QA Technical Leader (Director)

Elios, Inc.; Kansas City (MO); On-site; USD 200,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

Elios, Inc. is seeking a QA Technical Leader at the Director level to own test strategy, automation, and UAT for a major financial services client in Kansas City. You will lead the QA effort for cloud-native and AI-powered platforms, and present release readiness to client executives.

The role combines hands-on coding with client-facing leadership, ensuring quality is embedded in every release and guiding the team through complex testing challenges.

Qualifications

• 15+ years in software quality engineering with leadership experience
• Direct client-facing experience with executive presence in financial services
• Deep hands-on experience in test automation and test strategy
• Experience leading UAT and translating business needs into test plans
• Ability to mentor and lead QA engineers while remaining hands-on with code

Responsibilities

• Act as the on-the-ground QA leader for the client and establish trust with executives
• Lead and mentor a team of QA engineers and automation specialists
• Plan and run UAT and translate business requirements into test approaches
• Design, build, and review automation frameworks in Java, Selenium, Playwright, and TypeScript
• Shape validation of AI agents, LLMs, and ML-driven features
• Own release quality and provide go/no-go recommendations
• Drive performance testing with JMeter where needed
• Report quality status and risk to engineering, product, and client leadership
• Collaborate with architects, engineering leads, and product managers to bake quality in

Skills

Java

TypeScript

SQL

QA leadership

UAT management

Client-facing

Mentoring

Tools

Selenium

Playwright

JMeter

REST Assured

Postman

Cypress

WebdriverIO

JUnit/TestNG

Jenkins

GitHub Actions

Azure DevOps

Job description

Location: Kansas City, MO | Type: Full Time | Experience: 15+ years | Pay: $200K-$220K + Bonus

About the Role

We're hiring a QA Technical Leader at the Director level to serve as the local quality lead for a large financial services client in Kansas City. You'll own test strategy, automation, and UAT for cloud-native and AI-powered platforms, and you'll be the person in the room when client executives want to know whether a release is ready.

You'll be placed through a global digital consultancy that delivers large technology programs for enterprise clients. This role sits at the intersection of engineering and consulting: one day you're reviewing a Playwright framework with your team, the next you're walking business stakeholders through UAT results and what the risk really looks like.

It's a good fit for a leader who can code, can run a client meeting, and doesn't think those two things should live in different people.

What You'll Do

• Act as the on-the-ground QA leader for the client, building trust with business and technology executives
• Lead and mentor a team of QA engineers and automation specialists, staying hands-on with code and debugging
• Plan and run UAT, translating business requirements into test approaches that actually catch what matters
• Design, build, and review automation frameworks in Java, Selenium, Playwright, and TypeScript
• Shape how the team validates AI agents, LLMs, and ML-driven features
• Own release quality and be accountable for go/no-go recommendations
• Drive performance testing with tools like JMeter where the platform needs it
• Report quality status and risk to engineering, product, and client leadership in plain terms
• Work alongside architects, engineering leads, and product managers to keep quality built in rather than bolted on

Qualifications

Experience and Leadership

• 15+ years in software quality engineering, including leadership at the Senior Architect or Director level
• At least 3 to 4 years in the financial services domain
• Strong client-facing experience with clear executive presence; consulting background preferred
• Deep experience managing UAT and working directly with business users
• Proven ability to lead and mentor a team while remaining hands-on

Technical Depth

• Strong programming skills in Java (preferred), plus TypeScript and SQL
• Hands-on automation with Selenium and Java, and Playwright (Playwright MCP experience is a plus)
• Solid understanding of OOP, design patterns, and software architecture
• Experience testing on AWS, Azure, and/or GCP
• Practical experience testing AI agents, LLMs, or AI/ML features
• Familiarity with Appium, Cypress, WebdriverIO, REST Assured, Postman, TestNG/JUnit, JMeter, and Maven
• CI/CD experience with Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or Azure DevOps, plus Git-based workflows

Why Join Us

You'll be the senior quality voice for an important client relationship, backed by a consultancy with deep delivery experience and a bench of engineering talent behind you. The role carries real influence: the client relies on your judgment, and your team looks to you for both technical direction and how to show up with stakeholders.

If you want a leadership role where your technical credibility and your client skills both get put to work, this is worth a conversation.