QA Practice Lead: Governance, Release Readiness & Quality

Socket.dev; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 120,000 - 146,000; Full time

Job summary

NTT DATA is seeking a QA Practice Lead in Washington, DC to lead governance, standardize quality processes, and coordinate senior QA leads across IT initiatives. The role emphasizes strong communication, executive reporting, and a path toward institutionalizing the QA Practice.

The position requires senior QA leadership experience, SaaS governance, and a track record in regulated environments, with on-site work three days weekly and a 1-year contract with potential extension.

Qualifications

• Senior-level experience establishing or operating QA Practices, QA Centers of Excellence, or transversal testing-governance capabilities.
• Experience supporting SaaS implementations.
• Experience working within regulated financial institutions or comparable controlled environments.
• Strong knowledge of QA governance, test strategy, test planning, defect management, Quality Gates, and release readiness.
• Practical knowledge of integration and API testing.
• Knowledge of data-migration validation, data quality, and reconciliation.
• Knowledge of security, compliance, risk, IAM, and control testing.
• Knowledge of test automation and regression automation.
• Ability to coordinate effectively across business, IT, vendors, system integrators, and control functions.
• Ability to produce practical, reusable, and auditable QA deliverables.
• Professional working proficiency in English.
• Availability to work in alignment with U.S. Eastern Time.
• Availability to work onsite at least three days per week.

Responsibilities

• Lead the review, adjustment, and operationalization of the existing QA Framework and Operational Manual.
• Define and operate the transversal QA Practice operating model.
• Establish and facilitate QA governance routines, quality reviews, Quality Gates, and escalation mechanisms.
• Coordinate four Specialist Leads and their transversal work across IT Roadmap initiatives.
• Define and continuously improve QA standards, templates, metrics, dashboards, and evidence requirements.
• Maintain a portfolio-level QA Roadmap aligned with the broader IT Roadmap.
• Monitor quality risks, defect trends, testing progress, dependencies, and release or go-live readiness.
• Coordinate with project teams, Enterprise Architecture, Cybersecurity, Data, Operations, SaaS vendors, and system integrators.
• Lead executive reporting and prepare documented readiness recommendations.
• Drive knowledge transfer and support the long-term institutionalization of the QA Practice.

Skills

QA governance

Test strategy

Release readiness

API testing

Data validation

Data quality

Security testing

Test automation

Cross-functional coordination

English proficiency

Education

Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related field

QA or IT service management certifications (preferred)

Tools

QA/test management tools

API testing tools

CI/CD pipelines

Job description

NTT DATA is seeking a QA Practice Lead in Washington, DC to lead governance, standardize quality processes, and coordinate senior QA leads across IT initiatives. The role emphasizes strong communication, executive reporting, and a path toward institutionalizing the QA Practice.

The position requires senior QA leadership experience, SaaS governance, and a track record in regulated environments, with on-site work three days weekly and a 1-year contract with potential extension.