Quality Assurance Team Lead

About the role

Penlink is a technology company bringing clarity to complex data for people who need it now. We partner with law enforcement agencies across the United States, offering a software solution to manage data and aid investigators solving crimes. We focus on creating products that positively impact our communities and being "in the mission" while maintaining a get-it-done attitude and a growing team.

We are seeking a Quality Assurance Lead to oversee a unified QA team across all products and serve as the ultimate decision-maker for release readiness. This role ensures software bugs are identified, tracked, and resolved, playing an integral part in the software development lifecycle to deliver the highest quality product to clients.

Responsibilities

• Lead and coach the QA team on test strategy, test case design, execution, and best practices.
• Develop, maintain, and continuously improve QA processes, testing procedures, and release readiness standards.
• Oversee software testing efforts including functional, regression, performance, scalability, reliability, and system testing.
• Partner with Product and Engineering teams to understand feature scope, estimate testing efforts, and coordinate defect resolution.
• Evaluate and recommend improvements to testing tools, processes, and buy-versus-build solutions.
• Manage team resources, including hiring, performance management, and development of QA staff.
• Drive release quality decisions by assessing testing results, team feedback, and overall system readiness.
• Ensure testing environments, documentation, reporting, and communication of testing outcomes are accurate and maintained.
• Identify usability and quality improvement opportunities and provide recommendations to Product and Engineering teams.
• Support troubleshooting efforts by reproducing, validating, and resolving client-reported issues.

Requirements

• 3+ years of leading a team of employees and 5+ years of working in QA.
• Adept at leading teams using Agile and Scrum methodologies.
• BA degree in Computer Science or related field preferred.
• Expertise and demonstrated delivery of high-quality software testing processes.
• Familiarity with test case management software (e.g., Microsoft Test Center) and issue tracking tools.
• Detailed oriented, methodical, and organized in your thinking.
• Ability to think strategically regarding improvements to the quality assurance process.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to convey ideas clearly and professionally to teams and stakeholders.
• Drive to deliver and openness to new ideas and approaches.
• Maintain a positive, team-oriented attitude that inspires confidence and motivates employees to meet challenges head-on.
• Experience implementing best practices for testing and release.

Schedule

This position follows a hybrid schedule, requiring two days per week in our Lincoln, Nebraska, office. Onsite requirements may be adjusted based on business needs and company or departmental policy.