QA Lead

Req ID:
346755

NTT DATA strives to hire exceptional, innovative and passionate individuals who want to grow with us. If you want to be part of an inclusive, adaptable, and forward-thinking organization, apply now.

We are currently seeking a
QA Lead - Onsite
to join our team in
Houston
,
Texas (US-TX)
,
United States (US)
.

We are seeking an experienced
QA Lead
with ~
8+ years
of strong software testing and quality assurance experience to lead QA activities for an enterprise application development project. The ideal candidate will define and execute QA strategy, lead a cross-functional QA team (manual + automation), integrate testing into CI/CD pipelines, manage quality risks, and be an escalation point for stakeholders. This role requires technical depth, hands-on automation, and strong leadership/communication skills.

Key Responsibilities / Job Duties

• QA Strategy & Planning

• Define and own the overall test strategy, test plan, and quality goals for the application development lifecycle.

• Establish exit criteria, release readiness gates, and quality metrics.

• Team Leadership & People Management

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of QA engineers (manual, automation, performance) and contractors.

• Allocate resources, manage capacity, conduct performance reviews, and support career development.

• Lead daily/weekly stand-ups, sprint planning QA inputs, and post-release retrospectives.

• Test Design & Implementation

• Drive creation of test cases, test suites, and traceability matrices for functional, integration, regression, and system tests.

• Champion test automation (UI, API, unit integration), using latest AI tools and own the automation roadmap and maintenance strategy.

• Ensure adoption of BDD/TDD where applicable and design tests to be reliable and maintainable.

• Hands-on Automation & Technical Contribution

• Implement and maintain automation frameworks and contribute code reviews for test automation.

• Build/maintain API test suites, and automate end-to-end workflows and regression packs.

• CI/CD & Tooling Integration

• Integrate tests into CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps) to enable automated validation on each build.

• Manage test environments (containerized environments, cloud test beds) and test data provisioning.

• Performance, Security & Non-Functional Testing

• Define and coordinate performance, load, stress, and security test strategies.

• Work with DevOps and security teams to validate application reliability and compliance.

• Defect Management & Risk Mitigation

• Manage defect lifecycle, prioritize issues, and drive root-cause analysis to reduce recurrence.

• Identify quality risks early and provide risk-based mitigation plans and trade-off recommendations.

• Stakeholder Communication & Governance

• Communicate quality status, KPIs, and risks to Product Owners, Engineering Managers, and other stakeholders.

• Represent QA in release decision meetings and post-release reviews.

• Process Improvement & Best Practices

• Establish QA best practices, coding standards for tests, and continuous improvement initiatives to increase automation coverage and reduce cycle time.

• Drive metrics-driven quality improvements (defect escape rate, automation ROI, MTTR).

Required Qualifications & Experience

• 8+ years of professional experience in software QA and testing; minimum 3–5 years in a lead role.
• Strong hands-on experience with test automation frameworks (e.g., Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, Appium) and latest AI testing tools
• Solid experience testing web, mobile, and API (REST/SOAP) applications.
• Demonstrable experience integrating tests into CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, Azure DevOps).
• Proficiency with programming/scripting languages (e.g., Java, Python, JavaScript/TypeScript).
• Experience with performance testing tools (JMeter, Gatling) and security testing processes.
• Good SQL/noSQL knowledge for test data validation (e.g., Postgres, MySQL, MongoDB).
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Experience in Agile/Scrum environments and working closely with cross-functional teams.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent. Master's degree or relevant certifications are a plus.

Desired Skills & Certifications

• Strong leadership, stakeholder management, and written/verbal communication skills.
• Knowledge of BDD frameworks (Cucumber, SpecFlow) and test design techniques.
• Familiarity with observability and monitoring tools (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK).
• Certifications (optional but desirable): ISTQB Advanced, Certified Agile Tester, AWS/Azure certifications, or test automation certifications.
• Experience with DevSecOps or embedding security testing into pipelines.

About NTT DATA
NTT DATA is a $30+ billion business and technology services leader, serving 75% of the Fortune Global 100. We are committed to accelerating client success and positively impacting society through responsible innovation. We are one of the world's leading AI and digital infrastructure providers, with unmatched capabilities in enterprise-scale AI, cloud, security, connectivity, data centers and application services. Our consulting and industry solutions help organizations and society move confidently and sustainably into the digital future. As a Global Top Employer, we have experts in more than 50 countries. We also offer clients access to a robust ecosystem of innovation centers as well as established and start-up partners. NTT DATA is part of NTT Group, which invests over $3 billion each year in R&D.

Whenever possible, we hire locally to NTT DATA offices or client sites. This ensures we can provide timely and effective support tailored to each client's needs. While many positions offer remote or hybrid work options, these arrangements are subject to change based on client requirements. For employees near an NTT DATA office or client site, in-office attendance may be required for meetings or events, depending on business needs. At NTT DATA, we are committed to staying flexible and meeting the evolving needs of both our clients and employees. NTT DATA recruiters will never ask for payment or banking information and will only use and email addresses. If you are requested to provide payment or disclose banking information, please submit a contact us form,

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