Director, QA

Job No: TANTALUS109

Location: Burnaby, BC

Employment Status: Full-time

No. of Vacancies: 1

Closing Date: 31 Jan 2022 PST

Tantalus has consistently and creatively developed technology that enhances the safety, security, reliability and efficiency of public power and electric cooperative utilities across North America and the Caribbean Basin. Come join us if you’re interested in being part of an entrepreneurial team, solving complex technical problems and delivering innovative solutions that directly impact the daily lives of millions of people.

The Opportunity:

As Director of QA you will be responsible for building and management of the people and processes to ensure that our entire product suite, internal tools and systems, and other engineering deliverables are built and delivered with quality, performance and reliability. The Director of QA is an experienced engineering leader who is passionate about solving problems with technology, loves nurturing and developing people, and has experience navigating the challenges of a dynamic and growing business.

Location of Position:

This position will be based in our Burnaby, BC office.

Specifically, the Director of QA will:

• Work with a diverse engineering team that includes deep experience in the areas of front-end and back-end software, embedded systems, firmware, hardware, wireless and IP networks.
• Manage the quality program across a wide set of technologies comprising a large scale industrial wireless network with distributed applications that operate across edge connected devices, head end systems, analytics, enterprise integrations and third-party connected applications.
• Define and execute a consistent and effective QA strategy based on our development roadmap, operational challenges, and vision for Quality.
• Ensures the quality and timely release of software/firmware products throughout the iterative development process.
• Manage the maintenance and ongoing development of the overall test library including the strategic expansion of test coverage.
• Focus on the management of the risks inherent in delivery of technology into large scale distributed and networked environments.
• Ownership of test automation infrastructure: expansion of hardware and software required to automate testing for head-end systems, networks, and embedded real-time and Linux based devices.
• Lead the development of innovative approaches to testing and test automation.
• Drive the establishment of an effective test program within an Agile methodology alongside Scrum teams.
• Work with a team of QA engineers embedded in scrum teams.
• Build trust and remove obstacles to enhance QA delivery capability in a cross-functional, collaborative environment.
• Provide oversight and guidance of the test team members to ensure the quality and completeness of test plans and test reporting through engagement in project scrum workflow and the overall product release workflow.
• Drive continuous process improvement, work closely with product and engineering teams to establish a regular process that will identify bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and areas of improvement for continuous quality delivery.
• Develop effective metrics for measurement of quality.
• Actively coordinate with engineering and customer support to effectively manage a diverse range of field issues.
• Plan and manage knowledge acquisition and preparation for large testing effort.
• Develop and evangelize a culture around quality across the entire organization.
• Oversee the management and expansion of test orchestration, execution and reporting tools and frameworks by all teams.
• Ensure the effective management and maintenance of lab resources.

What you Bring:

Education and Experience

• University degree in engineering, computer science, or related science or technology discipline.
• 10+ years of management and leadership experience, leading technical and QA teams.
• Demonstrated experience in software delivery, software test best practices including test automation and agile best practices.
• Demonstrated understanding of the role of quality in the Agile development environment and the challenges of embedded and distributed systems.
• Strong technical background with the ability to provide highly credible leadership to QA teams and to be able to evaluate complex project risks and issues accurately and objectively.
• Experience rolling out and managing a test automation program.
• Demonstrated project management skills.
• Demonstrated success working in a team environment on complex systems, with the ability to interact with all levels within the organization.
• Demonstrated experience in management of a distributed QA team in a collaborative and agile environment: leading the test planning, resource estimation, test management and reporting.
• Demonstrated ability to build teams, recruit, coach mentor and develop staff.
• Experience with large scale end to end systems comprising both hardware, firmware and software product development.
• Demonstrated ongoing professional development in the fields of software testing, project management and technology.
• Excellent verbal and written English communication skills.

Personal Attributes Required:

• Strong interpersonal skills including mentoring, coaching, collaborating, and team building.
• Ability to develop trusted relationships with cross-functional stakeholders to drive quality releases.
• Excellent strategic thinking, systems thinking skills, and ability to define robust quality strategy in a complex and fast-pacing environment.
• Strong horizontal leadership and be able to work effectively across multiple business partners, business units, global sites, and functions and the ability to work effectively in a matrix environment.