QA Lead

Skydance Media; Los Angeles (CA); Hybrid; USD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Skydance Media in Los Angeles is looking for a QA Lead to oversee test strategy and execution across games. The position requires 5+ years of QA experience, including 3+ years in a lead role. Responsibilities include developing project test plans, providing testing support, and exploring AI tooling in QA processes.

The ideal candidate will have strong interpersonal skills and a solid grounding in QA concepts. The annual salary range for this position is $70,000 – $90,000, depending on qualifications and experience.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional QA experience on software projects, with 3+ years in a QA Lead role.
• Experience leading internal test teams and overseeing external test partners.
• Strong knowledge of console platforms and peripherals.

Responsibilities

• Plan, develop, and oversee execution of project test plans across titles.
• Partner with development to provide testing support and feedback.
• Bring an engineering mindset to QA and identify automation opportunities.

Skills

QA leadership

Testing methodologies

Jira

CI/CD concepts

Interpersonal skills

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Tools

Jira

Unreal Engine

Unity

Job description

Santa Monica, Los Angeles – Skydance Games, a division of Paramount, a Skydance Corporation, is building the future of franchise‑driven interactive entertainment.

The QA Lead will report to the Head of Engineering and own test strategy and execution across our titles, ensuring every game meets the creative vision and the quality bar of Paramount Games.

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. Onboard new partner team members to studio policies and processes, and develop your own 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 engineering & production leadership and represent QA in cross‑discipline meetings to align testing priorities with project development priorities.
• Bring an engineering mindset to QA. Identify where automation, tooling, or better instrumentation can replace repetitive manual effort. Work with engineering to integrate tests into CI, improve build verification, shorten feedback loops, maintain and improve the bug database, and surface major or blocking issues to development immediately.
• Explore AI tooling to extend the QA practice – test case generation, log triage, crash clustering, automated repro, smarter bug deduplication, AI‑assisted exploratory testing. Evaluate tools critically, prototype when appropriate, and lead the team in adoption.
• Own the operational backbone of QA: first‑party certification coordination with Production and Development, clear and concise status reporting, and proactive prioritization based on project status.

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 1st‑party compliance and certification testing.
• 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 the judgment to distinguish hype from substance.
• Strong knowledge of console platforms, peripherals, PC hardware/software, and the standard Microsoft Office toolkit.
• Ability to work independently, juggle priorities, and execute without constant supervision.
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills.
• High school diploma or equivalent.

Preferred Qualifications

• 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 (Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor, agentic test tools, LLM‑powered triage, etc.) 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 location, qualifications, experience, and relevant expertise. This range is for base salary only and does not include bonus, benefits, etc.

#Games #LI‑hybrid