QA Lead

Sky Dance; California (MO); On-site; USD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Sky Dance is seeking a QA Lead to own test strategy and execution across titles. This role fits someone with an engineering mindset towards quality, who is excited about utilizing AI and ML to evolve game testing practices.

The ideal candidate will have over 5 years of professional QA experience, with strong communication skills and a proven record of leading test teams. The position offers a salary range of $70,000-$90,000 based on qualifications and location.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional QA experience, with 3+ years in a QA Lead role.
• Experience leading internal test teams or overseeing external partners.
• Fluent with Jira for tracking work, managing assignments, and reports.

Responsibilities

• Plan, oversee the execution of project test plans across titles.
• Partner with development to provide testing support and feedback.
• Identify where automation can replace manual effort in QA functions.

Skills

Automation

Interpersonal communication

Problem-solving

Scripting (Python, JavaScript, C#)

Quality assurance terminology

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Tools

Jira

Perforce

Unreal Engine

Unity

Job description

Reporting to the Head of Engineering, the QA Lead will own test strategy and execution across our titles, serving as the connective tissue between our development teams and external test partners. The goal: ensure every game we ship meets the creative vision of its team and the quality bar of Paramount Games.

This role is a fit for someone who thinks like an engineer about quality - building tools, automating where possible, instrumenting the pipeline - and who is curious about how AI and ML can evolve how games are tested. We're looking for someone who wants to evaluate, prototype, and integrate AI-assisted tooling thoughtfully into a real production QA practice.

Responsibilities

• Plan, develop, and oversee the execution of project test plans across one or more titles, ensuring work lands on time and at the quality bar the studio sets; author and maintain test plans for partners, collaborate on scope and expectations, report progress, and ensure deliverables meet studio standards. Help onboard new partner team members to studio policies and processes, and develop your team through training, feedback, and hands‑on coaching.
• Partner with development to provide testing support and feedback across gameplay systems, content, and game balance. Build and execute test strategies in lockstep with the engineering and production leadership and represent QA in cross‑discipline meetings to ensure testing priorities track with project development priorities.
• Bring an engineering mindset to the QA function: identify where automation, tooling, or better instrumentation can replace repetitive manual effort; work with engineering to integrate tests into CI, improve build verification, and shorten feedback loops. Maintain and improve the bug database, ensure issues are well‑formed and actionable, and surface major or blocking issues to development immediately.
• Explore how AI tooling can extend the QA practice - test case generation, log triage, crash clustering, automated repro, smarter bug deduplication, AI-assisted exploratory testing. Evaluate tools critically, prototype where it makes sense, and bring the rest of the team along.
• Own the operational backbone of QA: first-party certification coordination with Production and Development, clear status reporting, and proactive prioritization based on the project's current state.

Requirements

• 5+ years of professional QA experience on software projects, with 3+ years in a QA Lead role.
• Experience leading internal test teams and/or overseeing external test partners.
• Functional and usability testing experience across multiple gaming platforms and genres.
• Fluent with Jira (or equivalent) for tracking work, managing assignments, and pulling data for reports.
• Solid grounding in QA concepts, terminology, tooling, and debugging workflows.
• Experience with first-party compliance and certification testing.
• Comfort with at least one scripting language (Python, JavaScript, C#, or similar) for writing automation, parsing logs, or building small internal tools.
• Working knowledge of CI/CD concepts and how automated tests fit into a build pipeline.
• Genuine curiosity about applied AI/ML in a QA context, and judgment to tell hype from substance.
• Strong knowledge of console platforms, peripherals, PC hardware/software, and Microsoft Office.
• Ability to work independently, juggle priorities, and execute without constant supervision.
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills.
• High school diploma or equivalent.

Pluses

• Associate or bachelor's degree in a technical field, or equivalent experience.
• Hands‑on experience building test automation frameworks (UI, API, or gameplay automation).
• Experience with AI-assisted developer or QA tooling and a point of view on where it helps and where it doesn't.
• Familiarity with game‑specific automation approaches - bots, replay systems, deterministic sims, telemetry-driven testing.
• Familiarity with Perforce.
• Familiarity with Unreal Engine and/or Unity.
• Experience working with telemetry, crash reporting, and analytics pipelines.
• Understanding of the software test cycle and iterative development practices.

The annual salary range for this position in Los Angeles is $70,000-$90,000. The salary offered may vary based on the candidate’s location, qualifications, experience and relevant expertise, among other factors. The range indicated is for base salary only and does not reflect the total compensation package, including bonus, benefits, etc.