Job Description
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.
Manager, Vertical Quality Lead & Foundations
At NRG, we're driven by our passion to create a smarter, cleaner, and more connected future. As part of the Vivint Smart Home team-an NRG company-you'll help lead the way in redefining the smart home experience. We blend intelligent products, seamless services, and a mission to keep customers proactively protected and connected with their homes. Join us and contribute to the future of smarter, safer, and more sustainable homes.
Summary
The Manager, Vertical Quality Lead (VQL), serves as a key leader responsible for shaping and executing the overall quality strategy by directing a team of Principal Quality Engineers-each accountable for end-to-end quality within their respective product verticals. In addition to overseeing the entire Smart Hub Panel feature set, this role provides hands-on leadership and mentorship to QA teams, driving close collaboration across development, product, release, and program management. As the chief quality advocate for your vertical and the Principals across the Org, you will champion best practices, foster continuous improvement, and promote automation-first and shift-left testing approaches, ensuring robust risk mitigation in agile and DevOps-driven environments.
Key Responsibilities
- Vertical Quality Leadership:
- Own and evolve the end-to-end quality strategy across Foundations & Smart Hub Panel, ensuring alignment with business goals and product requirements.
- Serve as the single point of contact for quality within your vertical, representing Foundations & Smart Hub Panel in enterprise-level quality discussions, strategic planning, and go/no-go decisions.
- Team Management & Coaching:
- Lead, mentor, and grow QA engineers; foster technical excellence, ownership, and a continuous improvement mindset.
- Manage QA resource planning, team utilization, and career development for direct reports.
- Cross-Functional Advocacy:
- Act as primary liaison between Development, Product/Program Management, Quality, and Release teams.
- Drive cross-functional alignment on quality KPIs, release criteria, and test plans across all Smart Hub Panel features and foundational services.
- Influence and enable product and engineering leaders to prioritize quality throughout planning and execution.
- Strategic Quality Practices:
- Define and implement robust QA processes, integrating manual and automated testing throughout the full SDLC.
- Champion automation-first and shift-left testing approaches to optimize CI/CD pipelines and ensure product reliability.
- Lead the creation of comprehensive test plans (including unit, functional, automation, and compliance testing such as 508).
- Own the creation and continual maintenance of Quality Requirements Documents (QRDs) and verification processes.
- Risk & Release Management:
- Proactively identify, manage, and escalate risks impacting quality or release schedules.
- Collaborate with Program and Release Management to define and monitor timelines, testing deliverables, and quality gates.
- Drive active participation in backlog refinement, bug reviews, release readiness assessments, and production support as needed.
- Quality Metrics & Data-Driven Insights:
- Utilize tools like Jira, Confluence, and dashboards to track quality metrics, visibility, and trends for Foundations & Smart Hub Panel products.
- Ensure rigorous documentation of test activities, outcomes, and decisions.
- Promote best practices in reporting, documentation, and test planning.
- Continuous Improvement & Technical Stewardship:
- Foster a culture of transparency, ownership, and innovation in quality engineering practices.
- Continuously enhance QA tools, frameworks, and processes to optimize coverage, efficiency, and reliability.
- Maintain deep product and technical knowledge to anticipate and address current and future quality risks.
Required Qualifications
- Experience:
- 8+ years in Quality Assurance, with 2+ years in a leadership/management role overseeing product/platform verticals or core app features.
- Significant hands-on experience in developing and executing quality strategies for complex, cross-functional platforms, ideally including mobile, web, device, and foundational services.
- Strong understanding of software test planning, automation, release management, and risk identification/mitigation.
- Deep knowledge of agile methodologies, DevOps pipelines, and CI/CD best practices.
- Demonstrated ability to lead high-performing QA teams and oversee resource planning.
- Experience with Atlassian tools (Jira, Confluence, GitLab), test management tools, and requirements documentation.
- Skills:
- Exceptional communication and collaboration skills; adept at influencing technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Technical expertise in test frameworks, automation tools, QA methodologies, and bug management.
- Proven problem-solving, analytical, and strategic thinking abilities.
