Director, Global Quality Assurance

Position Overview

The Director of Global Quality Assurance is responsible for defining and executing the enterprise QA strategy across a distributed engineering organization spanning North America Europe and Vietnam. This role leads both manual and automated testing functions drives quality engineering transformation and integrates modern AI-assisted testing approaches to improve coverage efficiency and release confidence.

The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise in test automation frameworks with proven leadership experience managing large globally distributed QA teams. Experience in warehouse execution systems (WES) warehouse control systems (WCS) or industrial automation environments is highly desirable.

Key Responsibilities

Global QA Strategy & Leadership

• Define and implement a global QA strategy covering functional integration performance and regression testing.
• Lead and scale distributed QA teams across the US Europe and Vietnam.
• Establish standardized QA processes governance models and KPIs across all regions.
• Drive a shift from traditional QA to Quality Engineering (QE) embedding quality earlier in the SDLC.

Automation & Tooling

• Own the automation strategy including framework selection implementation and scalability.
• Oversee development and maintenance of automation frameworks using tools such as Playwright Selenium and API testing frameworks.
• Lead performance and load testing initiatives using tools such as JMeter.
• Ensure CI/CD integration of automated test suites (e.g. GitHub Actions Jenkins ArgoCD pipelines).

AI-Driven QA Transformation

• Identify and implement AI/ML-driven testing solutions (e.g. test case generation self-healing tests defect prediction).
• Leverage AI tools to improve test coverage reduce manual effort and accelerate release cycles.
• Evaluate emerging AI QA platforms and integrate them into the testing ecosystem where appropriate.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Engineering DevOps Product and Architecture teams to align quality objectives with business goals.
• Integrate QA processes into modern DevOps pipelines and Kubernetes/OpenShift-based environments.
• Drive shift-left and shift-right testing practices including observability and production validation.

Domain-Specific Quality (Preferred)

• Support quality initiatives for WES (Warehouse Execution Systems) and WCS (Warehouse Control Systems) platforms.
• Ensure validation of complex workflows involving automation systems (e.g. robotics conveyors AutoStore Geek).
• Oversee integration testing across hardware/software boundaries.

Operational Excellence

• Define and track QA metrics (defect leakage automation coverage test cycle time MTTR).
• Implement risk-based testing approaches and quality gates for releases.
• Manage vendor relationships and external QA partners where applicable.

Qualifications

Required

• 10 years of experience in QA/QE with at least 5 years in a leadership role.
• Proven experience managing globally distributed QA teams including offshore models (Vietnam strongly preferred).
• Strong background in both manual testing and test automation.
• Hands-on experience with automation frameworks (e.g. Playwright Selenium).
• Experience with performance testing tools such as JMeter.
• Deep understanding of CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices.

Preferred

• Experience with WES WCS supply chain or industrial automation systems.
• Familiarity with containerized environments (Kubernetes OpenShift).
• Experience with AI-driven testing tools and strategies.
• Background in messaging systems (e.g. Kafka AMQ NATS) and distributed architectures.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS Azure).

Leadership & Soft Skills

• Strong executive presence with the ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders.
• Experience building and mentoring high-performing global teams.
• Excellent communication skills across technical and non-technical audiences.
• Data-driven decision-making mindset with a focus on continuous improvement.

Success Metrics

• Increased automation coverage and reduced manual regression effort.
• Improved defect detection earlier in the SDLC (shift-left effectiveness).
• Reduced production defects and faster release cycles.
• Successful adoption of AI-assisted QA capabilities.
• High team engagement and effective global team collaboration.

Location

Atlanta GA preferred; remote considered (20-30% travel required).

This job description describes the general nature and level of work expected of a person assigned to this position. All job requirements listed indicate the minimum level of knowledge skills and/or ability deemed necessary to perform the job proficiently. Employees may be required to perform any other job-related duties as requested by their supervisor.

It is the policy of FORTNA and its affiliated companies to provide equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age color national origin physical or mental disability race religion creed gender sex sexual orientation gender identity and/or expression genetic information marital status pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition status with regard to public assistance veteran status citizenship status (if authorized to work in the U.S.) or any other characteristic protected by federal state or local addition FORTNA will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.