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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

Required Qualifications

Experience

• 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 altitudes—from 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