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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Quality Assurance Manager

💰 $120,000 - $175,000

Quality AssuranceManagementTechnologySoftware DevelopmentEngineering

🎯 Role Definition

Are you a passionate leader dedicated to embedding a culture of quality into the heart of the software development lifecycle? We are searching for a dynamic and meticulous Quality Assurance Manager to take the helm of our talented QA team. In this critical role, you will be the primary advocate for quality, responsible for designing, implementing, and directing our overall quality assurance strategy. You will collaborate closely with engineering, product, and DevOps leaders to ensure our products not only meet but exceed customer expectations for reliability, performance, and user experience. This is an opportunity to make a significant impact by building robust testing processes, championing automation, and mentoring a team to achieve excellence. If you thrive on solving complex problems and delivering best-in-class software, we want to hear from you.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior QA Engineer / Senior SDET
  • QA Lead / Test Lead
  • Senior Automation Engineer

Advancement To:

  • Director of Quality Assurance / Head of QA
  • Senior Engineering Manager
  • Director of Engineering

Lateral Moves:

  • Project Manager / Program Manager
  • DevOps Manager
  • Scrum Master / Agile Coach

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive, long-term quality assurance strategy and roadmap that aligns with business objectives and engineering priorities.
  • Lead, mentor, and manage a team of manual and automation QA engineers, conducting performance reviews, and fostering career growth and a culture of continuous improvement.
  • Define and enforce quality standards, best practices, and testing methodologies across the entire Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC).
  • Design and oversee the execution of detailed, comprehensive, and well-structured test plans, test cases, and test strategies for new features and releases.
  • Drive the expansion and optimization of our test automation frameworks, increasing test coverage and reducing manual testing efforts for web, mobile, and API platforms.
  • Establish and track key quality metrics (KPIs) and performance indicators to measure product quality, team effectiveness, and testing efficiency, providing regular reports to senior leadership.
  • Collaborate with product managers, software developers, and DevOps engineers to ensure quality is a shared responsibility and is built into the development process from the beginning.
  • Act as the primary point of contact for all QA-related matters, effectively communicating test status, risks, and mitigation plans to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Manage the planning and allocation of QA resources to ensure project deadlines and quality standards are consistently met.
  • Oversee and participate in all phases of testing, including functional, integration, regression, performance, security, and user acceptance testing (UAT).
  • Identify, record, document thoroughly, and track bugs, and drive the resolution process by working closely with the development teams.
  • Evaluate, recommend, and implement new testing tools, technologies, and processes to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the QA function.
  • Champion a "shift-left" testing approach by integrating quality checks and automated tests earlier in the development pipeline (CI/CD).
  • Manage the creation and maintenance of realistic and effective test data sets required for thorough application testing.
  • Conduct risk analysis for new features and releases, identifying potential quality issues and proposing proactive solutions.
  • Lead bug triage meetings and prioritize defects based on severity and business impact to ensure critical issues are addressed promptly.
  • Develop and maintain clear, concise documentation for testing processes, standards, and framework architecture.
  • Coordinate release management activities from a quality perspective, providing the final sign-off on product readiness.
  • Stay current with emerging industry trends, new technologies, and best practices in software quality assurance and testing.
  • Facilitate root cause analysis sessions for production incidents and implement corrective actions to prevent recurrence.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis related to quality metrics.
  • Contribute to the organization's overall engineering strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate user feedback and quality concerns into actionable engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning, retrospectives, and other agile ceremonies to represent the quality perspective.
  • Assist in the recruitment, interviewing, and onboarding process for new QA team members.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Deep expertise in building and maintaining test automation frameworks (e.g., Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, Appium).
  • Strong proficiency in at least one scripting or programming language (e.g., Python, JavaScript, Java, C#).
  • Hands-on experience with CI/CD pipelines and related tools (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps, CircleCI).
  • Mastery of test management and bug tracking software (e.g., Jira, Xray, Zephyr, TestRail).
  • Proven experience with API testing methodologies and tools (e.g., Postman, REST Assured, SoapUI).
  • Experience with performance and load testing tools (e.g., JMeter, Gatling, LoadRunner).
  • Solid understanding of relational and NoSQL databases and the ability to write complex SQL queries.
  • Proficiency with version control systems, particularly Git and Git-based platforms like GitHub or Bitbucket.
  • In-depth knowledge of various testing types, including functional, regression, performance, security, and usability testing.
  • Familiarity with cloud computing platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and containerization technologies (Docker, Kubernetes).

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional leadership, mentoring, and team-building abilities.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical issues to diverse audiences.
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with meticulous attention to detail.
  • Strategic thinking and the ability to create long-term plans and visions.
  • Superb collaboration and interpersonal skills for working effectively across teams.
  • Advanced project management and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities.
  • Stakeholder management and the ability to influence without direct authority.
  • A proactive and results-oriented mindset with a strong sense of ownership.
  • Adaptability and resilience in a fast-paced, agile environment.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's Degree in a relevant field or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Master's Degree in a relevant field.
  • Professional certifications such as ISTQB Advanced Level Test Manager.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Software Engineering
  • Information Technology
  • Engineering

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 8-12+ years of experience in software quality assurance.

Preferred: A minimum of 4+ years in a formal leadership or management role, directly responsible for a team of QA engineers.

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