Lead QA
The Lead QA position combines technical and managerial responsibilities. He/she directs the tests while coordinating the teams to ensure that the products meet the required standards.
The Lead QA (Quality Assurance) is both a technical expert and a team leader, capable of managing projects while supporting the QA engineers' skills development. As a technical leader, he or she supervises test coverage, whether manual or automated. He/she develops test strategies, manages quality indicators and ensures that functionalities meet the standards defined before going into production.
In addition to his technical responsibilities, the Lead QA is a mentor for his team, guiding testers in acquiring new skills and mastering testing tools. He or she is in regular contact with various project stakeholders, quality analysts and functional managers, to ensure that every aspect of the product is examined from every angle.
The QA Lead must be able to design, plan and execute integration, validation and non-regression tests. To be able to automate these tests, they must be familiar with automation tools such as Selenium, Appium, Pytest, or TestComplete. In addition, their knowledge of Java, Python and SQL programming languages enables them to create test scripts and interpret the results.
In addition, the Lead QA is familiar with test management tools such as Cucumber and GhostInspector, as well as the ability to manipulate databases (BDD) and use data libraries such as Pandas.
The Lead QA must show empathy by putting themselves in the place of the end user, while having a strong sense of priorities and a great ability to adapt to urgent situations. They are rigorous and organised, and know how to work as part of a team, avoiding blaming the developers.
To become a QA lead, you need to have completed between 3 and 5 years of higher education in IT.
CFTL/ISTQB certification is appreciated, as it attests to the candidate's credibility in testing.
Before taking up this position, a minimum of 6 years' experience as a Tester is required.
The possible career paths for a QA Lead depend on the company and its needs. With experience, a QA Lead can become a Quality Manager or Quality Director. They may also move into project management or Product Owner positions.