Principal, Enterprise QA & IT Delivery Leader

Job Description

The Principal, Enterprise QA & IT Delivery Leader is responsible for the large-scale orchestration of testing across complex integrations and major transformation programs, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). A critical responsibility of this role will be to serve as the primary Quality Assurance (QA) engineering delivery lead for enterprise-wide initiatives. Acting as a strategic partner to Business and Product leads to ensure critical, high-investment projects do not fail, this role brings strong QA engineering leadership to execution teams. By operationalizing and scaling the frameworks, platforms, and tooling built by the QA COE, this role drives the execution of QA governance, quality gates, and defect management discipline across the enterprise to ensure predictable, high-quality delivery outcomes.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Release Cycle Quality Governance

• Monitor the transformation's release readiness across multiple squads, proactively raising enterprise-level risks to avoid late-stage defects in critical integrations.

• Ensure Quality Gates, Entry Criteria, and Exit Criteria are met as a mandatory part of the Definition of Done.

• Support compliance with QA standards across the squad or delivery team.

• Drive operational QA execution and technical engineering leadership within each release cycle for major programs.

• Lead the hands-on expansion and maturity of core testing platforms, driving the enterprise adoption of Playwright, Jenkins, and SA utils across delivery teams.

2. Scaling QA Capacity & Functionality Through AI

• Design and execute tactical plans to scale and extend overall QA capacity and testing functionality through the practical application of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
   

• Implement AI-driven efficiencies to optimize test generation, accelerate release cycles, and scale test coverage without increasing manual overhead.
   

• Leverage predictive capabilities and AI tooling to proactively identify hotspot areas in complex codebases and integration points.
   

3. Requirement Review & QA Transformation Leadership

• Lead the cross-functional End-to-End (E2E) strategy for complex transformation programs, ensuring zero business disruptions during major go-lives.

• Operationalize the CoE’s automated "rules of the road" across complex integrated ecosystems to modernize legacy testing practices.

• Participate in and drive Requirement Review Sessions at the start of each release or feature.

• Conduct structured walkthroughs of test scenarios with IT Business Systems Analysts ("BSAs") and Business teams before testing begins to prevent requirement leakage.

4. Defect Management and Auditability

• Ensure every defect includes a verified Root Cause Analysis (RCA).

• Maintain strict bi-directional traceability between test cases and defects to provide a complete audit trail.

• Actively participate in bug triage calls and ensure defects are reviewed, prioritized, and tracked to closure.

• Own enterprise-level test management, utilization, and tracking within X-Ray to ensure structured and transparent execution visibility.

• Maintain strict bi-directional traceability between test cases in X-Ray and Jira defects to provide a complete audit trail

5. Reporting and Data Hygiene

• Maintain high data hygiene across QA reporting tools and trackers.

• Ensure test execution status, defect status, and release metrics are updated in real time to support decision-making

6. QA Ceremony Ownership

• Take full ownership of QA ceremonies and drive active participation from senior stakeholders to ensure quality goals align with business priorities.

• Operationalize standardized QA ceremonies across the delivery lifecycle (daily connections, status reviews, bug triage)

7. Stakeholder Management

• Act as the primary QA liaison to streamline the delivery of objective, data-driven test results to Business and Product leads, providing the visibility needed for core team release decisions.

• Coordinate directly with Business Systems Analysts (BSAs), Product Owners, and Engineers to orchestrate structured test scenario walkthroughs, directly mitigating requirement leakage before testing execution begins.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Minimum of 10 years of experience in Software Quality Engineering, including at least 5 years demonstrating strong QA engineering leadership or managing Program QA Delivery.

• Proven track record of driving the operational implementation of QA processes across large-scale, complex release cycles and transformation programs.

• Expert-level ability to manage and influence business and product stakeholders.

• A deep understanding of test execution governance.

• Strong hands-on experience in QA Automation and framework extension, specifically utilizing Playwright and CI/CD pipelines via Jenkins.

• Expert-level experience in defect lifecycle management, including the ability to conduct verified Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and leakage analysis.

• Expert-level experience with enterprise test management tools, specifically X-Ray and Jira, including the enforcement of bi-directional traceability and data hygiene.

• Proven ability to lead purposeful, outcome-driven QA ceremonies, bug triage calls, and structured walkthroughs with cross-functional teams.

• Demonstrated experience implementing and utilizing AI-enabled test frameworks, predictive analytics, or self-healing automation tools to extend testing capacity. 

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Experience managing end-to-end testing for complex, integrated ecosystems involving multiple vendor platforms and diverse technical stacks is an advantage.

• The ideal candidate can align QA scope with business priorities during requirement review sessions to proactively prevent requirement leakage.

• A demonstrated ability to influence cross-functional teams and drive compliance with enterprise standards without impeding delivery velocity.

#LI-WO1

The intelligent heart of customer experience

Zendesk software was built to bring a sense of calm to the chaotic world of customer service. Today we power billions of conversations with brands you know and love.

Zendesk believes in offering our people a fulfilling and inclusive experience. Our hybrid way of working, enables us to purposefully come together in person, at one of our many Zendesk offices around the world, to connect, collaborate and learn whilst also giving our people the flexibility to work remotely for part of the week.

As part of our commitment to fairness and transparency, we inform all applicants that artificial intelligence (AI) or automated decision systems may be used to screen or evaluate applications for this position, in accordance with Company guidelines and applicable law.

Zendesk is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster global diversity, equity, & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment and employees at Zendesk are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer. If you are based in the United States and would like more information about your EEO rights under the law, please click here.

Zendesk endeavors to make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans pursuant to applicable federal and state law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to submit this application, complete any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participate in the employee selection process, please send an e-mail to peopleandplaces@zendesk.com with your specific accommodation request.