QA Manager (Quality Governance & Delivery)

QA Manager (Quality Governance & Delivery)
Location: Sandton, Johannesburg (hybrid, 3 days in office)
Type: Permanent
Experience: 3–5 years

About the role
We’re working with a business looking for a QA Manager to own quality governance and delivery across its tech and development function. This is a delivery-and-governance role built on a strong Agile model, so they want someone with solid knowledge of Agile delivery and the SDLC who is output-driven, project-focused, and genuinely strong on people leadership.
It’s an office-first role: leadership and engagement matter here, so expect to be on site for the first couple of months during onboarding, then settle into a hybrid rhythm. You’ll lead through your QA Leads rather than being hands-on yourself, setting the strategy and holding teams accountable to outcomes.

What you’ll do
• Own QA delivery across squads and streams, making sure clear QA plans exist for each sprint and release
• Work with QA Leads to allocate work, balance capacity, track progress, remove blockers, and escalate risks early
• Define QA operating rhythms: daily triage, regression cycles, and release-readiness reviews
• Define and maintain the overall QA strategy: risk-based approach, quality gates, entry/exit criteria, definition of done
• Own the release-readiness process: go/no-go inputs, risk acceptance, and sign-off framework
• Standardize defect severity rules, testing standards, and documentation across products
• Line-manage QA Leads and support performance across the function through 1:1s, coaching, and development plans
• Build a culture of accountability, ownership, and continuous improvement
• Support hiring, onboarding, and capability development
• Provide weekly and release-based reporting to engineering leadership and delivery stakeholders
• Communicate quality status in plain language: what’s impacted, the risk level, and recommended actions
• Partner with engineering and product to improve quality upstream and reduce repeat production issues

What you’ll bring
• A diploma or degree in IT, Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
• Strong working knowledge of Agile delivery, SDLC, and modern QA practices
• 3–5 years of total QA experience, including ownership of QA planning and delivery
• At least 1–2 years leading others (formal or informal), reporting status and risk to stakeholders
• Experience coordinating manual and automation streams, with specialists driving hands-on execution
• Comfortable with Jira (or equivalent), test management tools (Xray, Zephyr, or TestRail), and reporting dashboards
• Strong delivery management: planning, prioritization, dependency management, and escalation
• A clear communicator who can translate QA status and risk into business impact
• Metrics-driven, comfortable holding teams accountable, and pragmatic under time pressure
• QA experience across web and app, with a UX focus

Nice to have
• ISTQB Foundation (preferred)
• ISTQB Advanced Test Manager
• Experience in financial services, insurance, or other regulated environments