QA Lead

QA LeadLocation: Plano TX (Day 1 onsite)Salary: $120k or Rate: $65/hrResponsible for leading the quality strategy and execution across a portfolio of Risk, Legal, Compliance, and Learning Systems. The QA Lead will define test strategies, build test plans, drive test automation, and coordinate various testing activities through the development lifecycle in alignment with agile scrum.Key ResponsibilitiesQuality Strategy and GovernancePartner with tech leads to design test strategies that align with architectural patterns, release plans, and platform roadmaps.Define domain-level test strategy that aligns with architecture, sprint cadence, and release planning.Create and maintain test plans that cover functional, integration, security, regression, and non-functional needs.Establish quality standards, metrics, test coverage expectations, and reporting for domain leadership and factory teams.Ensure domain QA practice adheres to Center of Quality Excellence (CQE) policies and standards.Support compliance with internal controls for regulated processes.Agile Delivery SupportParticipate in backlog refinement to clarify acceptance criteria and identify test impacts.Provide test design guidance each sprint, including functional, integration, and nonfunctional tests.Oversee defect lifecycle and drive resolution with engineering partners.Track and communicate sprint-level quality metrics and risks.Test Automation and CI IntegrationDefine test automation strategy, frameworks, and oversee automation development to improve repeatability and reduce cycle time.Partner with engineers to prioritize and maintain automated suites.Identify automation gaps that slow delivery or increase operational risk.UAT and Release ReadinessBuild UAT plans aligned with release trains.Coordinate business testers, scenario coverage, and issue triage.Provide quality assessments and go or no-go recommendations for releases.SaaS Quality ManagementReview SaaS vendor release notes, configuration changes, and impact areas.Validate updates in lower environments and coordinate with product owners and vendors.Monitor quality implications for integrations, data flows, and compliance-sensitive functions.Required Experience7+ years in software quality roles, including 3+ years leading QA for enterprise applications.Experience testing SaaS platforms, including configuration testing, vendor release validation, and integration testing with internal systems.Experience testing APIs, event-driven flows, ETL jobs, and SaaS integration patterns.Strong communication and collaboration skills.Ability to constructively challenge requirements, assumptions, and design decisions to reduce quality risk.Experience with test automation frameworks, CI pipelines, and regression automation.Skilled in UAT planning, coordination, and business stakeholder engagement.Knowledge of risk, legal, compliance, and/or learning systems is a plus.