Quality Engineering Lead

As a Quality Engineering Lead, you will own the end-to-end testing lifecycle for software products - from strategy through release - ensuring quality, reliability, and on-time delivery. You will partner closely with developers, product managers, and business analysts to define testing requirements, implement effective automation strategies, and accelerate delivery while reducing manual testing overhead. A critical part of this role is anticipating post-production risks driven by technology or environment changes and working proactively with support teams to resolve them before they become production incidents. You will lead a globally distributed QE team and will be expected to structure work, communication, and collaboration rhythms that keep the team aligned and progressing across time zones. Business and Development stakeholders are US-based, and depending on how the QE team is structured, you may at times be the primary - or only - QE presence during US business hours. You will be expected to lean in directly when the situation demands it. You will also champion the Quality Engineering strategy across your products, driving test efficiency and speed through modern automation techniques and AI-assisted testing practices.

Primary Responsibilities

Test Planning & Strategy

• Develop and document test strategy and plans aligned with project goals, defining objectives, scope, deliverables, and success criteria.
• Identify required testing types and plan resources, schedules, and tooling to support testing activities.
• Champion shift-left testing principles - engage early in the product development lifecycle to deeply understand how products are architected and built, not just what the requirements say. Use that understanding to surface testability gaps, design risks, and integration complexities before they reach execution.

Test Execution Management

• Oversee preparation and execution of test cases, ensuring thorough requirements coverage.
• Monitor testing progress, enforce adherence to plan, and manage defect tracking, reporting, and resolution.
• Step in as a hands-on contributor when the situation requires it - particularly during deployments scheduled in US afternoon or evening windows where you may be the only QE resource available. This includes executing smoke and regression test suites, making real-time go/no-go assessments, and clearly communicating any critical blockers to development and release teams.
• Define and track key performance indicators - defect density, test coverage, execution rates - and present quality trend reports to stakeholders.

Test Automation Leadership

• Lead the design, development, and maintenance of test automation frameworks.
• Balance manual and automated testing based on project context and risk profile.
• Drive continuous testing integration within CI/CD pipelines.

Stakeholder Communication, Collaboration & Test Coordination

• Serve as the primary point of contact for all testing-related queries from project stakeholders.
• Provide regular updates on test progress, metrics, and results to project managers and product owners.
• Coordinate cross-team System Integration Testing (SIT) and User Acceptance Testing (UAT) - these are among the most complex and high-stakes activities in the delivery cycle. You will align schedules, entry and exit criteria, test environments, and stakeholder readiness across multiple teams to drive these phases to successful completion.
• Plan and manage working model overlaps for a distributed team - deliberately schedule collaboration windows, stand-ups, and critical reviews that provide meaningful coverage across time zones, ensuring no segment of the team operates in isolation or becomes a delivery bottleneck.
• Escalate critical issues and risks to appropriate stakeholders promptly and clearly.

Risk & Issue Management

• Identify testing-phase risks early and develop mitigation strategies.
• Track and resolve critical issues before release, proactively clearing bottlenecks and dependency conflicts.

• Proficiency in test management tools such as TestRail, XRay, Qtest, or Quality Center.
• Hands-on experience with test automation frameworks - Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, or Puppeteer - with the ability to guide teams through technical solutioning, unblock scripting issues, and course-correct implementations.
• Working knowledge of GitHub and CI/CD tooling (GitHub Actions or Jenkins).
• Strong understanding of AI in testing and a demonstrated ability to drive AI adoption within QE practices.

Process & Methodology

• Proven experience leading end-to-end testing lifecycles (STLC) within Agile delivery models.
• Strong knowledge of SDLC and Agile practices, with hands-on experience using Agile planning tools such as Jira.
• Demonstrated ability to apply shift-left principles - contributing to design reviews, architecture discussions, and sprint planning to embed quality from the start.
• Ability to align testing strategy with business goals and delivery commitments.

Leadership & Communication

• Strong interpersonal and team-building skills, with experience working across business and technical teams.
• Ability to motivate, guide, and resolve conflicts within a QE team.
• Adaptable and solutions-oriented - reads shifting situations quickly, evaluates options, and keeps the team moving forward without waiting for perfect information.
• Comfortable being the sole QE voice in the room - capable of independently executing test activities, making release-critical judgments, and communicating outcomes with confidence when team backup is unavailable during deployment windows.
• Experienced leading distributed teams across multiple time zones - understands the discipline required to plan meaningful overlap windows, maintain team visibility, and prevent time zone gaps from becoming delivery gaps.
• Proven ability to coordinate across multiple teams and stakeholder groups, particularly for complex cross-functional activities such as SIT and UAT.
• Clear, effective communication with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Sharp decision-making when navigating challenges across the testing lifecycle.
• Attention to detail in defect identification, isolation, and documentation.