Software Quality Engineering Lead at Old Mutual South Africa

Job Description

• The Quality Engineering Lead is responsible for the coordination and oversight of testing activities, deliverables and engineering approaches across multiple teams. Their primary focus lies in developing improvement plans for our quality engineering team, while also making use of key metrics to put together plans for coordinated cross-team improvement.
• The ideal candidate for this role has a proven background in people development and has rolled out several large quality initiatives in large organizations before. While their main focus might lie with people and process development, they will need to possess a strong technical understanding of test engineering practices and skills at both a manual and automated level.

Key Responsibilities

• Focus on identifying key quality development areas for teams
• Provide visibility and oversight of inter-team delivery and manage quality delivery across many different teams.
• Put together plans to address quality improvement and work with teams to deliver these improvements
• Engage with cross-functional teams to ensure quality throughout the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
• Manage stakeholder communication, providing regular updates on QA activities, milestones, and risks to the respective leadership teams
• Identify key project risks and develop mitigation plans to address them
• Involved in the recruitment, line management and development of test engineers
• Requirements: Skills and Experience Required

Skills:

• Experience in managing multiple testing teams across both a front-end and back-end level
• Strong understanding of testing engineering principles and processes
• Aiding teams to build observability and data-driven decision-making into their delivery
• Helping teams dive deeper into understanding the root cause of quality issues
• Risk analysis, assessment and mitigation skills
• Strong mentoring and people management skills
• Cross-team coordination and the ability to manage many different priorities and deliverables, engaging with different stakeholders in the process

Personal Skills

• Humility and Patience: Open to failure, humble, and able to delegate.
• Information/Time Management: Ability to synthesize information and manage time effectively.
• Self-motivated: Ability to motivate oneself and others.
• Methodical and Analytical: Systematic approach to problem-solving.
• Open-Minded: Willing to accept mistakes and make corrections.
• High Level of Integrity: Ethical and honest in all dealings.
• Interpersonal Skills
• Communication: Effective communication with cross-functional teams.
• Relationship Building: Establish and maintain good relationships within the firm and industry.
• Emotional Intelligence: Ability to perceive, assess, and influence emotions.
• Assertiveness: Ability to surface issues and pursue difficult conversations without delay.
• Teamwork: Ability to work well in a team and coordinate tasks effectively

Experience:

• 10+ years in software testing, including at least 5 years in leadership and management roles, with experience in talent development and recruitment.
• Responsible for overseeing the quality engineering strategy across multiple projects of the organisation.

Responsibilities
Quality Assurance Testing

• Validate and interpret complex test data to evaluate and recommend the suitability of nonstandard materials or components. 

Testing Information Technology (IT) Performance

• Design and monitor the quality of website/applications software tests and respond to user emails to monitor, diagnose, and correct performance issues.

Quality Assurance Testing Design

• Specify the design of quality assurance test methods and procedures and manage their development and validation, incorporating new technologies and meeting changing organizational, customer, and/or regulatory requirements.

Quality Management System

• Identify, analyze, and evaluate the effectiveness of current policies and business processes that are in the scope of the quality management system (QMS); contribute to the design of the QMS; provide specialist quality management oversight to the drafting of new policies and procedures and the design of business processes; contribute to the quantification of the costs and business benefits of change.

Leadership and Direction

• Communicate the actions needed to implement the function's strategy and business plan within the team; explain the relationship to the broader organization's mission, vision, and values; motivate people to commit to these and to do extraordinary things to achieve local business goals.

Operational Compliance

• Monitor and review performance and behaviors within area of responsibility to identify and resolve noncompliance with the organization's policies and relevant regulatory codes and codes of conduct.

Continuous Improvement

• Review existing operations in a major area of work and implement innovation processes to generate new ideas and ensure the required continuous improvement outcomes are delivered.

Budgeting

• Develop and/or deliver budget plans with guidance from senior colleagues.

Performance Management

• Manage and report on the performance of a substantial, diverse team; set appropriate performance objectives for direct reports or project/account team members and hold individuals accountable for achieving them; take appropriate corrective action where necessary to ensure the achievement of team/personal objectives.

Organizational Capability Building

• Use the organization's formal development framework to identify the team's individual development needs. Plan and implement actions, including continuing professional development specified by professional or regulatory institutions, to build their professional capabilities. Provide informal training or coaching to others throughout the organization in own area of expertise to enable others to improve performance and fulfill personal potential.

Skills

• Adaptive Thinking, Change Management, Data Analysis, Data Compilation, Executing Plans, Laboratory Testing, Policies & Procedures, Project Performance Management (PM), QA Methodologies, Regulatory Compliance Management, Report Review, Software Testing, Test Case Management

Competencies

• Builds Effective Teams
• Communicates Effectively
• Ensures Accountability
• Instills Trust
• Manages Complexity
• Optimizes Work Processes
• Organizational Savvy
• Plans and Aligns

Education

• NQF Level 7 - Degree, Advance Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate or equivalent

Closing Date

• 17 April 2025 , 23:59