Head of Quality Engineering

Rank Group; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Rank Group in Cape Town seeks a Head of Quality Engineering to lead the evolution of quality across our Java, .NET, React and Flutter environments. This senior role combines hands-on automation with strategic leadership to drive quality standards, shared frameworks and scalable test tooling.

You will own test automation strategy, performance engineering and embedding automated testing into CI/CD, while coaching engineers and shaping release quality across multiple teams.

Qualifications

• Experience building automation frameworks at scale.
• Strong hands-on coding in Java, C#/.NET or TypeScript.
• Deep experience with test automation and performance testing.
• Experience embedding automated testing into CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience leading quality engineering across multiple teams.
• Mobile automation experience with Flutter/React Native/iOS/Android is valuable.
• Strong cloud experience, preferably AWS.
• Relevant technical degree and ISTQB Advanced certification advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Own the test automation strategy across Java, .NET, React and Flutter, covering unit, API, contract, integration, UI and mobile testing.
• Design, build and improve shared automation frameworks, libraries and test tooling used across engineering teams.
• Lead performance, load, stress, soak and resilience testing across platforms and applications.
• Embed quality into CI/CD pipelines, including automated quality gates, performance checks, security testing and test automation.
• Set clear engineering standards for test coverage, test data, environments, defect management and release quality.
• Use engineering and production data to identify quality issues, lead root‑cause analysis and reduce defects reaching production.
• Coach engineers in automation, test design and performance engineering through pairing, code reviews and technical communities.
• Explore opportunities to use AI‑assisted testing for test generation, maintenance and defect analysis.

Skills

Java

C#

TypeScript

Test automation

Performance engineering

CI/CD

Leadership

Quality engineering

Automation frameworks

Education

Relevant technical degree

ISTQB Advanced certification

Tools

Flutter

React Native

AWS

iOS

Android

Job description

Job Purpose:

We’re looking for a Head of Quality Engineering to lead the evolution of quality engineering across our Cape Town technology office.

This is a senior, hands‑on technical leadership role for someone who wants to shape quality through engineering, not simply manage a testing function.

You’ll own the technical direction for test automation, performance engineering and quality standards across our Java, .NET, React and Flutter environments. You’ll design and build frameworks, review code, solve complex performance problems and help engineering teams take greater ownership of quality throughout the development lifecycle.

The role is approximately 60% hands‑on technical work and 40% leadership, so we’re looking for someone who is equally comfortable writing automation code and influencing engineering strategy.

What you’ll be doing

• Own the test automation strategy across Java, .NET, React and Flutter, covering unit, API, contract, integration, UI and mobile testing.
• Design, build and improve shared automation frameworks, libraries and test tooling used across engineering teams.
• Lead performance, load, stress, soak and resilience testing across our platforms and applications.
• Embed quality into CI/CD pipelines, including automated quality gates, performance checks, security testing and test automation.
• Set clear engineering standards for test coverage, test data, environments, defect management and release quality.
• Use engineering and production data to identify quality issues, lead root‑cause analysis and reduce defects reaching production.
• Coach engineers in automation, test design and performance engineering through pairing, code reviews and technical communities.
• Explore opportunities to use AI‑assisted testing for test generation, maintenance and defect analysis.

What we’re looking for

We’re looking for an experienced technical quality leader with a strong software engineering foundation and significant hands‑on automation and performance engineering experience.

Ideally, you’ll bring:

• Significant experience insoftware or quality engineering, including several years building automation frameworks at scale.
• Strong hands‑on coding experience in Java, C#/.NET or TypeScript.
• Deep experience with test automation, performance/load testing and continuous delivery.
• Experience embedding automated testing and quality gates into CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience technically leading quality engineering across multiple teams and influencing engineers outside your direct reporting line.
• Experience with mobile automation, particularly Flutter, React Native, iOS or Android, would be valuable.
• Strong knowledge of cloud‑based engineering environments, ideally AWS.
• Experience in gaming, fintech, e‑commerce, telecoms or another regulated, high‑availability consumer environment would be advantageous.
• A relevant technical degree and recognised test or performance engineering certification, such as ISTQB Advanced, will also be advantageous for this position.

Why join us?

Quality engineering at Rank is evolving.

Rather than quality sitting with a separate QA function, we’re moving towards a model where quality is built into engineering and owned by every squad.

You’ll play a central role in making that model successful, building the frameworks and tooling engineers need, setting the technical standards and helping teams develop the capability to own quality themselves.

For someone who wants the influence of a Head‑level position but still wants to write code, build frameworks and solve difficult engineering problems, this offers the opportunity to make a significant impact across an entire engineering organisation.