Lead Product Quality Assurance Engineer

100 Eli Lilly and Company; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 71,000 - 169,000; Full time

Job summary

Lilly is seeking a Quality Engineering Lead to own the end-to-end testing lifecycle for software products. You will define testing requirements, lead automation efforts, and collaborate with developers, product managers, and business analysts to accelerate delivery while ensuring quality.

This role requires guiding a global QE team and driving AI-assisted testing practices. You will champion shift-left principles, manage risk, and deliver clear quality metrics to project managers and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.
• 8+ years of software quality assurance experience.
• 5+ years in a Test Lead or QE Lead role.
• Authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis.
• Experience leading end-to-end testing in an Agile delivery model.

Responsibilities

• Develop and document comprehensive test strategies and plans aligned with project goals.
• Lead test execution, defect tracking, and risk mitigation across teams.
• Design, implement, and maintain test automation frameworks.
• Coordinate SIT and UAT across time zones and multiple teams.
• Communicate metrics and release readiness to stakeholders.

Skills

QE Leadership

Test Automation

CI/CD

Quality Assurance

Shift-left

Team Collaboration

AI in Testing

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science / IT or related field

Tools

TestRail

XRay

QTest

GitHub

Jira

Job description

At Lilly, the work is demanding because patients are waiting. We unite caring with discovery to help make life better for people around the world, knowing that every decision, every detail, and every day matters. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, our over 50,000 employees around the globe take on complex challenges to discover and deliver life‑changing medicines, strengthen how health is understood and managed, and support the communities we serve. This is hard, urgent, selfless work—but it’s work worth doing. If you’re driven by purpose and ready to bring your best to work that truly matters for patients, we invite you to join us. Come build the next generation of Software Engineering, so we can reach and support more patients digitally! Lilly's mission is to develop and maintain software products that meet the needs and requirements of both our internal and external customers. This typically involves a combination of activities such as gathering and analyzing user requirements, designing and implementing software solutions, testing and debugging code, and maintaining and improving the performance and reliability of software over time. The goal of software engineering at Lilly is to create high‑quality, reliable, and effective software utilizing cutting‑edge methodologies and integrations to solve Lilly's real‑world problems and provide value to our customers.

The Role:

As a Quality Engineering Lead, you will own the end-to-end testing lifecycle for software products — from strategy through release — ensuring quality, reliability, and on‑time delivery. You will anticipate and resolve complex problems across teams, lead and collaborate with professional peers and leadership, and make in-depth, data-informed decisions that drive quality outcomes across your product area. You will partner closely with developers, product managers, and business analysts to define testing requirements, implement effective automation strategies, and accelerate delivery while reducing manual testing overhead. A critical part of this role is anticipating post‑production risks driven by technology or environment changes, and working proactively with support teams to resolve them before they become production incidents. You will lead a globally distributed QE team and will be expected to structure work, communication, and collaboration rhythms that keep the team aligned and progressing across time zones. Business and Development stakeholders are US‑based, and depending on how the QE team is structured, you may at times be the primary — or only — QE presence during US business hours. You will be expected to lean in directly when the situation demands it. You will also champion the Quality Engineering strategy across your products, driving test efficiency and speed through modern automation techniques and AI‑assisted testing practices.

What You’ll Be Doing:

Test Planning & Strategy

Develop and document comprehensive test strategies and plans aligned with project goals, defining objectives, scope, deliverables, and success criteria — making in-depth decisions informed by analysis across your team and multiple delivery teams. Identify required testing types and plan resources, schedules, and tooling to support testing activities, anticipating risks and resource needs before they surface. Champion shift‑left testing principles — engage early in the product development lifecycle to deeply understand how products are architected and built, not just what the requirements say. Use that understanding to surface testability gaps, design risks, and integration complexities before they reach execution.

Test Execution Management

Oversee preparation and execution of test cases, ensuring thorough requirements coverage; monitor testing progress, enforce adherence to plan, and manage defect tracking, reporting, and resolution. Step in as a hands‑on contributor when the situation requires it — particularly during deployments scheduled in US afternoon or evening windows where you may be the only QE resource available. This includes executing smoke and regression test suites, making real‑time go/no‑go assessments, and clearly communicating any critical blockers to development and release teams. Define and track key performance indicators — defect density, test coverage, execution rates — and present quality trend reports to stakeholders, using metrics to drive data‑informed decisions on release readiness.

Test Automation Leadership

Lead the design, development, and maintenance of test automation frameworks, applying comprehensive technical expertise to improve testing products, processes, and services. Balance manual and automated testing based on project context and risk profile; guide teams through technical solutioning and course‑correct implementations when needed. Drive continuous testing integration within CI/CD pipelines, contributing to modern engineering practices across teams.

Stakeholder Communication, Collaboration & Test Coordination

Lead and collaborate with professional peers and leadership across teams — serving as the primary point of contact for all testing‑related queries and providing regular updates on test progress, metrics, and results to project managers and product owners. Coordinate cross‑team System Integration Testing (SIT) and User Acceptance Testing (UAT) — among the most complex and high‑stakes activities in the delivery cycle. Align schedules, entry and exit criteria, test environments, and stakeholder readiness across multiple teams to drive these phases to successful completion. Plan and manage working model overlaps for a distributed team — deliberately schedule collaboration windows, stand‑ups, and critical reviews that provide meaningful coverage across time zones, ensuring no segment of the team operates in isolation or becomes a delivery bottleneck. Escalate critical issues and risks to appropriate stakeholders promptly and clearly; anticipate and address customer needs across internal teams to maintain delivery momentum.

