Quality Manager - Software Development FTC

Overview

This role is responsible for defining quality standards, managing QA processes, and ensuring software releases meet functional, performance, and reliability expectations for a client-server architecture that uses a frontend desktop application and MS SQL backend, with REST API. The Quality Manager partners closely with engineering, product, and operations teams to embed quality into every stage of development.

• Quality Strategy & Leadership
  • Define and own the overall software quality strategy and roadmap
  • Lead and mentor QA engineers and test specialists
  • Promote a culture of quality, continuous improvement, and accountability
  • Collaborate with engineering and product leadership to align quality goals with business objectives
• Software Quality Assurance
  • Establish and maintain QA processes to ISO 9001/27001, standards, and best practices
  • Ensure test planning, execution, and reporting across multiple teams
  • Oversee functional, regression, integration, system, and user acceptance testing
  • Define release quality gates and go/no-go criteria
• Test Automation & Tooling
  • Drive adoption and improvement of test automation frameworks
  • Ensure appropriate coverage across integration, end-to-end, API, UI (including accessibility compliance assessment and reporting to WCAG, 508, and EU), performance, and security testing
  • Select and manage QA tools and platforms
  • Balance automated and exploratory testing approaches
  • Establish design for testability development approach
• Metrics & Continuous Improvement
  • Define and track quality metrics (defect leakage, test coverage, release stability, MTTR)
  • Analyze trends and root causes of defects
  • Lead post-release reviews and process improvements
  • Use data to drive decisions and demonstrate quality impact
  • Improve first-time test pass rate
  • Report on manual and automated test coverage
• Collaboration & Delivery
  • Work closely with developers to shift quality left in the SDLC
  • Partner with Dev Ops and release teams to integrate testing into MS Dev Ops CI/CD pipelines
  • Support agile practices including Kanban, sprint planning, backlog refinement, and retrospectives
  • Act as the quality advocate in cross-functional discussions
  • Own quality portion of release documentation

• Strong leadership and coaching skills
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities
• Clear communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Ability to balance quality, speed, and delivery pressure
• Attention to detail with a systems-thinking mindset

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience)
• 5+ years of experience in software QA or quality engineering
• 2+ years in a QA or quality leadership role
• Strong understanding of SDLC, Agile/Scrum, and CI/CD practices
• Experience with manual and automated testing methodologies

• Experience with modern test automation tools (e.g., Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, Smart Bear Test Complete, FlaUI, REST API testing tools, pentest tools, threat modelling, etc)
• Knowledge of performance, reliability, and security testing
• Familiarity with MS Dev Ops Test Plans test management module
• QA certifications (ISTQB, CSTE, or similar)

• The role is based in Cheltenham but may involve travel to other Pennant offices in UK and abroad.
• At all times, the job holder is required to represent the Company in a favourable light and to comply with all relevant Group policies and procedures and the Companys Core Values.