Test & Release Lead (Healthcare AI SaaS Product)

We are seeking a seasoned Test Release Lead to take ownership of our end-to-end QA strategy and software release lifecycle. This individual will lead the test automation initiatives, manage release planning and execution, and collaborate cross-functionally to ensure reliable, scalable, and secure product deliveries. You will play a critical role in maintaining high product quality standards and release discipline across cloud-native applications, microservices, and data-intensive systems. Key Responsibilities Test Leadership Lead and mentor a team of QA engineers across automation and manual testing. Define and implement comprehensive test strategies (unit, integration, performance, regression, and UAT). Build and maintain scalable automation frameworks for UI, API, and data pipelines. Drive test case development and coverage analysis across all product modules. Ensure timely bug triage, defect management, and root cause analysis. Release Management Own the end-to-end release planning, coordination, and execution across environments (Dev, QA, Staging, Prod). Collaborate with DevOps and Engineering to implement CI/CD best practices. Define and enforce release gates, checklists, and rollback procedures. Publish release notes, release calendars, and manage version control (Git/GitHub/GitLab). Collaboration Stakeholder Communication Work closely with Engineering, Product, DevOps, and Customer Success to align test and release plans with roadmap priorities. Participate in sprint planning and daily standups to ensure quality is embedded in the development lifecycle. Track and report test metrics (coverage, defect density, test pass rate) and release KPIs. Quality Governance Establish QA best practices, including shift-left testing, code coverage thresholds, and peer reviews. Promote continuous improvement in quality processes and tools. Conduct RCA for production issues and define preventive QA measures. Key Requirements Education Experience bachelors or masters degree in computer science, Engineering, or related field. 8-12 years of experience in software quality assurance and release management. Minimum 3 years in a lead or managerial QA/release role. Technical Skills Strong understanding of QA methodologies (Agile, DevOps, CI/CD). Hands on experience in test automation tools (eg, Selenium, Postman, TestNG, JMeter, Playwright). Hands-on experience with CI/CD tools (Jenkins, Azure DevOps, GitLab CI). Knowledge of cloud platforms (Azure preferred) and containerization (Docker,Kubernetes). Hands on experience in with REST APIs, JSON, SQL, and data validation for ETL/Data pipelines. Soft Skills Strong analytical and problem-solving skills. Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities. Ability to work in a fast-paced, high-growth environment with global teams. Good to Have Experience in healthcare, data privacy, or regulated domains (HIPAA, GDPR, etc). Exposure to monitoring tools (eg, Splunk, New Relic) for release validation. ISTQB certification or equivalent is a plus.