Risk & Issue Management

Anticipate and resolve complex testing‑phase risks early — develop structured mitigation strategies that address root causes, not just symptoms, with impact across teams. Track and resolve critical issues before release, proactively clearing bottlenecks and dependency conflicts; lead resolution efforts and communicate outcomes with clarity and accountability.

What You Should Bring:

Technical Expertise

Comprehensive knowledge of software testing disciplines — functional, regression, integration, performance, and exploratory — with the depth to improve testing processes and services across products. Proficiency in test management tools such as TestRail, XRay, Qtest, or Quality Center. Hands‑on experience with test automation frameworks — Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, or Puppeteer — with the ability to guide teams through technical solutioning, unblock scripting issues, and course‑correct implementations. Working knowledge of GitHub and CI/CD tooling (GitHub Actions or Jenkins). Strong understanding of AI in testing and a demonstrated ability to drive AI adoption within QE practices.

Process & Methodology

Proven experience leading end‑to‑end testing lifecycles (STLC) within Agile delivery models, with the ability to make decisions that positively impact work across multiple teams. Strong knowledge of SDLC and Agile practices, with hands‑on experience using Agile planning tools such as Jira. Demonstrated ability to apply shift‑left principles — contributing to design reviews, architecture discussions, and sprint planning to embed quality from the start. Ability to align testing strategy with business goals and delivery commitments, establishing key relationships with stakeholders outside the immediate business area.

Leadership & Communication

Leads and collaborates with professional peers and leadership across teams — strong interpersonal and team‑building skills with experience working across business and technical functions. Ability to motivate, guide, and resolve conflicts within a QE team; makes sound decisions on complex issues within a team or multiple teams. Adaptable and solutions‑oriented — reads shifting situations quickly, evaluates options, and keeps the team moving forward without waiting for perfect information. Comfortable being the sole QE voice in the room — capable of independently executing test activities, making release‑critical judgments, and communicating outcomes with confidence when team backup is unavailable during deployment windows. Experienced leading distributed teams across multiple time zones — understands the discipline required to plan meaningful overlap windows, maintain team visibility, and prevent time zone gaps from becoming delivery gaps. Proven ability to coordinate across multiple teams and stakeholder groups, particularly for complex cross‑functional activities such as SIT and UAT. Clear, effective communication with both technical and non‑technical stakeholders; sharp decision‑making when navigating challenges across the testing lifecycle. Attention to detail in defect identification, isolation, and documentation.

Your Basic Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related technical engineering discipline, including Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, Cybersecurity, Information Science, Network Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Information Systems (CIS), Management Information Systems (MIS), Cloud Computing, Data Science 8 or more years of software quality assurance experience 5+years in a Test Lead or QE Lead capacity. Experience leading end‑to‑end testing activities across multiple teams in an Agile delivery environment. Qualified applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full‑time basis. Lilly will not provide support for or sponsor work authorization or visas for this role, including but not limited to F-1 CPT, F-1 OPT, F-1 STEM OPT, J-1, H-1B, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, or L-1. Lilly is dedicated to helping individuals with disabilities to actively engage in the workforce, ensuring equal opportunities when vying for positions. If you require accommodation to submit a resume for a position at Lilly, please complete the accommodation request form (https://careers.lilly.com/us/en/workplace-accommodation) for further assistance. Please note this is for individuals to request an accommodation as part of the application process and any other correspondence will not receive a response. Lilly is proud to be an EEO Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender identity, sex, gender expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, ancestry, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status.

About the Organization

Tech@Lilly builds and maintains capabilities using pioneering technologies like the most prominent tech companies. What differentiates Tech@Lilly is that we create new possibilities through technology to advance our purpose — creating medicines that make life better for people around the world, through data‑driven drug discovery and connected clinical trials. We hire the best technology professionals from a variety of backgrounds so they can bring an assortment of knowledge, skills, and diverse thinking to deliver solutions in every area of our business.

Our employee resource groups (ERGs)

Our employee resource groups (ERGs) offer strong support networks for their members and are open to all employees. Our current groups include: Africa, Middle East, Central Asia (AMECA), Black Employees at Lilly (BE@Lilly), Chinese Culture Network (CCN), EnAble, Evolve, Lilly Indian Network (LIN), Organization of Latinx at Lilly (OLA), Pride (LGBTQ+ Allies), Veterans Leadership Network (VLN) and Women’s Initiative for Leading at Lilly (WILL).

Compensation & Benefits

Actual compensation will depend on a candidate’s education, experience, skills, and geographic location. The anticipated wage for this position is $71,250 - $169,400 Full-time equivalent employees also will be eligible for a company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance). In addition, Lilly offers a comprehensive benefit program to eligible employees, including eligibility to participate in a company-sponsored 401(k); pension; vacation benefits; eligibility for medical, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits; flexible benefits (e.g., healthcare and/or dependent day care flexible spending accounts); life insurance and death benefits; certain time off and leave of absence benefits; and well‑being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities). Lilly reserves the right to amend, modify, or terminate its compensation and benefit programs in its sole discretion and Lilly’s compensation practices and guidelines will apply regarding the details of any promotion or transfer of Lilly employees.

#WeAreLilly

#WeAreLilly At Lilly we strive to ensure our employees are part of a team that cares about them and our shared purpose of making life better for those around the world. How do we do this? We continue to look for ways to include, innovate, accelerate and deliver while maintaining integrity, excellence and respect for people. We hope that you seek to join us on our journey as we create medicine and deliver improved outcomes for patients across the globe! #WeAreLilly