Senior Engineering Manager

Senior Engineering Leader – Quality (QA Ownership)  

Role Overview  

This role is for a Senior Engineering - Leader who owns Quality across a large engineering organization. You are not running a traditional QA function—you are responsible for embedding quality into how 250 engineers build, test, and ship software.

You will drive an automation-first, AI-enabled quality strategy, ensuring teams own quality end-to-end while maintaining a high bar for reliability, performance, and customer experience.

You are expected to challenge engineers, product managers, and senior stakeholders when quality is at risk. You do not trade quality for speed—you enable both.

You are expected to be on the tools and lead by example!

What You’ll Own  

Quality as an Engineering Discipline  

• Make quality a core engineering responsibility, not a downstream QA activity
  

• Embed testing into design, development, and deployment workflows
  

• Drive a strong “shift-left” culture across all teams
  

• Define what “good quality” looks like and ensure it is consistently met
  

Automation & AI-Driven Testing  

• Establish automation as the default across all layers (unit, API, integration, E2E)
  

• Drive adoption of AI-assisted testing (test generation, flakiness detection, intelligent coverage)
  

• Ensure all tests are integrated into CI/CD pipelines with fast feedback loops
  

• Continuously improve coverage, reliability, and execution speed at scale
  

Engineering Leadership & Standards  

• Set and enforce quality standards, test strategies, and release criteria
  

• Define and track key metrics (defect leakage, coverage, MTTR, pipeline health)
  

• Own quality gates and block releases when standards are not met
  

• Lead root cause analysis and systemic improvements
  

Influencing & Driving Accountability  

• Work directly with senior engineers and tech leads to improve quality practices
  

• Push back on delivery pressure when it compromises quality
  

• Hold teams accountable for the quality of what they ship
  

• Partner with Product to ensure clear, testable requirements
  

Building Capability (Not Dependency)  

• Build and lead a small, high-impact group of SDETs / Quality Engineers where needed
  

• Focus on enablement, tooling, and frameworks—not manual testing capacity
  

• Coach teams to own testing independently and quality outcomes
  

What Success Looks Like  

• Teams fully own quality with minimal reliance on manual QA
  

• High automation coverage across all critical paths
  

• Fast, reliable CI/CD pipelines with a strong test signal
  

• Reduced production defects and faster recovery when issues occur
  

• Engineers proactively prioritizing quality without external enforcement
  

Why This Role Matters  

This role is critical to scaling engineering without sacrificing quality. You will shape how hundreds of engineers think about testing, automation, and ownership—moving the organization away from QA as a gate and toward quality as a built-in capability.

Requirements  

Experience  

• 8–12+ years in software engineering, with strong exposure to testing and quality
  

• Proven experience as an Engineering Manager in a scaling organization
  

• Track record of improving quality across multiple teams (not just within one team)
  

• Experience operating in modern Agile / DevOps environments
  

Technical Strength  

• Strong background in software engineering (not just QA)
  

• Deep understanding of test strategies across the stack
  

• Hands-on experience with test automation frameworks and CI/CD systems
  

• Practical exposure to AI-driven testing tools and approaches
  

• Familiarity with distributed systems, micro services, and cloud environments
  

Leadership & Mindset  

• High standards and unwillingness to compromise on quality
  

• Comfortable saying “no” to senior engineers and stakeholders when needed
  

• Lead by example on the tools and grow your own timber with your team
  

• Strong ownership mindset—you see quality as your responsibility, not someone else’s
  

• Ability to influence without authority across many teams
  

• Pragmatic and outcome-focused—you balance speed and quality effectively
  

Nice to Have  

• Experience transforming a QA function into an engineering-led quality model
  

• Background working in high-growth or scaling tech organizations
  

• Exposure to performance, security, and reliability engineering practices