Senior Manager - Quality Assurance

United Airlines•Chicago, IL

About The Position

Job overview and responsibilities The primary purpose of the Senior Manager – Quality Engineering position is to lead a team in the development and implementation of the testing strategy for business and technical systems. This role is accountable for the evaluation and implementation of standards and procedures which support the enterprise’s application development, managing multiple teams of QA Engineers involved in the analysis, design and development of software quality practices for large scale applications. Interacts directly with the client, development and support team members across the IT organization and ensures projects/programs are completed within the committed time and. This Sr. Manager is accountable for maximizing the productivity of the applications staff and the maintainability of software systems, keeps abreast of new technologies, incorporates those technologies when appropriate and motivates others to utilize them, championing quality across the organization. · Organizational Effectiveness / People: o Build, mentor and manage teams of high-performing software quality engineers and managers, creating a culture of excellence and quality champions o Build and scale the team’s test automation infrastructure, establishing frameworks and tooling to support rapid iteration o Responsible for department and individual performance assessments and improvement plans, coaching, counseling, assisting employees to develop individual career development and training plans o Responsible for developing and maintaining an overall sourcing plan which includes creative sourcing options and alternatives to ensure supply capacities meet work demand, role and skill set requirements and cost objectives · Quality Delivery: o Provide strategic direction and technical leadership for qualifying delightful experiences enabled by agentic solutions o Lead team to creatively and efficiently handle significant iteration, complex and condensed schedules, and competing priorities o Accountable for gaining and maintaining alignment of delivery success criteria with business partners o Accountable for effective project management and delivery of work requests and projects within committed budget, schedule and quality for individual projects while also meeting overall department performance goals o Accountable for identifying needs, securing commitments and monitoring progress of deliverables from internal and external service provider teams, providing cost estimates and business case updates o Responsible for communication of progress to senior IT and Business leadership · Business Interface: o Establish and maintain strong business relationships with both senior and operating level business leaders, building partnership and alignment with cross-functional partners and other software quality teams on overall quality strategy to ensure end-to-end coverage o Stay abreast of business of business strategy, goals, objectives and operational performance, being a Thought Partner, engaged with Business Owners/Business Process Development o Engage and ensure effective delivery of business deliverables and tasks with business partners for delivery of technology solutions (development of business requirements, scope management, training business change management and deployment) · Cross-Functional Collaboration & Technical Execution: o Interfaces with the software development teams and other testing teams to define workflows, processes, tools and communications to be used to successfully deliver software to test and production environments o Uses creative and innovative thinking in applying, on a broad basis, principles, theories, and concepts to a wide range of problems using test automation principles and AI-first approach o Identifies problems and possible solutions and takes appropriate action to resolve o Dive deep into technical problems and guide the team through complex technical trade-offs, requiring limited supervision · IT Process Mgmt. and Administrative: o Define, prioritize, allocate resources, track and provide status reporting of work assignments, projects, programs o Budget and cost management for the projects/programs o Ensure IT application development process disciplines (solution delivery, project management, work requests, QA, etc.) and standards are established, effectively managed and performed o Provide information and periodic updates to support overall IT performance metrics, monthly project status reporting and quarterly resource planning review o Prepares work plans and status reports necessary to communicate the work activities, deliverables, and schedules, and periodic progress reports and issue summaries related to the configuration management function o Present team’s work to leadership, communicating roadmap status, technical direction, and advocating for resources

Requirements

Bachelor's degree: Computer Science, Engineering or related field
5+ years of management experience in Software Quality or leadership related role
3+ years of management experience implementing Test Automation frameworks in Selenium, Rest Assured, SQL, etc and/or application performance testing
Experience in application development and software testing, delivering of med-large scale projects/programs
Strong project organizations skill, including prioritization, planning and organization
Must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship and Willing and able to travel domestic/internationally (up to 10%)

Nice To Haves

5 – 10 years of management experience in Quality Engineering or leadership related role
Experience performing the duties related to software quality engineering and use of automated tools to automatically validate software builds to a variety of technologies
Understanding of GenAI testing technologies
Experience required in multiple technical platforms, operating systems, databases and development languages including but not limited to web, mobile, mainframe, cloud
Experience in travel industry, especially airline related is a significant plus
Must have demonstrated understanding of performance management, business consulting, project management and applicable technology
Community of Respect, Delighting the Customer, Transparency, Accountability, Performance

Responsibilities

Build, mentor and manage teams of high-performing software quality engineers and managers, creating a culture of excellence and quality champions
Build and scale the team’s test automation infrastructure, establishing frameworks and tooling to support rapid iteration
Responsible for department and individual performance assessments and improvement plans, coaching, counseling, assisting employees to develop individual career development and training plans
Responsible for developing and maintaining an overall sourcing plan which includes creative sourcing options and alternatives to ensure supply capacities meet work demand, role and skill set requirements and cost objectives
Provide strategic direction and technical leadership for qualifying delightful experiences enabled by agentic solutions
Lead team to creatively and efficiently handle significant iteration, complex and condensed schedules, and competing priorities
Accountable for gaining and maintaining alignment of delivery success criteria with business partners
Accountable for effective project management and delivery of work requests and projects within committed budget, schedule and quality for individual projects while also meeting overall department performance goals
Accountable for identifying needs, securing commitments and monitoring progress of deliverables from internal and external service provider teams, providing cost estimates and business case updates
Responsible for communication of progress to senior IT and Business leadership
Establish and maintain strong business relationships with both senior and operating level business leaders, building partnership and alignment with cross-functional partners and other software quality teams on overall quality strategy to ensure end-to-end coverage
Stay abreast of business of business strategy, goals, objectives and operational performance, being a Thought Partner, engaged with Business Owners/Business Process Development
Engage and ensure effective delivery of business deliverables and tasks with business partners for delivery of technology solutions (development of business requirements, scope management, training business change management and deployment)
Interfaces with the software development teams and other testing teams to define workflows, processes, tools and communications to be used to successfully deliver software to test and production environments
Uses creative and innovative thinking in applying, on a broad basis, principles, theories, and concepts to a wide range of problems using test automation principles and AI-first approach
Identifies problems and possible solutions and takes appropriate action to resolve
Dive deep into technical problems and guide the team through complex technical trade-offs, requiring limited supervision
Define, prioritize, allocate resources, track and provide status reporting of work assignments, projects, programs
Budget and cost management for the projects/programs
Ensure IT application development process disciplines (solution delivery, project management, work requests, QA, etc.) and standards are established, effectively managed and performed
Provide information and periodic updates to support overall IT performance metrics, monthly project status reporting and quarterly resource planning review
Prepares work plans and status reports necessary to communicate the work activities, deliverables, and schedules, and periodic progress reports and issue summaries related to the configuration management function
Present team’s work to leadership, communicating roadmap status, technical direction, and advocating for resources