QA Team Lead

Vontas•Cedar Rapids, IA

About The Position

The Software QA Technical Team Lead provides hands-on technical leadership for quality assurance activities across assigned products, platforms, and initiatives. This role is responsible for driving test strategy execution, validating technical solutions, and ensuring that quality risks are identified and mitigated throughout the software development lifecycle. The Technical Team Lead partners closely with QA Management, Software Engineering, Product Management, and cross-functional stakeholders to align test coverage, automation efforts, and release readiness with delivery objectives. This position maintains direct involvement in test execution while providing technical mentorship, guidance, and work direction to QA Engineers. The role emphasizes consistency in QA practices, effective use of test automation, rigorous defect analysis, and continuous improvement to enhance product quality and delivery predictability. This role reports to the Senior QA Manager.

Requirements

Strong technical understanding of software quality assurance methodologies, tools, and best practices across the SDLC.
Demonstrated ability to lead and influence through technical expertise, collaboration, and data-driven decision making.
Proven experience designing, reviewing, and executing manual and automated test cases.
Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills with a high degree of attention to detail.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite and related software(s).
Post-secondary education in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field and/or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Minimum of 5+ years of progressive experience in software quality assurance or testing roles.
Minimum of two years’ experience with test automation tools, defect tracking systems, and Agile or iterative delivery environments is required.
Prior experience serving as a technical lead, subject matter expert, or senior-level QA Engineer.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Jira, Confluence, Azure, VM, SQL, Selenium, Postman, are preferred.

Responsibilities

Provide day-to-day technical leadership, work coordination, and guidance to QA Engineers supporting assigned initiatives.
Mentor and coach team members on advanced test design, exploration testing techniques, automation strategies, and effective defect analysis.
Support onboarding and training of new QA team members by reinforcing standard QA tools, frameworks, and engineering practices.
Partner with QA Managers to identify skill gaps and recommend development opportunities.
Promote consistent application of QA standards, test documentation requirements, and quality governance processes.
Act as a technical escalation point for complex testing issues, environment constraints, integration challenges, or defect triage disputes.
Lead test planning and execution for assigned initiatives, ensuring appropriate functional, regression, integration, and risk-based coverage.
Design, review, and maintain high-quality test cases, test data and equipment in alignment with established QA standards.
Perform hands-on manual and automated testing support across web, mobile, and backend systems as required.
Drive and coordinate requests for development or product team support, including new software build deliveries, environment updates, and defect fixes.
Partner with Development and Product teams during requirements refinement to identify test impacts, dependencies, and quality risks early in the lifecycle.
Analyze defects and test results to identify root cause trends and systemic quality issues; collaborate with teams to implement quality improvements.
Support release readiness activities, including test completion validation, quality risk assessments, and formal test signoffs.