QA Lead - Social

Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.; United States; Remote; USD 148,000 - 222,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401(k) matching

Paid time off

Employee discounts

Job summary

Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. seeks a QA Lead for Social to drive QA strategy across a competitive PvP game’s social systems. You will partner with Design, Production, Engineering, and Art to understand complex systems and design quality plans.

You will evangelize QA processes with the QA Director, guiding a fun, dedicated team toward a new PlayStation franchise launch from production through live operations.

Qualifications

• Proficiency with technical testing for systems with limited player-facing experiences (e.g., matchmaking, crossplay)
• Able to define a QA strategy integrating business, project and system needs
• Understand game systems to design efficient test coverage
• Negotiate and align plans with cross-disciplinary leads
• Identify risks and adapt QA plans accordingly
• Experience directing external Test/QA staff
• Experience with social features in games (matchmaking, friends, clans, chat, safety)
• Collaborate effectively within a cross-functional team

Responsibilities

• Develop understanding of the product from player value and technical systems perspectives
• Build and execute a cross-disciplinary QA strategy for Social portions of a multiplayer game
• Identify and solve quality issues early by improving processes and toolchains
• Partner with engineering to create tooling and automation strategies for stability
• Train and supervise external QA staff as part of QA plans
• Help define and maintain team-wide QA standards and practices

Skills

Technical testing

QA strategy

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

External QA supervision

Social features in games

Negotiation & planning

We/ collaboration culture

Education

Degree in Computer Science or Game Design

Tools

Unreal Engine

Job description

QA Lead - Social

Are you on a mission to create games that bond players together into deeply invested communities? Would you like to work on something comedic with lighthearted and whimsical characters? Do you spend your time deconstructing social interactions within PvP games? Do you think deeply about the most valuable areas to focus your time and effort? Would you consider yourself allergic to inefficiency?

As a QA Lead at teamLFG, you will drive the QA Strategy for the Social areas of an Unannounced Project from production to launch. You will work closely with Design, Production, Engineering, and Art team counterparts to understand the complex systems that drive the Social area of a competitive PvP game. You will then use that knowledge to design QA plans and strategies to ensure the quality of the holistic game experience. You will work with the QA Director to establish good QA processes and evangelize them throughout the team. Most importantly, you will work with a fun, dedicated, cross-disciplinary team devoted to turning a creative dream into a new franchise at PlayStation.

We look for candidates who value joining a mission-focused team with a diverse set of backgrounds, experiences, interests, and viewpoints.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop an understanding of the product from both a player value and technical systems point of view
• Build, maintain, and execute a cross-disciplinary QA strategy for the Social portions of a competitive multiplayer game
• Spot problems in our processes and toolchains to identify and solve quality issues as early as possible
• Partner with engineering to identify and build tooling and automation strategies that make the product more stable
• Train and supervise a team of external QA staff as part of your QA plans
• Work with the QA Director to help define and maintain team-wide quality assurance standards and practices attuned to the needs of the business

REQUIRED SKILLS

• Proficiency with technical testing for systems that have limited player-facing experiences (matchmaking, crossplay/cross save, account entitlements)
• Ability to define a QA strategy that incorporates business, project, and systems needs
• Ability to quickly understand how the systems in the game are built and use that knowledge to design efficient test coverage
• Ability to negotiate, ratify, and drive plans in alignment with cross-disciplinary leads
• Understanding of risks, constraints, business needs, and player value and ability to adjust plans accordingly
• Experience directing external Test or QA staff
• Experience with social experiences in games such as: matchmaking, friends, clans, chat systems, trust and safety features
• Embrace a "we" culture in addition to being an outstanding collaborator and communicator

NICE-TO-HAVE SKILLS

• Experience managing full-time QA staff
• Experience working on a project from pre-production to live support
• Experience shipping a live-service game requiring high sustained game stability and quality
• Experience developing and shipping a title using Unreal Engine
• Experience with a variety of platforms (PC, Console)
• Degree in Computer Science, Game Design, or related fields

At SIE, we consider several factors when setting each role's base pay range, including the competitive benchmarking data for the market and geographic location.

Please note that the base pay range may vary in line with our hybrid working policy and individual base pay will be determined based on job‑related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location.

In addition, this role is eligible for SIE's top‑tier benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, matching 401(k), paid time off, wellness program and coveted employee discounts for Sony products. This role also may be eligible for a bonus package. Click here to learn more.

This is a flexible role that can be remote, with varying pay ranges based on geographic location. For example, if you are based out of Seattle, the estimated base pay range for this role is listed below.

$148,000 - $222,000 USD

Please note, Sony Interactive Entertainment conducts background checks at the offer stage for all new employees (which may include criminal background checks for some roles) and will need to process personal information to support these checks.

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