QE Lead,Janesville, WI ( North of Chicago),Hybrid – 2 days/week in the office required and 3 days Remote

QE Lead

• Contract: 12-24 + months
• Hybrid – 2 days/week in the office required and 3 days Remote
• Retail Domain experience - A MUST
• Location: Janesville, WI ( North of Chicago)
• Must be able to lead Team of 3 QAs.
• Hands-On Leadership experience but no Hands-on testing expected.
• Relocation to Janesville, WI area required if unable to commute 2 days/week to office.
• Proactive approach to prevent defects in SDLC
• Project Prioritization

QA Lead supporting mix of Legacy and ERP systems with limited test automation.

This role is critical in retaining quality momentum in a challenging environment of older, bespoke systems while aligning with broader quality strategies during the ongoing ERP implementation and digital transformation.

Responsibilities:

• Hands‑On Leadership. Lead QA efforts across a portfolio of retail systems, primarily custom-built .NET applications with legacy design frameworks.
• Expected to work within a Scrum methodology and actively contribute to all sprint ceremonies and activities, ensuring that QA is integrated from the start of each story.
• Provide mentorship and support to the existing delivery team, guiding them on Quality best practices, troubleshooting complex defects, and performing validation activities.
• Lead and refine QA processes and test strategies, ensuring quality execution across ongoing projects and KTLO activities, collaborating with cross-functional teams to align QA with ERP quality practices, evaluate process improvements, and modernize QA in a legacy system environment.
• Must be good at Risk Identification and Solution Orientation.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree and minimum 15 years of QA experience, with at least 5 years in a QA Lead role.

Required Skills:

• 10+ years of combined Leadership and Quality assurance testing experience
• Deep understanding of QA fundamentals and the ability to navigate current test structures and identify and activate improvements.
• Retail Domain experience - A MUST ( Understanding Retail/e-commerce workflows)
• Use ADO ( Azure DevOps) or similar tool for dashboards, for defects, severity, progress, and readiness.
• Hands-on experience working in Scrum or hybrid Agile environments, including collaboration with cross-functional teams and participation in sprint ceremonies.
• Excellent communication skills — able to collaborate with developers, BAs, business users, and external vendors, providing guidance and support even in a lean IT environment.

Preferred Skills

• Emerging platforms like Azure Integration Services, Snowflake and Azure Data Factory (ADF) (or the aptitude to quickly learn).

• Seniority Level