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

• Act as the senior subject matter expert in QA, shaping quality strategy on client engagements and internal initiatives.
• Define and evolve 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 practice's 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 the 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.
• Strong knowledge of modern QA practices, test automation and quality engineering tools.
• Hands-on understanding of how AI can be applied to QA, with experience leading teams to adopt it responsibly.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management and consulting skills.
• Commercial awareness, with experience supporting proposals, pitches or pre-sales.
• Relevant certifications (for example ISTQB) are an advantage.

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.
• Agile and flexible working hours, hybrid model with about one day per week in the office, and a digital nomad policy.
• Software-house environment, latest IT tools and career development focus.
• Full access to Dentsu Academy, employee discounts, team events and a referral bonus.