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Lead Qa Engineer Jobs in Virginia (NOW HIRING)

Quality Engineer- Construction

Herndon, VA ยท On-site

$74K - $95K/yr

The Lead QA Engineer operates with a high level of ownership and ambiguity management, supporting fast-paced programs across multiple regions, disciplines, and stakeholder groups. This role partners ...

The Lead QA Engineer operates with a high level of ownership and ambiguity management, supporting fast-paced programs across multiple regions, disciplines, and stakeholder groups. This role partners ...

Quality Engineer- Construction

Herndon, VA ยท On-site

$74K - $95K/yr

The Lead QA Engineer operates with a high level of ownership and ambiguity management, supporting fast-paced programs across multiple regions, disciplines, and stakeholder groups. This role partners ...

The Quality Assurance Engineer will be responsible for designing and implementing tests, debugging, and defining corrective actions. As a Quality Assurance Engineer, you will be able to interpret ...

QA / Test Engineer

VA ยท On-site

The QA Engineer will collaborate closely with developers, product owners, and other stakeholders to validate requirements/user stories, identify defects, and promote best-in-class QA practices across ...

The Quality Assurance Engineer is a key member of our Sweep Team, collaborating with engineers ... Lead automation initiatives by identifying opportunities for automation and implementing strategies ...

The Quality Assurance Engineer is a key member of our Sweep Team, collaborating with engineers ... Lead automation initiatives by identifying opportunities for automation and implementing strategies ...

The Quality Assurance Engineer is a key member of our Sweep Team, collaborating with engineers ... Lead automation initiatives by identifying opportunities for automation and implementing strategies ...

You will collaborate with the QA Team, developers, product teams, and other cross-functional stakeholders to support test design, test execution, defect tracking, documentation, and release readiness.

Showing results 21-40

Lead Qa Engineer information

See Virginia salary details

$87.2K

$126.2K

$137.3K

How much do lead qa engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 7, 2026, the average yearly pay for lead qa engineer in Virginia is $126,244.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $127,900.00 and $127,900.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

How does a lead QA engineer collaborate with development and product teams to ensure quality throughout the software development lifecycle?

A Lead QA Engineer plays a pivotal role in bridging the gap between development, product management, and quality assurance. They actively participate in sprint planning, design reviews, and requirement discussions to identify potential issues early and define clear quality standards. Regular collaboration involves setting testing priorities, coordinating with developers to resolve defects, and aligning with product teams to ensure user requirements are met. This cross-functional teamwork helps maintain a culture of quality and supports the timely delivery of robust software products.

Is Lead QA Engineer still in demand?

Lead QA Engineers are still in demand as companies prioritize quality assurance and software testing to ensure product reliability. Experience with automation tools, scripting, and industry-standard testing frameworks enhances job prospects in this role.

What is a lead QA engineer?

Lead QA Engineers are experienced professionals responsible for overseeing the quality assurance process within a software development team. They design and implement testing strategies, manage QA teams, and ensure that products meet established standards of quality before release. Lead QA Engineers collaborate closely with developers, product managers, and other stakeholders to identify bugs, improve processes, and ensure continuous improvement in testing practices. Their leadership ensures that the end product is reliable, functional, and meets user requirements.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Lead QA engineer?

To thrive as a Lead QA Engineer, you need expertise in software testing methodologies, test automation, and quality assurance processes, typically supported by a degree in computer science or a related field. Familiarity with tools like Selenium, JIRA, Jenkins, and certifications such as ISTQB are commonly expected. Strong leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills help coordinate teams and drive continuous quality improvements. These skills and qualifications are essential for delivering reliable software products and ensuring high-quality standards throughout the development lifecycle.

How much does a lead QA engineer make?

A lead QA engineer in NYC typically earns between $100,000 and $140,000 annually, depending on experience, certifications, and the company's size. They often oversee testing teams, develop quality standards, and utilize tools like Selenium or JIRA in their role.
What cities in Virginia are hiring for Lead Qa Engineer jobs? Cities in Virginia with the most Lead Qa Engineer job openings:
What are popular job titles related to Lead Qa Engineer jobs in VA? For Lead Qa Engineer jobs in VA, the most frequently searched job titles are:
Infographic showing various Lead Qa Engineer job openings in Virginia as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 87% Full Time, 10% Part Time, and 3% Contract. Highlights an 91% Physical, 3% Hybrid, and 6% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $126,244 per year, or $60.7 per hour.

