IT Principal Delivery Lead

Zendesk

IT Principal Enterprise Delivery Lead managing QA governance and execution for complex transformation projects. Leading QA practices and ensuring quality in business-critical initiatives.

Posted 6/24/2026full-timeSan Francisco • California, Texas, Wisconsin • 🇺🇸 United StatesSenior💰 $193,000 - $289,000 per yearWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

JenkinsRay

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Release Cycle Quality Governance: Monitor the transformation's release readiness across multiple squads, proactively raising enterprise-level risks to avoid late-stage defects in critical integrations.
Ensure Quality Gates, Entry Criteria, and Exit Criteria are met as a mandatory part of the Definition of Done.
Support compliance with QA standards across the squad or delivery team.
Drive operational QA execution and technical engineering leadership within each release cycle for major programs.
Lead the hands-on expansion and maturity of core testing platforms, driving the enterprise adoption of Playwright, Jenkins, and SA utils across delivery teams.
Scaling QA Capacity & Functionality Through AI: Design and execute tactical plans to scale and extend overall QA capacity and testing functionality through the practical application of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Implement AI-driven efficiencies to optimize test generation, accelerate release cycles, and scale test coverage without increasing manual overhead.
Leverage predictive capabilities and AI tooling to proactively identify hotspot areas in complex codebases and integration points.
Requirement Review & QA Transformation Leadership: Lead the cross-functional End-to-End (E2E) strategy for complex transformation programs, ensuring zero business disruptions during major go-lives.
Operationalize the CoE’s automated "rules of the road" across complex integrated ecosystems to modernize legacy testing practices.
Defect Management and Auditability: Ensure every defect includes a verified Root Cause Analysis (RCA). Maintain strict bi-directional traceability between test cases and defects to provide a complete audit trail.
Actively participate in bug triage calls and ensure defects are reviewed, prioritized, and tracked to closure.
Reporting and Data Hygiene: Maintain high data hygiene across QA reporting tools and trackers. Ensure test execution status, defect status, and release metrics are updated in real time to support decision-making.
QA Ceremony Ownership: Take full ownership of QA ceremonies and drive active participation from senior stakeholders to ensure quality goals align with business priorities.
Stakeholder Management: Act as the primary QA liaison to streamline the delivery of objective, data-driven test results to Business and Product leads, providing the visibility needed for core team release decisions.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Minimum of 10 years of experience in Software Quality Engineering
At least 5 years demonstrating strong QA engineering leadership or managing Program QA Delivery
Proven track record of driving the operational implementation of QA processes across large-scale, complex release cycles and transformation programs
Expert-level ability to manage and influence business and product stakeholders
A deep understanding of test execution governance
Strong hands-on experience in QA Automation and framework extension, specifically utilizing Playwright and CI/CD pipelines via Jenkins
Expert-level experience in defect lifecycle management, including the ability to conduct verified Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and leakage analysis
Expert-level experience with enterprise test management tools, specifically X-Ray and Jira, including the enforcement of bi-directional traceability and data hygiene
Proven ability to lead purposeful, outcome-driven QA ceremonies, bug triage calls, and structured walkthroughs with cross-functional teams
Demonstrated experience implementing and utilizing AI-enabled test frameworks, predictive analytics, or self-healing automation tools to extend testing capacity.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Bonus
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Hard Skills & Tools

Software Quality EngineeringQA AutomationRoot Cause AnalysisDefect Lifecycle ManagementTest Execution GovernancePredictive AnalyticsAI-enabled Test FrameworksCI/CD PipelinesTest Coverage OptimizationData Hygiene

Soft Skills

QA Engineering LeadershipStakeholder ManagementCross-functional Team LeadershipOperational ImplementationOutcome-driven LeadershipCommunicationRisk ManagementProblem SolvingCollaborationInfluencing