QA Lead

We are looking for a QA lead / test manager to own the test strategy and quality bar for a product or program — leading a team of testers, defining what gets tested and how, owning automation strategy, and being accountable for release quality. This is a leadership role that balances hands-on test design with team direction and the process discipline that keeps releases safe.

The defining shift for this seat in 2026 is agentic QA. AI now generates test code from plain-language descriptions, self-heals broken locators, and runs full regression suites without direct human direction — the implementation layer is being absorbed by tooling, fast. The economics are concrete: script maintenance has eaten 40–70% of automation effort, and self-healing AI locators cut that to under 15%, freeing the team to write new coverage instead of repairing old scripts. Adoption is mainstream — one 2026 trends report puts organizations using or planning AI in QA at 77.7%. The lead's job is to harness this without losing control: an agent can plan, write, run, and self-heal, but it never crosses a consequential boundary — filing a defect, marking work done — without a person signing off.

The value this person brings is a high, well-measured quality bar delivered efficiently — with AI absorbing the maintenance grind and the team focused on coverage, risk, and the judgment calls that protect releases.

We are seeking a QA leader who owns quality strategy and a team — someone who defines test strategy, drives automation, owns release-quality decisions, and can lead an AI-testing transformation without ceding control. They see agentic QA as the way to kill maintenance overhead and expand real coverage.

This profile partners across engineering, product, DevOps / release, and other QA teams. It suits someone open to a hybrid or remote-first engagement, and to mobilization to the Middle East, Europe, or North America depending on the client. The person we want raises quality while making testing more efficient.

A strong candidate for this role has led QA for a product or program — someone who has set test strategy, built and led a test team, owned automation, and made release-quality calls. They bring the judgment to introduce agentic QA while keeping humans on the consequential decisions.

In practice, the responsibilities break down as follows:

• Test strategy & quality ownership: Define the test strategy, risk-based coverage, and quality bar; own release-quality decisions.
• Team leadership: Lead and coach a team of testers; set standards and priorities.
• Automation strategy: Own the automation approach; shift effort from script maintenance to new coverage as self-healing tooling matures.
• AI-testing transformation: Lead adoption of AI-native testing that validates business flows and adapts as the app changes.
• Control & governance: Keep humans on consequential boundaries — defect filing, sign-off — even as agents plan, write, run, and self-heal tests.

We want to see a QA lead fluent in test strategy, automation, and team leadership who can drive an AI-testing transformation while holding the quality line. The strongest candidates understand where agentic QA saves effort and where human judgment stays mandatory.

Core QA leadership

• Test strategy, risk-based testing, and release-quality ownership.
• Test automation frameworks and CI/CD integration.
• Team leadership and QA process / standards.

Quality performance (KPIs from research)

• Steers defect-escape rate, coverage, automation maintenance ratio, and release quality — as self-healing cuts maintenance from 40–70% toward under 15%.

Modern Agentic AI / AIOps (niche areas we are seeking — depth explored at interview)

• Agentic QA loops that plan, generate, execute, and self-heal tests, with human sign-off on consequential actions;.
• AI test generation from plain-language intent and self-healing locators.
• Governed agent platforms (Amazon Bedrock or equivalent) for test automation.

This role is delivered through Solutions Chapter Group's Human Resources chapter (Chapter 12) as a Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) engagement, under our Technical Recruitment stream. Rather than a "post-and-pray" marketplace approach, we use a Curated Professional Recruitment model: candidate profiles are pre-vetted in our internal database, and when a required profile isn't already available, our dedicated Scout network conducts global headhunting to secure it. We screen and match candidates against each client's specific requirements, and placements may be remote or an on-site deployment with mobilization to the Middle East, Europe, or the United States.

From a recruitment-fit perspective, we screen for:

• Clear test strategy and quality ownership.
• Ability to lead and coach a QA team.
• Strong automation judgment.
• Controlled adoption of agentic QA.
• Openness to the engagement model (remote or mobilized on-site) and readiness for cross-region deployment.

Areas to explore at interview *(topics only)*

• Setting a test strategy and quality bar
• Leading a QA team