Head of Quality Management

Rakuten Kobo Inc.; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 8,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Rakuten Symphony is seeking an Engineering Excellence & Transformation Leader to drive Agile transformation, SDLC governance, and workforce readiness across a large engineering organization in Bengaluru. The role focuses on defining practical frameworks for Open RAN and vRAN product lines, delivering measurable quality improvements and scalable automation.

You will bridge product management and engineering, own delivery quality, and evaluate AI automation tools with a strong ROI orientation to

Qualifications

• 12+ years leading engineering program management, software quality governance, or process transformation in large-scale technical organizations.
• Proven track record in Telecommunications software delivery within Open RAN (O-RAN), vRAN, or 4G/5G network functions.
• Deep expertise tailoring Agile frameworks to complex systems engineering environments; cross-functional alignment.
• Strong understanding of modern software validation pipelines, CI/CD, quality metrics, and toolset optimization.
• Hands-on experience evaluating emerging engineering tech (AI automation) with ROI focus.
• Experience partnering with external vendors for large-scale enterprise training and workforce development.

Responsibilities

• Lead Agile transformation across a large engineering team, tailoring SAFe/LeSS/Scrum to RAN delivery models.
• Map the complete SDLC lifecycle and translate engineering nuances into pragmatic processes.
• Own definition, tracking, and governance of quality KPIs to ensure delivery predictability and zero-defect releases.
• Define and execute an engineering automation roadmap, including AI agent integration and ROI-driven evaluation.
• Coordinate with external training vendors to drive workforce readiness and upskilling for large cohorts.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Agile mastery

Quality governance

Open RAN/vRAN domain

Vendor & stakeholder mgmt

AI automation awareness

Tools

CI/CD pipelines

QA tooling

Automation tools

AI automation tools

Job description

Job Description: About Altiostar: Altiostar is the mobile broadband industry's first provider of Virtual RAN (vRAN) with Ethernet front haul, for software-intensive LTE eNodeB. Our unique solution is designed to improve quality of experience, enhance spectral efficiency and significantly reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Join our team of passionate, experienced professionals who understand the mobile network operators' requirements and vision. Designation: Head of Quality Management Location: Bengaluru Domain: Open RAN / Virtualized RAN (vRAN) Telecommunications

Position Summary

We are seeking a seasoned Engineering Excellence & Transformation Leader to drive Agile transformation, process optimization, and operational efficiency across a large engineering organization. In this role, you will bridge the gap between product management and engineering, defining practical, grounded SDLC frameworks tailored specifically to our Open RAN and virtualized RAN (vRAN) product lines. You will own delivery quality, build a pragmatic engineering automation strategy (including AI agent integration), and drive workforce readiness to ensure high predictability and customer satisfaction.

Key Responsibilities

Agile Transformation & Process Optimization Drive Agile transformation across a large-scale engineering team by customizing standard frameworks (e.g., SAFe, LeSS, Scrum) to align with our specific RAN Network Functions business and delivery models. Optimize end-to-end workflows across Product Management and Engineering teams delivering complex products for Open and virtualized RAN (vRAN) deployments.

SDLC Mapping & Practical Governance Map the complete SDLC lifecycle—from initial software development, validation, and integration through to final release and customer deployment. Translate deep engineering nuances into pragmatic, grounded process definitions rather than enforcing rigid, theoretical frameworks.

Quality Excellence & KPI Governance Own the definition, tracking, and governance of all quality KPIs to ensure delivery predictability, zero-defect release goals, and overall quality excellence.

Engineering Automation & AI Integration Define and execute a two-tiered process automation roadmap: maximize existing internal tools for immediate near-term gains while evaluating new engineering technologies for long-term scalability. Evaluate and deploy AI agents within the engineering automation pipeline using strict cost-vs-benefit analysis to filter out market hype and deliver measurable ROI.

Workforce Readiness & Upskilling Coordinate directly with external training vendors and specialists to design, manage, and drive workforce readiness and continuous upskilling programs for large engineering cohorts.

Qualifications & Requirements

• Experience: 12+ years leading engineering program management, software quality governance, or process transformation in large-scale technical organizations.
• Domain Expertise: Proven track record in Telecommunications software delivery, and driving quality excellence, specifically within Open RAN (O-RAN), virtualized RAN (vRAN), or 4G/5G Network Functions.
• Agile Mastery: Deep expertise tailoring Agile frameworks to complex systems engineering environments; expert in cross-functional workflow alignment.
• Quality & Automation: Strong understanding of modern software validation pipelines, continuous delivery (CI/CD), quality metrics, and toolset optimization.
• Pragmatic Innovation: Hands-on experience evaluating emerging engineering technology (including AI automation tools) with a business-first, ROI-driven mindset.
• Vendor & Stakeholder Management: Experience partnering with external vendors for large-scale enterprise training and workforce capability development.

RAKUTEN SHUGI PRINCIPLES

• Always improve, always advance. Only be satisfied with complete success - Kaizen.
• Be passionately professional. Take an uncompromising approach to your work and be determined to be the best.
• Hypothesize - Practice - Validate - Shikumika. Use the Rakuten Cycle to success in unknown territory.
• Maximize Customer Satisfaction. The greatest satisfaction for workers in a service industry is to see their customers smile.
• Speed!! Speed!! Speed!! Always be conscious of time. Take charge, set clear goals, and engage your team.

Rakuten Symphony is reimagining telecom, changing supply chain norms and disrupting outmoded thinking that threatens the industry’s pursuit of rapid innovation and growth. Based on proven modern infrastructure practices, its open interface platforms make it possible to launch and operate advanced mobile services in a fraction of the time and cost of conventional approaches, with no compromise to network quality or security. Rakuten Symphony has operations in Japan, the United States, Singapore, India, South Korea, Europe, and the Middle East Africa region. For more information, visit: https://symphony.rakuten.com Building on the technology Rakuten used to launch Japan’s newest mobile network, we are taking our mobile offering global. To support our ambitions to provide an innovative cloud-native telco platform for our customers, Rakuten Symphony is looking to recruit and develop top talent from around the globe. We are looking for individuals to join our team across all functional areas of our business – from sales to engineering, support functions to product development. Let’s build the future of mobile telecommunications together!