Senior Manager, Quality Assurance (QA)

About the role

Merkle, a dentsu company, is looking for a Senior Manager, Quality Assurance (QA) in Lisbon. You will lead a QA team within the capability group, combining deep domain expertise with people leadership, delivery excellence and commercial growth. You are a subject matter expert, a coach and a trusted advisor to clients and colleagues, accountable for the success of client engagements and the continuous growth of your team.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the practice's QA standards, methodologies and best practices, including test strategy, test automation and quality metrics
• Oversee delivery quality across engagements, escalate risks early and recommend scalable, cost-effective solutions and project plans
• Improve the service offering and keep documentation current in Confluence and SharePoint
• Represent the domain internally and externally through events, publications and communities of practice
• Own the full employee lifecycle: workforce planning, recruiting, onboarding, career planning, learning and development, performance management and offboarding
• Coach and mentor team members, support wellbeing and retention, and lead reskilling of QA engineers in AI, including AI-assisted test design, automation and defect analysis
• Advise clients, lead or support pitches and proposals, and identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities with Sales and Account Management

Required profile

• Significant experience in QA and software testing, including leadership of delivery teams and client-facing engagements
• Proven record of building, developing and retaining high-performing teams
• Commercial awareness, with experience supporting proposals, pitches or pre-sales
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management and consulting skills
• Relevant certifications (for example ISTQB) are an advantage
• Visa sponsorship is not available

Required skills

• Modern QA practices, test automation and quality engineering tools
• Hands-on understanding of applying AI to QA, such as AI-assisted test generation, automation and defect analysis

What we offer

• 25 vacation days, plus 3 extra wellness days and a mental health first aider and assistance programme
• Health insurance (also possible for family members)
• Hybrid working with an expectation of 1 day per week in the office, agile and flexible hours, and a digital nomad policy
• Access to Dentsu Academy, career development focus and employee discounts
• Team events, referral bonus and free breakfast every second Wednesday