Quality Assurance Lead

Title: Quality Assurance Lead

Type: 3-6 month Contract to hire

Location: Reston, VA or Marietta, GA

Onsite requirements: Hybrid 2-3 days onsite

Work Authorization: Unable to consider Visa sponsored candidates

Overview

Kanini Software Solutions is seeking a strategic, hands-on Quality Assurance Lead to build and scale a modern QA function from the ground up. This role will define the vision, architecture, and standards for quality across the organization—driving innovation through automation, AI-driven testing, and scalable QA practices.

You will work at the intersection of engineering, product, and operations to ensure high-quality, reliable software delivery, while leading transformational initiatives that embed quality into every stage of the development lifecycle.

What You’ll Do

Strategy & Leadership • Define and execute a company-wide QA strategy, standards, and best practices • Build and scale QA capabilities, including processes, frameworks, and tooling • Lead and mentor a distributed team of QA engineers (onshore/offshore) • Act as a thought leader, influencing quality practices across teams

Architecture & Innovation • Design and implement modern test automation frameworks • Evaluate and deploy AI-driven testing solutions to improve coverage and efficiency • Drive adoption of quality engineering principles across Agile and DevOps teams • Partner with engineering to embed quality into CI/CD pipelines and SDLC workflows

Execution & Delivery • Lead complex testing initiatives (integration, performance, system-level validation) • Establish quality gates, release readiness criteria, and production validation strategies • Define and track quality metrics, dashboards, and KPIs (risk, performance, trends) • Identify systemic issues and drive continuous improvement initiatives

What You Bring

Required • 8–12+ years in Quality Assurance with strong expertise in manual and automated testing (Java, Python, .NET environments) • Proven experience building QA functions or frameworks from scratch • Deep expertise in test automation design and implementation • Experience implementing or evaluating AI-powered testing tools • Strong understanding of SDLC, Agile, and DevOps environments • Ability to influence cross-functional teams without direct authority • Excellent communication skills—able to translate technical concepts for business stakeholders

Preferred • Experience in enterprise or highly integrated system environments • Expertise in performance, API, and security testing • Familiarity with cloud platforms and modern architectures • Experience selecting and implementing enterprise QA tools/platforms • Exposure to observability, data-driven testing, or quality metrics frameworks