Lead Functional Tester

We are looking for a dedicated Lead Functional Tester to join the team as a Verification & Validation (V&V) technical lead. You will own the overall V&V strategy and the evidence that platform deliverables work — leading installation, upgrade, and regression testing of the platform on clean clusters, driving the shift from manual checks toward repeatable, automated quality gates, and guiding a small group of QA engineers in day-to-day execution.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the V&V strategy, test approach, and acceptance criteria for the platform and its components
• Lead and mentor a team of functional testers: plan work, review test artifacts, coach on debugging techniques, and grow the team's technical depth
• Spin up clean Kubernetes environments, orchestrate execution of the platform installer (single-node and HA profiles, interactive and silent modes), and ensure full health verification of every pod/service
• Oversee installation, upgrade, rollback, regression, and integration testing of the platform and its Helm-packaged components
• Drive troubleshooting of complex deployment failures using kubectl, logs, and events; set standards for Helm chart installation, debugging, and cleanup
• Validate and formalize GitOps-driven deployments (Git-versioned configs reconciled through Flux), including upgrade, rollback, and backup/restore flows
• Establish config check and post-install smoke test standards; define what "working" looks like for each deliverable across the team
• Own test plans, test cases, defect lifecycle, and regression suites for installer/CLI changes; ensure traceability and coverage
• Lead the design and rollout of automated post-deployment health checks and pipeline-integrated quality gates
• Produce and sign off on test evidence suitable for a regulated (medical device / healthcare) environment with formal validation and change control
• Represent QA in architecture, release, and planning discussions; participate in daily stand-ups and sprint ceremonies with a distributed, North America-based scrum team
• Interface directly with engineering leads, product owners, and stakeholders to align quality objectives with delivery milestones

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in QA, including prior experience leading or coordinating a QA team or V&V workstream
• Strong background in installation, upgrade, regression, and integration testing of complex, distributed products
• Deep hands-on experience with Kubernetes and installing/operating Helm charts
• Proven ability to debug non-trivial deployments and establish team-wide practices for Helm release/chart management
• Expertise in functional testing of containerized products, Docker, and Linux shell
• Strong V&V mindset — ability to design end-to-end test strategies and produce clear, traceable, audit-ready test evidence
• Experience mentoring engineers, reviewing test deliverables, and driving quality standards across a team
• Clear, concise communication in English (B2+ level); comfortable working asynchronously with distributed stakeholders
• Flexibility to work within US Eastern (ET) business hours

Nice to have

• Experience designing GitOps-based validation workflows with FluxCD
• Familiarity with AWS (EC2, ECR, VPC, IAM) and on-prem/virtualized setups (VMware vSphere, Proxmox)
• Knowledge of Terraform, Ansible, and infrastructure testing tools (Terratest, InSpec, or equivalent)
• Hands-on competency in test automation/scripting (Bash, Python) and CI (Jenkins), with experience setting automation direction for a team
• Prior work in regulated or compliance-sensitive environments (healthcare, medical devices) and basic Java stack knowledge