QA Lead in Newcastle upon Tyne

Location: Remote, but requirement to meet up once a month for in-person collaboration day (UK based).

About Akixi: Akixi is a leading provider of SaaS analytics solutions for cloud-based communication platforms, including Microsoft Teams, Cisco BroadWorks, and Webex Calling. Our analytics solutions help businesses and service providers turn communication data into actionable insights. As Akixi expands into new AI-driven analytics and next-generation SaaS platform architecture, we are investing heavily in quality engineering, test automation, and release management to ensure rapid delivery without compromising reliability or customer experience.

Job Summary & Purpose: Lead Akixi's Quality Assurance and Release Management function, ensuring consistent product quality, process maturity, and operational excellence across all product lines and environments. The QA Lead is responsible for defining and enforcing quality standards across Akixi's engineering organization. You'll oversee end-to-end testing strategy — from requirements validation and automation coverage to release sign-off and post-deployment verification — ensuring every release meets Akixi's reliability and performance standards. You'll manage QA process improvement, automation strategy, and defect governance, while partnering closely with Development, Product, and DevOps to embed quality throughout the delivery lifecycle. The role also oversees release readiness and cadence, coordinating activities across multiple product streams to ensure smooth, predictable deployments.

Key Responsibilities:

• Define and own Akixi's QA strategy, test standards, and release governance framework.
• Manage QA planning, execution, and reporting for all products and releases.
• Oversee both manual and automated testing across UI, API, backend, and data validation layers.
• Collaborate with Product and Engineering teams to ensure test coverage for all new features and enhancements.
• Build and maintain regression and smoke test packs ensuring full coverage of core functionality.
• Drive automation adoption using Playwright, Selenium, and Python frameworks integrated with CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, Docker, AWS).
• Coordinate testing and sign-off for cross-functional releases, ensuring alignment between development, platform, and product.
• Maintain consistent defect triage and prioritization practices with clear visibility for stakeholders.
• Monitor quality metrics (defect density, regression coverage, release pass rates) and report to management.
• Establish performance, scalability, and integration testing processes as part of end-to-end validation.
• Implement test environment management and data control standards.
• Partner with DevOps to ensure quality gates, automated tests, and deployment validation are integrated into CI/CD.
• Lead and mentor the QA and Release team, developing capabilities in automation, exploratory testing, and continuous quality improvement.
• Support customer issue investigations and post-release quality assessments.
• Continuously evaluate new testing tools and technologies to enhance test effectiveness and visibility.

Required Skills & Experience:

• 7+ years' experience in QA or test engineering, including 2+ years in a lead or management role.
• Strong understanding of software testing principles, methodologies, and QA process frameworks.
• Experience building and maintaining automation frameworks (Playwright, Selenium, Python).
• Familiarity with CI/CD integration tools (Jenkins, Docker, AWS).
• Experience managing releases and coordinating multi-team deployments.
• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills for diagnosing complex product and environment issues.
• Excellent stakeholder management — able to interface with Product, Engineering, Platform, and Support.
• Proven experience improving QA maturity and implementing measurable quality KPIs.
• Strong communication and leadership skills, with the ability to influence cross-functional teams.

Desirable Skills & Experience:

• Experience in SaaS analytics, telephony, or UCaaS environments (Microsoft Teams, BroadWorks, Webex Calling).
• Knowledge of performance, load, and security testing tools and methods.
• Familiarity with test reporting dashboards and metrics visualization.
• Experience in data validation testing (Snowflake, SQL).
• ISTQB Advanced or equivalent QA leadership certification.

Why Akixi: At Akixi, quality is everyone's responsibility — and the QA Lead is the custodian of that culture. You'll shape how quality is defined, measured, and delivered across a growing engineering organization, ensuring that every release strengthens customer trust. You'll work in a collaborative, agile environment where innovation, accountability, and precision define success.