Director, Quality Engineering

Welcome to the intersection of energy and home services. At NRG, we’re driven by our passion to create a smarter, cleaner and more connected future.

Vivint Smart Home, an NRG owned company, is a leading smart home company in the United States, dedicated to redefining the home experience with intelligent products and services. We find purpose in proactively protecting and keeping our customers connected to home, no matter where they are. Join the Smart Home team to create smarter, safer and more sustainable homes.

 

Role Summary           

In the Age of AI, quality isn’t a phase or a team at the end—it’s a capability built in by design.  We’re seeking a Director of Quality Engineering (QE) to lead our transformation from traditional manual QA to a developer‑centric, AI‑augmented, risk‑based QE model across multiple product verticals (mobile apps, device/firmware, and platform/services).  This leader partners closely with Engineering, Product, Release, and our Vertical Quality Leads (VQLs) to prevent defects early, accelerate flow, and raise the bar on reliability, accessibility, and customer trust.  You will redefine culture, talent, tooling, and metrics—owning the strategy, operating model, and outcomes that make “quality everyone’s job,” with QE as the architects of prevention and stewards of risk.

 

What You’ll Do

1. Cultural reset: Gatekeepers → Architects

• • Re‑author the mission of quality from find bugs to prevent defects and accelerate delivery; codify behaviors, responsibilities, and rituals that embed quality at design time.  Leverage VQLs (Principal Quality Leads) to represent vertical quality in executive forums and drive collective accountability across disciplines including in Product, Engineering, etc.
  • Establish a Team One operating model: co‑locate QEs within product squads; ensure participation in discovery, architecture reviews, threat modeling, and risk sizing—not just release checkpoints.

1. Talent strategy: Upskill for AI‑augmented QE

• • Build a competency framework and learning paths for three personas: Builders (QE Leads with strong coding), Domain Strategists (deep product knowledge + exploratory excellence), and Legacy Testers (with targeted transition plans).
  • Deploy AI‑augmented workflows (prompting patterns for test generation, test‑data synthesis, and log/trace analysis) so engineers focus on logic and risk.
  • Strong technical background to partner with Engineering and the Automation Director (e.g., understanding when and why frameworks like Playwright/Cypress/Appium are used), without needing to design or write automation.  Able to guide quality strategy, risk-based coverage, and AI‑augmented QE practices across verticals.

1. Shift‑left (for real) & SDLC integration

• • Pre‑commit quality: Require test hooks/observability points at design time; QEs help define seams for automation and telemetry before a line of code is written.
  • AI policy in PRs: Configure AI‑assisted static checks and PR gates for reliability/maintainability rules; QEs own guardrail policies and exemptions.
  • Definition of Done 2.0: A story is done only when automated checks (unit/component/E2E where appropriate), AI‑generated edge‑case coverage, and accessibility baselines are in place and green.  QE/VQLs co‑own release criteria and QRDs.

1. Platform & tooling: Self‑healing, evidence‑driven

• • Stand up an AI‑native test platform (visual AI/self‑healing selectors, change‑impact analysis, and intelligent retries) to reduce maintenance toil and flakiness.
  • Synthetic data at scale: Provide compliant, scenario‑rich datasets instantly to eliminate environment/data bottlenecks.
  • Standardize ALM/test management (Jira + Xray/TestRail/Zephyr), dashboards, and evidence discipline (traceability, result artifacts) across verticals and vendor teams.

1. Observability & Release governance

• • Instrument quality telemetry (test effectiveness, Defect Removal Efficiency/escapes, defect rate, cycle time, change failure rate) and run release readiness reviews with VQLs, Functional Managers, and Release Managers.
  • Drive corrective and preventive actions when quality telemetry trends against set standards; ensure audit‑ready traceability and evidence.

1. VQL partnership & Vertical leadership

• • Co‑author Vertical Quality Plans