role common.
Quality engineering
Cypress and Playwright, with quality built in from design to live monitoring.
AI-assisted quality
AI drafts and repairs tests, and AI features need new kinds of testing.
Where QA careers are heading now.
Combining exploratory testing, automation, technical judgement and AI-assisted testing broadens the opportunities open to a QA professional. These are the profiles employers ask for most.
SDET and automation engineer
Writes and maintains the automated suite in TypeScript, Python or Java, with Playwright, Cypress or Appium, and keeps it fast and stable in the pipeline.
Quality engineer
Owns quality across the whole delivery process, from testable requirements and code review to release gates and production monitoring.
AI and LLM test specialist
Tests products built on AI models: accuracy, safety, bias and consistency of answers, using evaluation sets rather than single expected results.
API and contract tester
Checks the services behind every screen, so that teams can change one part of the system without breaking another.
Performance and reliability tester
Load tests key journeys, sets speed targets and helps the team find bottlenecks before customers feel them.
Accessibility tester
Makes sure products can be used by everyone, a growing legal requirement in the UK, the EU and beyond.
Less script writing. More judgement.
AI agents will take on more of the repetitive test writing and upkeep. The value of a QA professional shifts towards deciding what matters, checking what the agents produce and testing the AI inside the product itself. Volunteers who build these skills now will be ready for the roles that follow.
Agents write, humans decide
Expect AI agents to generate and repair many routine tests. The human role becomes test strategy, risk judgement and reviewing what the agents produce.
Testing AI becomes standard
As more products add AI features, evaluating answers for accuracy, safety and consistency will become a normal part of every release.
Quality spreads across the team
Developers will own more of their own tests, while QA specialists coach the team, guard the release gate and watch quality in production.
Test alongside product and engineering, not after them.
QA at a tech startup collaborates daily with the product manager who defines what done means and the developers who build it.
Product Management
The product managers who set the acceptance criteria you test against.
Front-end and back-end development
The developers whose changes your tests protect on every release.
UI/UX Design
The designers whose flows you check for usability and accessibility.
The product development team
See every role in a startup product team, from product management to product marketing.
What happens after you click.
Four simple steps from sign up to your first deliverable.
Create your free profile
Sign up as a Volunteer. It takes a couple of minutes.
Set out your QA skills
Add your testing experience, tools and interests, and link any test scripts or certificates, honestly.
Apply to opportunities
Apply to QA and test automation opportunities at tech startups, up to three live applications at a time.
Agree and deliver
Interview, sign the Volunteer Agreement, agree the outcome brief and deliver from Day 1 with daily and weekly updates.
Before you apply.
Can I join without professional QA experience? +
Do I need to know Playwright or Cypress? +
I am already an experienced QA professional. What is in it for me? +
How much time must I commit? +
Is this a paid job or a training course? +
Will this help me get a QA job? +
Guard a real product, not a demo shop.
Join a tech startup's product team for a 60 Volunteer day term. Free, fully remote and flexible.
Create your free profile, set out your QA skills and interests, and apply for suitable tech startup opportunities. You can hold up to three live applications at a time.