QA Domain Lead

Absa Group; Sandton; On-site; ZAR 1,800,000 - 3,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Absa Bank Limited is seeking a senior leader to own the quality engineering strategy for Digital & AI, focusing on automation, early assurance and measurable customer and production quality. The role requires executive-level oversight across product, engineering, security and operations, delivering high-value quality improvements and faster release confidence.

As VP, you will establish governance, target operating models and reusable automation frameworks, driving standards and a data-driven

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Commerce or Management Studies is required.
• Proven experience leading quality engineering initiatives at scale.
• Expertise in automation, testing, and governance for digital services.

Responsibilities

• Owns the quality engineering strategy and practice with emphasis on automation, early assurance and measurable production quality.
• Defines the target operating model, standards and maturity roadmap for quality across product and delivery teams.
• Establishes reusable automation frameworks, test-data approaches and tooling integrated into CI/CD.
• Drives shift-left defect prevention and shift-right validation with telemetry and production learning.
• Provides independent challenge on release risk and ensures measurable quality improvements.

Skills

Quality leadership

Automation

CI/CD

Testing strategy

Risk-based testing

Telemetry

Production quality

Education

Bachelor’s in Business/Management

Tools

Automation frameworks

Service virtualization

Performance testing tools

Job description

Empowering Africa’s tomorrow, together…one story at a time.

With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group.

Job Summary

Own the quality engineering strategy and practice for Digital Business Bank, with a primary focus on automation, early assurance and measurable customer and production quality. The role is accountable for the standards, tooling, capability and governance that enable teams to release secure, reliable and accessible digital services at pace.
Executive mandate: improve the quality of software and reduce the cycle time for testing.

Job Description

• VP leadership role reporting to the Chief Information Officer: Digital & AI.
• Owns the quality engineering strategy and practice with emphasis on automation, early assurance and measurable production quality.
• Enables teams to release secure, reliable and accessible digital services at pace.
• Establishes quality as a shared, continuous responsibility across product and delivery teams.
• Defines the quality engineering strategy, target operating model, standards and maturity roadmap.
• Sets risk-based approaches covering functional, integration, regression, performance, resilience, security, accessibility, data and journey quality.
• Clarifies accountabilities across product, engineering, architecture, security, operations and suppliers.
• Advises the CIO and executive forums on quality risk, investment priorities and release confidence.
• Establishes reusable automation frameworks, test-data approaches, service virtualisation, environments and tooling.
• Embeds automated tests and quality controls into CI/CD with fast feedback and governance evidence.
• Prioritises automation according to business criticality, repeatability, defect risk and maintenance cost.
• Drives shift-left defect prevention and shift-right validation using telemetry, synthetic monitoring and production learning.
• Defines quality gates, release-readiness criteria, exception processes and evidence by change-risk class.
• Provides measures for defect trends, escaped defects, automation effectiveness, reliability, cycle time and customer impact.
• Leads root-cause learning on material defects and ensures systemic improvements are implemented.
• Provides independent challenge on release risk while helping teams remove quality constraints.
• Leads quality engineering managers, automation specialists, communities of practice and strategic partners.
• Measures success through fewer escaped defects, effective automation, earlier detection, release confidence, non-functional outcomes and lower cycle time.
• Requires senior quality leadership and proven automation at scale across CI/CD, APIs, integration, digital channels, performance and resilience in regulated environments.
• First-year priorities include setting the baseline and roadmap, establishing governance and measures, delivering high-value quality improvements and building sustainable capability.

Education

Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Business, Commerce and Management Studies (Required)

Absa Bank Limited is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. In compliance with the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, preference will be given to suitable candidates from designated groups whose appointments will contribute towards achievement of equitable demographic representation of our workforce profile and add to the diversity of the Bank.

Absa Bank Limited reserves the right not to make an appointment to the post as advertised