Lead Quality Engineer

Lead Quality Engineer – Chicago, IL

We are seeking a highly skilled Lead Quality Engineer with 8+ years of experience to drive the overall quality strategy and execution for significant products or cross‑functional initiatives. In this role, you will provide technical leadership in quality engineering, own test strategy and planning, mentor a team of quality engineers, establish best practices, and partner with engineering and product leaders to ensure the delivery of high‑quality, complex software solutions in an agile environment.

Salary: $95,000 – $110,000 annually

• Define, own, and drive the overarching test strategy and planning for complex projects and product areas, ensuring alignment with iterative delivery.

• Mentor and guide junior and mid‑level engineers, fostering their technical growth, providing constructive feedback, and promoting a collaborative team environment.

• Partner with engineering and product managers to define test strategy, understand requirements, define clear acceptance criteria, and champion building quality into the development process.

• Architect, design, and oversee the implementation of scalable and maintainable test automation frameworks.

• Champion and establish quality engineering best practices, standards, and metrics within the team and across projects.

• Lead end‑to‑end testing efforts for strategic programs, potentially involving multiple agile teams and complex integrations.

• Drive the analysis of quality data to identify areas for improvement and implement corrective actions.

• Collaborate with other teams to deliver highly cross‑functional and complex work, ensuring quality across all touchpoints.

• Stay abreast of new testing tools, technologies, and methodologies, and advocate for their adoption where beneficial to enhance the team’s ability to deliver high‑quality software iteratively.

• Expert‑level understanding of quality engineering principles, test automation architecture, and advanced testing methodologies.

• Proven ability to define and lead comprehensive test strategies for large‑scale, complex systems.

• Strong technical leadership skills with experience mentoring and guiding other engineers.

• Deep expertise in test automation tools and frameworks, and experience architecting automation solutions.

• Excellent problem‑solving, analytical, and strategic thinking skills.

• Strong communication, collaboration, and influence skills, with the ability to partner effectively with cross‑functional leaders.

• Proficiency in product area expertise and software development methodologies including agile and scrum.

• Experience with performance, security, and other non‑functional testing.

• Knowledge of Agile tooling and knowledge management.

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.

• Minimum of 8+ years of progressive experience in quality engineering.

• Proven experience leading quality efforts for significant, cross‑functional projects and mentoring teams.

• Extensive experience with test automation strategy and framework development.