Senior Manager, QA Engineering

Camunda, a global leader in enterprise process automation, is seeking a seasoned Senior Manager of QA Engineering to champion the quality assurance strategy for their innovative Camunda 8 platform. This pivotal role is instrumental in shaping the future of quality governance, focusing on implementing robust quality gates, driving outcome-oriented automation initiatives, and developing strategic reporting mechanisms that directly influence product roadmap and release decisions.

The incumbent will lead and nurture two dedicated QA teams, comprising 12 individual contributors, a principal engineer, and a direct report manager. A key aspect of this position involves strategically evolving the team structure to accommodate future growth and ensure comprehensive quality coverage across diverse user personas – from business users to developers and operators. This extensive coverage must span various deployment environments, including Kubernetes, cloud-based solutions, and traditional bare-metal infrastructures. This is a unique opportunity to establish and lead a critical function, reporting directly to the Vice President of Engineering.

About the Role

This is a leadership position focused on driving excellence in quality assurance for a complex, enterprise-grade software platform. The Senior Manager will be responsible for the entire QA lifecycle, from strategic planning to execution and reporting. This includes establishing and maintaining rigorous quality gates that ensure the integrity of every release. A significant part of the role will involve collaborating closely with principal engineering to enhance testing methodologies for reliability, performance, and overall system resilience.

The position requires a leader who can not only set a compelling vision for automation and QA processes but also empower their teams to achieve high-quality outcomes efficiently. Developing and disseminating actionable quality metrics, dashboards, and insightful reports will be crucial for informing leadership about product quality and guiding strategic decisions. Furthermore, influencing and collaborating with a wide array of cross-functional stakeholders – including engineering, product management, user experience, technical documentation, and customer-facing teams – will be essential to embed a culture of quality throughout the organisation.

The day-to-day responsibilities of this role are multifaceted and demand a blend of strategic thinking and operational oversight. Key duties include:

• **Strategic QA Leadership:** Owning and driving the end-to-end QA strategy for Camunda 8, establishing clear quality gates and fostering cross-team accountability for quality standards.
• **Reliability and Performance Enhancement:** Partnering with principal engineering to mature the organisation's capabilities in reliability, performance, and resilience testing.
• **Automation and Process Optimisation:** Guiding the overall automation strategy and refining QA processes to enable development teams to deliver high-quality software efficiently.
• **Data-Driven Reporting:** Developing and maintaining actionable quality metrics, comprehensive dashboards, and insightful reports that provide leadership with the necessary data for informed roadmap and release decisions.
• **Team Development and Scaling:** Leading and scaling the QA teams, which include managers, principal engineers, and individual contributors, by evolving the team structure for maximum impact and effectiveness.
• **Cross-Functional Influence:** Working collaboratively with and influencing stakeholders across engineering, product, UX, documentation, and field operations to embed quality as a shared organisational goal.

What They're Looking For

Camunda is seeking a candidate with a proven track record of success in leading QA engineering within dynamic environments. Essential qualifications and experience include:

• Demonstrable experience leading QA within engineering organisations typically ranging from 100 to 500 individuals, with a history of measurable positive impact.
• The ability to define, implement, and govern an end-to-end QA strategy, including the establishment of quality gates and fostering data-informed decision-making across multiple teams.
• Comfort in maintaining connection to hands-on QA execution while simultaneously operating at a strategic leadership level.
• Significant experience in elevating the QA function for complex technical products, including ensuring comprehensive coverage for developer and administrator personas, as well as expertise in high-load, performance, and resilience testing.
• Proven skill in aligning diverse teams – engineering, product, UX, documentation, and field – around shared quality objectives.
• A background in enterprise software or workflow automation is highly desirable.
• Willingness and ability to engage with and utilise Camunda's product.

For professionals in South Africa, a senior management role in QA engineering within a reputable software company often commands a competitive salary, reflecting the critical nature of the position. Employers can range from established enterprise software vendors to fast-growing tech startups. Career progression typically involves moving into broader engineering leadership roles or specialising further in quality strategy and execution at an even higher level within the organisation.

• Ability and/or willingness to use our product.
• Proven track record leading QA in engineering organizations of 100–500 people, with measurable impact.
• Ability to define and implement end-to-end QA strategy, quality gates, and data-informed decision-making across multiple teams.
• Comfort staying connected to hands-on QA execution while leading strategically.
• Experience leveling up QA for complex technical products, including developer/admin persona coverage and high-load, performance, resilience testing.
• Skill aligning engineering, product, UX, documentation, and field teams around shared quality goals.
• Enterprise software / workflow automation background.