Senior Lead Engineer Kwaliteitszorg

NOWJOBS is part of House of HR and a 100% digital staffing platform for students, flexi-job workers, and people looking to earn extra income. Since making our debut in the App Store in 2017, our app has been downloaded more than one million times, over 25,000 companies have already found flexible workers through NOWJOBS, and nearly 650,000 people have earned extra income through the app!

We’re growing fast — and internationally too. We’re now active in the Netherlands, France, and Germany. In other words: it’s high time to expand our amazing team!

Where will you join us?

You will become part of our Product & Engineering department, where three development teams (Nova, Moondust, and Terra) work together to build and evolve our platform: a monorepo consisting of three frontend applications running on a shared backend (Node.js, TypeScript, MySQL, MongoDB, RabbitMQ, and Kubernetes).

As QA Lead, you will own the entire Quality Assurance function across the department. This is a newly created, cross-functional role in which you define the quality standards for the entire organization and lead the QA Tribe. You ensure that our QA Engineers and Automation Engineers, embedded across the delivery teams, work according to the same standards, processes, and tooling.

For each team, you will help strike the right balance between manual and automated testing, based on the risk profile of the product area. Your initial focus will be to ensure full coverage of our core user flows, after which you will gradually expand test coverage across the platform.

You will report directly to the CTO and collaborate closely with Architects, Product Managers, and Team Leads.

What will you do?

As QA Lead, you will be responsible for quality across all development teams.

The QA Function.

You define the structure of the QA organization, set the hiring bar, and determine the right balance between manual and automated testing. Ultimately, you are accountable for the quality and test coverage of everything we build.

QA Strategy.

You define and drive the QA strategy across our three development teams (Nova, Moondust, and Terra). You ensure that quality is embedded early in the development lifecycle through a shift-left approach, rather than being treated as a final checkpoint.

The QA Tribe.

You lead the QA Tribe and ensure consistent adoption of shared standards, including the test pyramid, quality benchmarks, and supporting QA practices and artefacts. You create alignment and consistency across teams.

Tooling.

In close collaboration with the Architects, you make key decisions regarding test frameworks, test environments, and the infrastructure required for managing test data.

People Leadership.

You recruit QA Engineers and Automation Engineers, while supporting their growth through coaching, mentoring, and career development.

Hands-On Contribution.

This is not a purely managerial role. You remain actively involved in the codebase by designing, building, and maintaining automated test suites and their CI/CD integration. You establish the frameworks and foundations that teams build upon and contribute to the most challenging testing scenarios when needed. As the technical reference point for the Automation Engineers, you review their work, provide guidance, and lead by example.

Reporting & Stakeholder Management.

You make quality KPIs, testing insights, and defect trends visible at an organizational level and act as the QA representative in cross-functional discussions with key stakeholders.

What is outside your scope?

Day-to-day testing activities within the teams remain the responsibility of the QA Engineers. Architectural decisions are owned by the Architects, and the final go/no-go decision for a release is jointly made by the Team Lead, Product Owner, and Release Captain. Prioritization of QA work within a sprint is determined together with the Team Lead.

Who are you?

• You hold a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field, or have equivalent professional experience.
• You bring extensive experience in software testing and quality assurance, with a strong understanding of both manual and automated testing practices.
• You have experience with, or a clear vision for, test strategy, the test pyramid, and establishing quality standards across multiple teams.
• You have experience in, or a strong affinity for, leading, coaching, and hiring people, and you enjoy building a strong quality-driven culture.
• You are familiar with test automation, CI/CD pipelines, and modern testing tooling, and can make well-founded decisions regarding frameworks, tooling, and test environments.
• You are data-driven and know how to make quality measurable through KPIs, testing metrics, and defect trend analysis.
• You communicate clearly and effectively, and can collaborate seamlessly with QA Engineers, Developers, Architects, Product Managers, and senior stakeholders.
• You are fluent in both Dutch and English, with strong written and verbal communication skills.
• You have a positive, proactive mindset and thrive in a fast-growing, constantly evolving environment.

Don't meet every single requirement? We'd still love to hear from you. We're interested in your potential, your motivation, and the value you can bring to the team.

What do we offer?

• An office in the heart of Ghent, easily accessible and equipped with parking facilities and bike storage.
• A 40-hour workweek with the flexibility you need, with an average of 3 days per week working from the office.
• An attractive gross salary, complemented by an expense allowance, company car + fuel card, meal vouchers, and hospitalisation insurance.
• A flexible benefits plan that allows you to tailor your package to your needs (bike, additional holidays, family insurance, etc.).
• A personal development plan and an annual training budget to support your continued growth.
• Internal career opportunities within a fast-growing and scaling organization.
• And of course: office dogs, weekly soup, great coffee and tea, ergonomic desks, fries on Thursdays, and more…

Ready to raise the bar for quality

Have questions about the role? Feel free to reach out to Penelope Van Eycken, Talent Partner. You can expect a response within two business days.

We look forward to hearing from you and hopefully welcoming you to NOWJOBS soon!

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