Manager, Quality Engineering

Manager, Quality Engineering

Here at Appian, our values of Intensity and Excellence define who we are. We set high standards and live up to them, ensuring that everything we do is done with care and quality. We approach every challenge with ambition and commitment, holding ourselves and each other accountable to achieve the best results. When you join Appian, you'll be part of a passionate team dedicated to accomplishing hard things, together.

Our Quality Engineering team at Appian is dedicated to ensuring our enterprise software platform is flawless, resilient, and optimized for global scale. We operate in a highly collaborative, fast-paced environment focused on deep-tier technical precision, automated architecture, and continuous delivery pipelines. By joining this specialized group, you will collaborate directly with our Business Technology Development team to deliver robust validation frameworks that expand the capabilities of our AI-Powered Process Automation platform.

Location: McLean, Virginia, USA | Work Model: Onsite at Appian Headquarters

The Opportunity

We are seeking a Quality Assurance Manager with deep, hands-on test automation expertise to lead our QA team and elevate our automated testing ecosystem. In this role, you will define the overall test strategy, build and scale modern automation frameworks, and manage a team of manual and automation engineers. You will bridge the gap between quality assurance and software engineering, ensuring rapid, reliable continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD). Instead of executing standard testing scripts, you will design architectural patterns that isolate coupling, develop custom performance test pipelines, and ensure absolute Enterprise-Grade Orchestration.

What You'll Do

• Quality Leadership & Team Management: Lead, mentor, and expand a team of QA engineers. Establish performance goals, conduct code reviews for test suites, and foster a culture of quality across engineering.
• Automation Strategy & Architecture: Design, implement, and maintain scalable, robust test automation frameworks (UI, API, unit, and performance testing) across Appian UI and backend services. Design and scale custom testing applications from scratch in languages like Java or Python, utilizing tools such as Selenium, Playwright, and Postman.
• CI/CD Integration: Integrate automated test suites directly into DevOps pipelines (GitLab CI) to enable automated smoke, regression, and release testing.
• Test Process Optimization: Shift testing left by embedding QA early in the SDLC, defining test plans during sprint planning, and driving automated test coverage targets (e.g., >80%).
• Metrics & Reporting: Establish key quality metrics (defect density, test execution time, automation coverage, mean time to detect/resolve) and present actionable dashboards to executive leadership.
• Tooling & Infrastructure: Select, evaluate, and manage QA tools and performance testing tools.
• Isolate Codebase Impact: Assess the structural impact of changes across the entire codebase through meticulous code reviews, ensuring engineering best practices are followed.
• Govern Agile Feature Breakdowns: Deconstruct complex platform features into detailed story tickets, systematically identifying edge cases, system dependencies, and technical deployment risks.

Required Qualifications

• Experience: 8+ years in Quality Assurance with at least 3+ years in a QA management, lead, or supervisory role.
• Deep Automation Expertise: 5+ years of hands-on experience building test automation frameworks from the ground up using tools like Playwright and Selenium.
• Programming Skills: Strong proficiency in at least two core languages used for automation (e.g., Python, TypeScript/JavaScript).
• CI/CD & DevOps: Proven track record integrating automated suites into CI/CD pipelines and containerized environments (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Testing Methodologies: Master-level understanding of API testing, performance/load testing, and security testing basics.
• Agile Leadership: Extensive experience working in Agile/Scrum environments with tools like Jira.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with AI-driven testing tools or autonomous test generation frameworks.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Experience with using AI tools for test automation is a plus.

The base salary range represents a good faith and reasonable estimate of the range at the time of posting. Actual compensation will be dependent on a number of factors including, but not limited to, the candidate's relevant work experience, qualifications, internal peer equity, and market and business conditions that exist when extending an offer. A discretionary bonus may be awarded in recognition of individual and company performance. In addition, Appian provides generous benefits offerings that include a 401(k) plan with company match, flexible time off, paid parental leave, medical, dental, and vision plans, life insurance, disability insurance, wellness programs, flexible spending accounts, health savings account contributions, an employee referral bonus program, and learning and development resources. Certain positions may be eligible for equity awards. Pay and benefits are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation, commission, bonus, or benefit plans.

Base Salary Range

$125,000 - $250,000 USD

Tools and Resources

• Training and Development: During onboarding, we focus on equipping new hires with the skills and knowledge for success through department-specific training. Continuous learning is a central focus at Appian, with dedicated mentorship and the First-Friend program being widely utilized resources for new hires.
• Growth Opportunities: Appian provides a diverse array of growth and development opportunities, including our leadership program tailored for new and aspiring managers, a comprehensive library of specialized department training through Appian University, skills based training, and tuition reimbursement for those aiming to advance their education. This commitment ensures that employees have access to a holistic range of development opportunities.
• Community: We'll immerse you into our community rooted in respect starting on day one. Appian fosters inclusivity through our 8 employee-led affinity groups. These groups help employees build stronger internal and external networks by planning social, educational, and outreach activities to connect with Appianites and larger initiatives throughout the company.

Appian offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your health, wellbeing, and financial future. Benefits may include health coverage, Employee Assistance Program (EAP) with free mental health support, life and disability insurance, an Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP), a retirement/pension plan, wellness dollars, tuition reimbursement, family-forming benefits and more. Benefits vary by country—please ask your Talent Acquisition contact for details specific to the location you are applying to.

About Appian

Appian provides AI automation for the most important business processes at the world's largest organizations. Our platform is known for its unique power, reliability, and scale. We've been automating processes for more than 25 years and understand enterprise operations like no one else.