QA Engineering Lead

Unboxed Training & Technology

Richmond, VA โ€ข On-site

Full-time

PTO

Posted 9 days ago


Job description

The QA Engineering Lead is the senior hands-on quality engineer for the Unboxed platform and is personally accountable for the quality of what ships to enterprise clients. This is primarily an individual contributor role: the Lead spends most of their time in the product, designing and executing test strategy, running manual and automated testing, owning release verification, and diagnosing defects. Quality spans four surfaces: a robust learning management system, AI-generated roleplay and practice, coaching workflows, and client-facing analytics and reporting.
The role also includes directly managing two full-time QA Engineers with a coaching-first approach and partnering with contract engineering and QA teams to establish and maintain their ways of working. The role owns the quality signal used to decide whether a release is ready.
Key Responsibilities
Test Strategy and Execution:
  • Own and execute the end-to-end test strategy across the platform, including exploratory testing, regression coverage, and release verification.
  • Maintain critical-path coverage for the workflows with the highest client impact and SLA exposure and extend automated testing where it produces durable value.
  • Serve as the final quality gate before release, owning go/no-go recommendations and flagging risk to Product and Engineering rather than making ship decisions unilaterally.

Quality of AI-Generated Outputs:
  • Define how quality is measured for AI-generated scoring, feedback, and roleplay, using evaluation approaches that account for output variability rather than exact-match expectations.
  • Build test sets, rubrics, and monitoring that surface regressions in AI quality, and partner with AI Engineering to validate changes to models, prompts, and scoring logic.
  • Translate client trust concerns into concrete, testable acceptance criteria the team can verify before and after release.

Quality Metrics and Reporting:
  • Own the QA metrics that measure quality health, including Defect Escape Rate, Critical Path Coverage, and MTTD/MTTR, and report on them on a regular cadence.
  • Maintain and apply a defect severity rubric that produces consistent triage across products.
  • Provide quality reporting to leadership, including trends, risk areas, and consciously accepted coverage gaps.

Contract Team Partnership:
  • Partner with contract engineering and QA teams, establishing and maintaining the process, test conventions, and ways of working they operate within, and keeping those standards current as the platform evolves.
  • Set clear acceptance criteria and definitions of done, and review output so it meets the same bar as in-house work.
  • Serve as the quality point of accountability across in-house and contract contributions, so external capacity does not dilute the quality signal.

Team Leadership:
  • Directly manage two QA Engineers with a coaching-first approach, owning their prioritization, technical growth, and performance.
  • Set and enforce standards for how tests are written, defects are documented, and coverage decisions are made, and grow each engineer's ability to reason about quality independently, so the team's judgment scales without requiring the Lead in every decision.

Cross-functional Collaboration:
  • Partner with Engineering to shift quality earlier, embedding testability and clear acceptance criteria into development rather than inspecting quality in at the end.
  • Work with Support and Implementation to close the loop on client-reported defects, using field escalations from strategic accounts to sharpen coverage.

Key Skills
  • Deep hands-on QA engineering skill: test design, exploratory testing, regression strategy, and defect diagnosis in B2B SaaS. This is the primary skill the role is hired for.
  • Test automation proficiency and the judgment to know where automation pays off versus where it becomes maintenance burden.
  • Practical experience testing AI/ML or non-deterministic features, including how to evaluate scored outputs where there is no single correct answer.
  • Fluency with quality metrics and the ability to use them to drive decisions, not just report them.
  • Experience establishing and maintaining process in partnership with contract or vendor engineering and QA teams.
  • Ability to lead a small team while remaining primarily hands-on, and to communicate quality risk credibly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Requirements
  • 5+ years of QA or quality engineering experience in B2B SaaS, with demonstrated ownership of test strategy and release quality.
  • A track record of staying hands-on as a senior IC.
  • Experience mentoring or leading other QA engineers and partnering with contract or offshore teams on process and ways of working.
  • Hands-on experience with test automation frameworks and modern CI/CD testing practices.
  • Experience testing AI-driven or data-driven features, or a clear ability to reason about quality under output variability.
  • Familiarity with enterprise quality expectations.
  • Experience with Agile/Scrum methodologies and tools such as JIRA.
  • Bachelor's degree in a relevant field, or equivalent practical experience.

Benefits
Unboxed team members benefit from our comprehensive compensation and rewards program which includes:
  • Competitive salary and benefits
  • Ample paid time off
  • Dynamic and convenient office location - unlimited snacks, casual dress code, covered parking and gym on site
  • Open communication and a commitment to fostering teamwork across the organization