Head of Global Quality Engineering

Starr Insurance Companies is a leading insurance and investment organization, providing commercial property and casualty insurance, including travel and accident coverage, to almost every imaginable business and industry in virtually every part of the world.

Cornelius Vander Starr established his first insurance company in Shanghai, China in 1919. Today, we are one of the world's fastest growing insurance organizations, capable of writing in 128 countries on 6 continents.

The Head of Global Quality Engineering is a senior leadership position tasked with architecting, establishing, and advancing Starr's global Quality Engineering (QE) function to support all applications, data assets, and technology platforms across the enterprise. This role is responsible for developing and scaling a comprehensive QE strategy, setting and monitoring rigorous KPIs for quality outcomes, and implementing robust, standardized practices-including best-in-class automation frameworks, processes, and tooling-across Starr's global operations.

Partnering closely with engineering, product, and delivery teams, the Head of Global QE instills a culture of accountability, quality, automation, performance, and continuous improvement, ensuring these principles are woven into every phase of the software development life cycle. This leader directly oversees global QE leads and manages a geographically distributed team spanning onshore and offshore locations. The successful candidate is a dynamic change agent with deep insurance industry experience, outstanding leadership skills, and a proven ability to drive enterprise-wide transformation.

Responsibilities:

• Strategy & Leadership

• Define and communicate the global QE vision, strategy, and roadmap, aligned with Starr's technology transformation and business objectives.

• Build, lead, and mentor a global QE organization, including QE leads, test engineers, automation specialists across onshore and offshore teams.

• Foster a high-performance culture focused on accountability, continuous learning, collaboration, and ownership of quality outcomes within engineering and product organizations.

• Quality Engineering Practice

• Design and implement standardized QE methodologies, automation frameworks, and best practices for functional, integration, performance, security, and data quality testing.

• Oversee the effective selection, integration, and adoption of leading QE tools and platforms to support comprehensive automated and manual testing at scale.

• Ensure consistent execution and measurability of QE processes and deliverables for global teams and platforms.

• Partnership & SDLC Integration

• Collaborate with software engineering, product management, architecture, and delivery teams to embed QE practices throughout the SDLC-enabling early defect detection, accelerated feedback, and reliable product releases.

• Advocate for the use of quality metrics and KPIs across teams and projects, regularly reporting actionable insights to technology and executive leadership.

• Partner with business stakeholders to interpret insurance-specific requirements, regulatory standards, and compliance needs that drive quality expectations.

• Continuous Improvement & Innovation

• Drive automation adoption, aiming to reduce manual effort, increase coverage, optimize cycle time, and improve release efficiency.

• Champion process optimization, root cause analysis, and targeted quality improvement initiatives using KPIs as benchmarks for success.

• Stay current on emerging QE trends, regulatory changes, and technology advancements within the insurance sector to continuously evolve global QE capabilities.

• Governance & Compliance

• Establish and enforce quality governance standards, controls, and documentation in alignment with insurance industry regulations and best practices.

• Manage relationships with external QE partners, vendors, and service providers to ensure the highest standards of quality and compliance.

• Ensure compliance with global requirements for security, privacy, risk management, and data protection relevant to Starr's operations.

• KPI Definition & Management

• Develop, deploy, and monitor comprehensive quality engineering KPIs
• Leverage KPI analysis to identify trends, risks, and improvement areas, driving strategic decisions on process, tooling, and team capability enhancements.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field.

• 12+ years' experience in software quality engineering or QA, with at least 5+ years in senior leadership managing global teams and distributed delivery models (onshore/offshore).

• Deep insurance industry experience-knowledge of P&C, specialty lines, global regulatory standards, and core business processes (policy administration, claims, underwriting, compliance, etc.).

• Proven success architecting scalable QE strategies and frameworks, implementing automation at enterprise scale, and driving measurable KPI improvement.

• Thorough understanding of modern software engineering, DevOps, CI/CD, and SDLC methodologies (Agile, DevOps, Waterfall, Hybrid).

• Experience with industry-leading QE tools (Selenium, Cypress, Junit, TestNG, Tosca, LoadRunner, Postman, etc.), including cloud-based platforms and environments.

• Demonstrated track record leading transformation initiatives, improving automation rates, and instituting quality governance and KPI-driven management.

• Superior people leadership, mentoring, and stakeholder engagement skills with executive presence.

• Knowledge of insurance industry quality, compliance, and data privacy/security requirements.

Preferred:

• Professional certifications in quality engineering or agile methodologies (ISTQB, CSTE, SAFe).

• Experience collaborating with global, distributed teams.

• Experience integrating QE practices with core insurance platforms (Guidewire, Duck Creek, Majesco, etc.).

• Familiarity with cloud migration, data quality assurance, and digital transformation initiatives.

Starr is an equal opportunity employer, which means we'll consider all suitably qualified applicants regardless of gender identity or expression, ethnic origin, nationality, religion or beliefs, age, sexual orientation, disability status or any other protected characteristic. We recruit and develop our people based on merit and we're committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We offer first class training and development opportunities to all employees. Our aim is to grow our own talent and bring out the best in people.