Role Overview We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Head of Quality Assurance (QA) to play a crucial "player-coach" role within our Global Delivery function. You will architect the end-to-end quality governance and test strategy across all client engagements while actively setting up cutting-edge AI evaluation frameworks and driving hands-on quality gates. This role transitions our quality ownership from an informal project-level setup into a dedicated, full time leadership function. In this role, you will eliminate defect leakage into UAT or production, safeguard project margins, champion our AI/LLM testing narrative during high-stakes client pitches, and mentor a high-performing team of QA professionals.

Key Responsibilities
Defining Strategy & Governance ● Define, institutionalize, and own the end-to-end QA strategy, testing standards, defect management workflows, and quality gates across all active delivery engagements to ensure enterprise-grade consistency. ● Establish standardized metrics for defect density, test coverage, automation ROI, and release stability across parallel delivery streams. Architecting AI Evaluation Frameworks ● Act as the primary authority and hands-on implementor for setting up our AI evaluation framework—including curated test datasets, accuracy benchmarks, guardrail/safety testing, and automated regression suites for AI agents. ● Implement protocols for prompt evaluation, vector database validation, model drift monitoring, and safety benchmarking for LLM-driven applications.



Test Automation & Release Sign-Off ● Drive test automation strategies integrated directly into modern CI/CD release pipelines (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab). ● Serve as the final authority on release readiness, conducting formal quality sign-offs prior to UAT handover and production go-live. Risk Mitigation & Margin Protection ● Actively dive into quality data to identify risk factors, preventing defect leakage into production, eliminating costly rework, and protecting project margins. ● Manage defect triage processes, root-cause analyses (RCA), and preventative action tracking across delivery teams. Client Engagement & Pre-Sales Support ● Partner with Pre-Sales and Architecture teams to articulate our QA and AI safety strategies in client RFPs, pitches, and technical workshops. ● Serve as the primary quality Subject Matter Expert (SME) during client steering committees and executive governance reviews. Audit & Compliance Governance ● Collaborate closely with Corporate Quality to maintain alignment with enterprise governance bodies, ISO/CMMI compliance standards, and regulatory audits. ● Drive continuous quality improvement initiatives across all project teams.



Leadership & Mentoring ● Mentor and guide QA engineers and test leads by leading by example, fostering a culture of continuous process improvement, automation excellence, and AI-first quality practices. ● Manage QA effort estimation, capacity allocation, and resource planning for new project onboarding and pre-sales proposals. Qualifications & Candidate Profile Must-Have ● 8–10+ years of experience in Quality Assurance and Software Testing, with at least 4–5 years of dedicated team leadership or engineering management experience. ● Mandatory hands-on expertise in AI/MLOps and AI testing, including experience with prompt evaluation, vector database validation, guardrail/safety testing, and LLM application benchmarking. ● Deep, practical knowledge of modern test automation frameworks (e.g., Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, REST Assured) and integration with CI/CD tools (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab). ● Proven track record in establishing quality gate governance, risk-based test planning, defect metrics tracking, and executing formal release sign-offs. ● Exceptional communication and presentation skills, with the ability to translate complex quality data into actionable business strategies for leadership and client stakeholders. Strongly Preferred ● BFSI Domain Expertise: Deep domain exposure in Banking, Financial Services, Insurance, or Lending enterprise platforms. ● Pre-Sales & RFP Leadership: Direct experience collaborating with pre-sales teams, contributing to complex RFP responses, and pitching quality strategies to prospective clients.

📌 Head of Quality Assurance (Chennai)
🏢 Intellect Design Arena
📍 Chennai