Summary
This role leads the quality assurance function for one of the critical business platforms owning the vision, strategy, and execution of quality initiatives across global markets and teams. The position requires a seasoned leader (15 years experience) who demonstrates excellence across four key dimensions:
- Thought Leadership Translating complex technical challenges into actionable strategies that resonate across all organizational levels
- Result Leadership Delivering measurable impact with consistent quality outcomes and meaningful improvements
- People Leadership Building high-performing teams where people thrive, grow, and aspire to follow
- Self Leadership Demonstrating self-awareness, accountability, discipline, and integrity
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership
- Lead the global QA function for the core business platform, with multiple QA Leads and Engineers as direct reports
- Define and evolve quality strategy aligned with business objectives and technology roadmaps
- Partner with Global VP of Quality & DevOps on organizational initiatives while maintaining full ownership of workstream execution
- Drive transformation from reactive testing to proactive quality engineering
Team Development & Management
- Build, mentor, and scale a high-performing global QA organization across multiple geographies
- Create career development pathways and succession plans
- Foster a culture of continuous learning, innovation, and excellence
- Lead performance management, hiring, and organizational design for the QA function
Operational Excellence
- Oversee comprehensive test strategy, planning, and execution across the platform
- Coordinate complex, multi-team testing efforts, influencing without direct authority
- Drive automation strategy with clear ROI and coverage metrics
- Own release management and quality gatekeeping for production deployments
- Implement quality metrics and reporting frameworks
- Balance hands-on technical engagement with strategic oversight
Stakeholder Management
- Translate quality strategies into executive communications that drive decision-making
- Build trusted relationships with Product, Engineering, and Business leadership
- Champion quality in cross-functional forums
- Represent quality perspective in strategic planning and architectural decisions
Experience
Required Qualifications
- Approximately 15 years in software quality assurance with proven progression into strategic leadership roles
- Minimum 5 years leading QA teams, including managing managers/leads
- Demonstrated success building and scaling QA functions in complex, multi-product environments
- Experience building quality culture and embedding quality practices across engineering teams
Leadership
- Track record of strategic thinking balancing long-term vision with short-term delivery
- Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive organizational change
- Comfort operating at multiple altitudesfrom board-level strategy to technical implementation
- Demonstrated people development success with specific examples of mentored leaders
- High energy, rapid contextualization, and flexibility across multiple competing demands
Technical Expertise
- Expert knowledge of test methodologies, strategies, and frameworks (functional, non-functional, shift-left/right)
- Strong understanding of test automation approaches and tools (UiPath, Cypress, or similar)
- Proficiency with Azure DevOps for test/defect management, queries, and dashboards
- Understanding of CI/CD pipelines and quality gates in automated delivery
- Familiarity with quality metrics, governance frameworks, and reporting
Preferred Qualifications
- Advanced testing certifications (ISTQB-CTAL or equivalent)
- Experience in global, distributed team environments
- Background in quality transformation or organizational change initiatives
- Experience with travel domain, GDS platforms, or booking systems
- Knowledge of Microsoft Dynamics 365
- Demonstrated thought leadership through speaking, writing, or community contribution
- Ability to code/script for test automation and tooling
- Pattern recognition across industries and ability to apply best practices contextually
