Senior QA Lead

We are on the hunt for a seasoned Senior QA Lead to elevate our technology team and champion quality assurance across our dynamic ecosystem. In this pivotal role, you will oversee testing for our flagship mobile applications (iOS and Android Fan Apps, iOS Staff App), backend microservices, and seamless end-to-end venue experiences. Your expertise will drive the development of robust testing strategies, spearhead automation initiatives, and ensure our systems deliver reliable, high-performance experiences, even under the most demanding event-day conditions.

This is a unique opportunity for a strategic thinker who thrives in complex environments, managing multiple third-party integrations, IoT dependencies, and venue-specific validation challenges that can't be fully automated. If you're passionate about delivering flawless user experiences in high-stakes scenarios, we want to hear from you.

Key Responsibilities:

Test Strategy & Leadership:

Define and execute a comprehensive QA strategy across mobile apps, backend APIs, and end-to-end journeys.

Lead a team of QA engineers across multiple workstream pods (Ticketing/Identity, Commerce/Payments, Loyalty).

Establish and enforce quality gates in the CI/CD pipeline.

Drive the organization toward an 80%+ automation coverage target.

Define test certification processes for staging promotion and production releases.

Coordinate cross-pod testing to catch integration seam failures.

Report on quality metrics and test coverage to stakeholders.

Test Automation:

Own and evolve the test automation framework (Cucumber/BDD, Appium, RestAssured).

Ensure automation covers happy paths, error scenarios, and edge cases (currently ~25% negative scenario coverage).

Implement contract testing for third-party integrations (Ticketmaster, Chase, PlayFab, AiFi, Microsoft Dynamics).

Address critical gaps, including API error code testing (403, 500, 502) and third-party failure scenarios.

Maintain automation test suite with Allure and Jira reporting integration.

Third-Party & Integration Testing:

Establish testing strategies for third-party integrations where staging environments are limited or unavailable (e.g., Ticketmaster).

Implement service virtualization and mock strategies for vendor dependencies.

Coordinate with vendor teams on integration test approaches.

Ensure automation validates third-party SDK behavior and failure modes.

Venue & Event-Day Testing:

Plan and execute on-site venue testing for IoT, biometric, and frictionless commerce scenarios.

Develop strategies for validating loyalty flows that depend on physical devices (smart armrests, Zoom Thru cameras).

Coordinate event-day QA support and post-event issue analysis.

Create repeatable test scenarios for venue-dependent features.

Process & Governance:

Ensure "ignored" tests are tracked as explicit coverage debt with time-bound remediation.

Transform automation results from informational to release-gating quality gates.

Establish SLAs for bug triage and resolution.

Drive adoption of test-driven development practices.

Required Qualifications:

7+ years of experience in software quality assurance.

3+ years of experience leading QA teams or initiatives.

Strong experience with test automation frameworks for mobile (Appium) and API (RestAssured).

Proficiency in BDD/Cucumber with Gherkin syntax for behavior-driven testing.

Experience with CI/CD integration of automated tests (Azure DevOps, Jenkins, or similar).

Strong understanding of mobile testing for iOS and Android platforms.

Experience with API testing and REST service validation.

Knowledge of test reporting tools (Allure, Jira, or similar).

Experience in establishing quality gates and certification processes.

Strong understanding of testing in microservices architectures.

Familiarity with event-driven systems and Kafka-based integration testing.

Excellent communication skills and ability to work with cross-functional teams.

Experience with Git version control and branching strategies.

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field (or equivalent experience).

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience with contract testing (Pact, Spring Cloud Contract, or similar).

Background in sports, entertainment, or venue technology.

Experience testing payment processing flows (tokenization, PCI compliance).

Familiarity with biometric systems testing.

Experience with Ticketmaster or ticketing system integrations.

Knowledge of IoT device testing and hardware integration validation.

Experience with performance testing tools (JMeter, Gatling).

Familiarity with BrowserStack or cloud device farms.

Experience with testing in environments with third-party SDK dependencies.

Understanding of observability tools (Datadog, Application Insights) for debugging.

Experience supporting systems during live events with high-stakes reliability requirements.

Tech Stack:

Automation Framework:

Language: Java 17

Test Framework: TestNG 7.11.0.

BDD Framework: Cucumber 7.33.0

Mobile Automation: Appium 10.0.0

API Testing: RestAssured 5.4.0

Reporting: Allure 2.31.0

Cloud Devices: BrowserStack (10 parallel threads).

Design Patterns:

Hybrid Screenplay + Page Object Model for mobile tests.

Task-based abstraction for API operations.

Screen/Task/Question pattern for UI automation.

Environment:

CI/CD: Azure DevOps.

Test Management: Jira.

Version Control: Git (Bitbucket).

Code Quality: SonarQube.

Benefits:

401(k).

Dental Insurance.

Health insurance.

Vision insurance.

We are an equal-opportunity employer and value diversity, equality, inclusion, and respect for people.

The salary will be determined based on several factors, including, but not limited to, location, relevant education, qualifications, experience, technical skills, and business needs.

Additional Responsibilities:

Participate in OP monthly team meetings and participate in team-building efforts.

Contribute to OP technical discussions, peer reviews, etc.

Contribute content and collaborate via the OP-Wiki/Knowledge Base.

Provide status reports to OP Account Management as requested.

About us:

OP is a technology consulting and solutions company, offering advisory and managed services, innovative platforms, and staffing solutions across a wide range of fields - including AI, cybersecurity, enterprise architecture, and beyond. Our most valuable asset is our people: dynamic, creative thinkers who are passionate about doing quality work. As a member of the OP team, you will have access to industry-leading consulting practices, strategies & and technologies, innovative training & education. An ideal OP team member is a technology leader with a proven track record of technical excellence and a strong focus on process and methodology. PDN-a12ac9bb-0ac6-4464-8ed5-815b141d5eb2