Lead Product Quality Assurance Engineer

Lilly•South San Francisco, CA

3d•$71,250 - $169,400

About The Position

Lilly is hiring a Quality Engineering Lead to own the end-to-end testing lifecycle for software products, from strategy through release, and ensure quality, reliability, and on-time delivery. The role partners with developers, product managers, business analysts, support teams, and stakeholders to define testing requirements, implement automation, reduce manual testing overhead, and proactively address risks that could lead to production incidents. The position leads a globally distributed Quality Engineering team and establishes effective work, communication, and collaboration practices across time zones. Business and Development stakeholders are US-based, and the role may be the primary or only QE presence during US business hours. The lead is expected to contribute hands-on when needed, including during US afternoon or evening deployments, executing smoke and regression suites and making and communicating release-readiness assessments. The role champions Quality Engineering strategy, shift-left testing, modern test automation, continuous testing in CI/CD pipelines, and AI-assisted testing practices. It coordinates complex cross-team System Integration Testing and User Acceptance Testing, uses metrics to guide decisions, and anticipates and resolves testing risks and dependencies across teams.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related technical engineering discipline; listed related fields include Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, Cybersecurity, Information Science, Network Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Information Systems, Management Information Systems, Cloud Computing, and Data Science.
At least 8 years of software quality assurance experience.
At least 5 years in a Test Lead or QE Lead capacity.
Experience leading end-to-end testing activities across multiple teams in an Agile delivery environment.
Comprehensive knowledge of functional, regression, integration, performance, and exploratory testing.
Proficiency with test management tools such as TestRail, XRay, Qtest, or Quality Center.
Hands-on experience with test automation frameworks such as Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, or Puppeteer, and ability to guide teams and unblock scripting issues.
Working knowledge of GitHub and CI/CD tooling such as GitHub Actions or Jenkins.
Strong understanding of AI in testing and demonstrated ability to drive AI adoption in QE practices.
Proven experience leading end-to-end testing lifecycles within Agile delivery models and strong knowledge of SDLC and Agile practices.
Hands-on experience with Agile planning tools such as Jira.
Ability to apply shift-left principles and align testing strategy with business goals and delivery commitments.
Strong interpersonal, team-building, leadership, and conflict-resolution skills across business and technical functions.
Ability to work independently during deployment windows, execute test activities, make release-critical judgments, and communicate outcomes when team backup is unavailable.
Experience leading distributed teams across time zones and coordinating complex cross-functional activities such as SIT and UAT.
Clear communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders, sound decision-making, adaptability, and attention to detail in defect identification, isolation, and documentation.
Must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis; Lilly will not support or sponsor work authorization or visas for this role.

Responsibilities

Develop and document comprehensive test strategies and plans aligned with project goals, defining objectives, scope, deliverables, success criteria, required testing types, resources, schedules, and tooling.
Engage early in product development, architecture discussions, design reviews, and sprint planning to identify testability gaps, design risks, and integration complexities.
Oversee test preparation and execution, requirements coverage, adherence to plans, defect tracking, reporting, and resolution.
Contribute hands-on to testing when needed, including deployment smoke and regression testing, real-time go/no-go assessments, and communication of critical blockers.
Define and track quality indicators such as defect density, test coverage, and execution rates, and report quality trends to stakeholders.
Lead the design, development, and maintenance of test automation frameworks and guide teams in technical solutioning and implementation course correction.
Balance manual and automated testing according to project context and risk, and drive continuous testing integration in CI/CD pipelines.
Serve as the primary point of contact for testing queries and provide regular progress, metrics, and results updates to project managers and product owners.
Coordinate cross-team System Integration Testing and User Acceptance Testing, aligning schedules, entry and exit criteria, test environments, and stakeholder readiness.
Plan collaboration windows, stand-ups, and reviews for the distributed team to maintain coverage and alignment across time zones.
Escalate critical issues and risks promptly, anticipate customer needs, and develop mitigations that address root causes across teams.
Track and resolve critical pre-release issues, bottlenecks, and dependency conflicts, communicating outcomes with clarity and accountability.
Lead and collaborate with professional peers and leadership across teams, motivating the QE team and resolving conflicts.

Benefits

Company bonus, depending in part on company and individual performance.
Company-sponsored 401(k).
Pension.
Vacation benefits.
Medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug benefits.
Healthcare and/or dependent day care flexible spending accounts.
Life insurance and death benefits.
Time-off and leave-of-absence benefits.
Well-being benefits, including an employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities.
Employee resource groups open to all employees.