Senior Manager, Quality Engineering — Automation Leader

The Walt Disney Company; Morrisville (NC); On-site; USD 163,000 - 219,000; Full time

Job summary

The Walt Disney Company in Morrisville, NC seeks a Senior Manager, SDET to lead and scale the Quality Engineering organization across commerce, data, and advertising systems.

You will set strategy, drive test automation, and partner with executives to deliver reliable software at scale.

Ideal candidates have 10+ years in software QA and a proven leadership track record building high‑performing teams in cloud‑native environments.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in software quality engineering, test automation, or software development, with 5+ years managing managers or leading multi-team organizations
• Proven track record of scaling and transforming quality engineering functions in complex, cloud-native, high-scale environments
• Demonstrated experience defining and driving organizational strategy, advocating for quality at the senior/executive level, and influencing business outcomes
• Expertise in modern test automation frameworks, CI/CD, and emerging trends in software quality
• Knowledge of software engineering practices and agile approaches
• Strong desire for establishing and improving product quality
• Experience conducting security and performance tests for identity and access management systems and platforms
• Hands on experience testing (manual and automated) identity and access management systems and platforms
• Advanced proficiency with Python or modern OO languages; experience with ad‑tech or large‑scale systems is a plus
• Willingness to take challenges head on while being part of a team
• Strong communication, stakeholder management, and mentoring skills
• B.S. in Computer Science (or equivalent degree or work experience)

Responsibilities

• Lead multiple quality engineering teams and people leaders, fostering a culture of technical excellence, inclusion, and continuous learning
• Define the multi-year vision and strategic roadmap for quality engineering across the advertising platform, aligned with company business and technology goals
• Champion organizational transformation, driving the adoption of best-in-class practices, tools, and quality metrics at scale
• Set the technical direction for large-scale test automation architecture, cloud-native solutions, and intelligent testing initiatives
• Sponsor and guide the evolution of shared automation frameworks, tools, and platforms across product and engineering teams
• Ensure timely resolution and prevention of high‑severity outages through organizational postmortems, root cause analysis, and systemic improvements
• Develop, communicate, and execute the quality engineering strategy across multiple product groups, balancing innovation, risk, and operational needs
• Oversee resource planning, hiring, and organizational design to ensure scaling and allocation of quality engineering talent
• Take ultimate responsibility for quality governance, compliance, and traceability across all product lines within your scope
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with senior leadership in engineering, product management, data science, product operations, and business teams
• Articulate quality risks, trade‑offs, and long‑term strategies to executive stakeholders; provide regular reporting on quality metrics and organizational outcomes
• Lead cross‑functional initiatives to ensure test automation and quality engineering are embedded early and effectively throughout the development lifecycle

Skills

Test automation

Quality engineering

Leadership

Cloud-native

Communication

Education

B.S. in Computer Science

Tools

Python

CI/CD

Automation frameworks

Job description

The Walt Disney Company in Morrisville, NC seeks a Senior Manager, SDET to lead and scale the Quality Engineering organization across commerce, data, and advertising systems.

You will set strategy, drive test automation, and partner with executives to deliver reliable software at scale.

Ideal candidates have 10+ years in software QA and a proven leadership track record building high‑performing teams in cloud‑native environments.