QA Lead/Manager

QA Lead Rate: $65/hour About the Role The QA Lead will own quality from strategy through release, building and running the user acceptance testing (UAT) program, managing test environments, and moving the team toward smarter, more automated testing. This is a hands-on leadership role: the right person sets direction and builds process, but also writes test cases, builds automation, and digs into defects alongside the team. This role works directly with the Director of IT and partners closely with business stakeholders, developers, and product owners to make sure what gets released works the way the business expects it to. Responsibilities Lead end-to-end QA and UAT efforts across projects and releases, from test planning through sign-offSet up, coordinate, and maintain UAT and user acceptance testing environments, including test data readiness and environment schedulingWork with business stakeholders to define acceptance criteria, guide them through UAT cycles, and turn their feedback into clear, actionable defectsDesign, build, and maintain automated test suites, and contribute directly to automation codeDrive test automation strategy: identify what should be automated, evaluate tools and frameworks, and guide implementation across the teamPerform hands-on functional, regression, integration, and API testingBuild and improve QA processes, standards, and documentation so testing is consistent and repeatableTrack and report on quality metrics, release readiness, and risk to the Director of IT and project leadershipMentor QA team members and set clear expectations for how testing gets donePartner with development and DevOps teams to integrate testing into CI/CD pipelines and bring testing earlier into the delivery cycle Required Qualifications 7+ years of experience in software quality assurance, including at least 3 years in a QA lead roleStrong hands-on experience running UAT programs and managing test environmentsHands-on experience building and maintaining test automation using tools such as Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, or similarWorking knowledge of at least one programming or scripting language (Java, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, or C#)Experience with API testing tools such as Postman or REST AssuredAbility to write SQL queries for test data setup and validationExperience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or similar)A track record of building or improving QA processes, not just following themComfort working with business users and senior stakeholders, and the ability to explain technical issues in plain languageExperience with test management and defect tracking tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps, or TestRailExperience working in Agile delivery environments Nice to Have Ecommerce experience, especially testing checkout flows, payments, order management, or customer-facing web platforms