Program Director: Lead QAT Delivery Owner
Role Type: Full-Time | Senior Leadership – Quality Assurance & Testing (QAT)
Role Purpose
The Lead QAT Delivery Owner is responsible for owning and driving the end‑to‑end Quality Assurance & Testing (QAT) delivery for one or more programmes or products. This role ensures the implementation of right‑sized quality strategies, risk‑based test approaches, automation adoption, and timely, high‑quality releases. The position requires strong leadership, deep technical expertise, and a strategic mindset to guide teams in delivering consistent, scalable, and compliant quality outcomes across the delivery lifecycle.
Key Responsibilities
Quality Strategy & Leadership
Develop and maintain tailored quality approaches for each programme or product, ensuring clarity and alignment across all delivery teams.
Collaborate with engineering, architecture, and product leadership to proactively identify risks and influence design decisions that enhance testability and reliability.
Advocate for a culture where quality is a shared responsibility across the entire delivery lifecycle.
Serve as the senior quality advisor, guiding teams on appropriate methods, techniques, and practices to meet expectations and overcome delivery challenges.
Team Leadership & Capability Building
Mentor QAT engineers, automation specialists, and cross‑functional squad members.
Facilitate continuous improvement discussions grounded in data, delivery insights, and practical considerations.
Provide practical training, playbooks, frameworks, and reusable patterns to embed good practices across teams.
Test Strategy, Assurance & Governance
Shape or validate test strategies ensuring robust functional, non‑functional, and process coverage.
Review test artefacts—including test plans, automation frameworks, and performance strategies—to ensure alignment with organisational standards.
Lead release readiness assessments, ensuring clarity on coverage, defects, risks, and compliance before go‑live.
Conduct or coordinate formal quality reviews, assessments, and audits across internal teams or vendor partners.
Identify process gaps, perform root cause analysis, and recommend sustainable corrective actions.
Verify the effectiveness of corrective actions and ensure adherence to governance and compliance requirements.
Tools, Automation & Quality Engineering
Promote the consistent and effective use of testing tools, automation frameworks, CI/CD integrations, and quality analytics dashboards.
Support teams in optimising test environments, datasets, toolchains, and engineering capabilities.
Reporting, Risk Management & Communication
Deliver insightful reporting that highlights trends, risks, and opportunities—not just metrics—enabling informed decision‑making at leadership levels.
Communicate risks and issues clearly and confidently to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
Highlight systemic challenges that require cross‑team or organisational intervention.
Qualifications & Technical Skills
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or a related field
12–16 years of experience managing testing across mobile apps, web applications, automation, integration layers/APIs, and databases
Proven experience leading quality strategy across multiple squads or programmes
Experience working with internal audits, compliance functions, or regulated delivery environments
5+ years of banking domain experience, including loan origination and related systems
Strong knowledge of DevOps, Agile methodologies, and associated tools
In‑depth understanding of Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC), defect management, triaging, and modern test tools
Experience deploying enterprise‑scale automation, DevOps, cloud, and CI/CD Quality Engineering ecosystems
Strong familiarity with regulatory, compliance, and operational risk management
Relevant certifications such as ISTQB, CSTE, ISEB, or equivalent are preferred