- Strong project management skills-able to manage schedules, balance priorities, and drive results across multiple teams.
Desired Qualifications / Nice to Have
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, Engineering or equivalent experience.
- Industry certifications such as CSQA, ISTQB Advanced Level Test Manager, CSM, SAFe Agilist, Lean Six Sigma, or PMP/PMI-ACP.
- Passion for smart devices, IoT, cloud platforms, and the smart home ecosystem.
- Experience with API contract testing, cloud and performance/load testing.
- Familiarity with microservices architecture, networking, and mobile development IDEs (e.g., Xcode).
- Strategic Mobile QA Leadership: Define, implement, and continuously evolve the end-to-end quality strategy for Vivint's native iOS and Android mobile applications, ensuring comprehensive test coverage and high standards.
- Team Leadership & Mentorship: Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of mobile QA engineers, fostering their technical skills, career progression, and a continuous improvement mindset.
- Quality Process & Standards: Establish and champion robust QA processes, including test planning, execution, defect management, reporting, and bug review best practices, tailored for mobile development.
- Automation-First & Shift-Left: Drive the implementation of an "automate-first" strategy, integrating automated testing early into the mobile development lifecycle and advocating for testability from requirements through design.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner directly with Architects, Product Managers, Designers, Engineering Leads, and other stakeholders to embed quality principles and best practices throughout the entire mobile software development process.
- Release & Production Readiness: Actively participate in backlog refinement, automation prioritization, and production calls. Raise quality concerns proactively during development and help resolve production issues efficiently.
- Project & Risk Management: Create and manage complex project schedules across multiple mobile teams, proactively identify, manage, and de-escalate risks, and communicate project status, risks, and dependencies clearly to all stakeholders.
- Data-Driven Quality: Utilize tools like JIRA and Confluence to track quality metrics, build insightful dashboards, and generate reports that provide visibility into mobile app quality status, trends, and team performance.
- 8+ years of progressive experience in Quality Assurance, with at least 5+ years in a leadership/management role specifically focused on native mobile application testing (iOS and Android).
- Deep expertise in the entire Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and modern quality engineering practices.
- Proven experience leading, mentoring, and developing direct reports, fostering a growth mindset within a QA team.
- Strong understanding and experience with the mobile application ecosystem, including release processes for iOS App Store and Android Play Store.
- Demonstrated experience in implementing an "automate-first" and "shift-left" testing strategy within mobile development.
- Proficiency in working in fast-paced, Agile, and matrix-based organizational structures.
- Exceptional project management skills, including the ability to create and manage schedules, prioritize deliverables based on business needs, and effectively lead meetings.
- Strong risk identification, management, and de-escalation abilities with both strategic and tactical approaches.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, capable of articulating complex technical information and project status to diverse audiences.
- Experience with Atlassian products (JIRA, Confluence, Gitlab) for project management, defect tracking, and knowledge sharing.
- Ability to build reporting dashboards in JIRA and reports in Confluence to provide data-driven insights.
- Solid knowledge of web-based services and their interaction with mobile applications.
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
- Passion for smart devices, IoT, and the smart home ecosystem.
- Experience with cloud performance/load testing and reliability testing.
- Familiarity with microservices architecture and API contract testing.
- Working knowledge of networking and database concepts.
- Experience with Xcode or other mobile development IDEs.
NRG Energy is committed to a drug and alcohol-free workplace. To the extent permitted by law and any applicable collective bargaining agreement, employees are subject to periodic random drug testing, and post-accident and reasonable suspicion drug and alcohol testing. EOE AA M/F/Protected Veteran Status/Disability. Level, Title and/or Salary may be adjusted based on the applicant's experience or skills.
EEO is the Law Poster(The poster can be found athttp://www.eeoc.gov/employers/upload/poster_screen_reader_optimized.pdf)
Official description on file with Talent.
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.
Manager, Vertical Quality Lead & Foundations
At NRG, we're driven by our passion to create a smarter, cleaner, and more connected future. As part of the Vivint Smart Home team-an NRG company-you'll help lead the way in redefining the smart home experience. We blend intelligent products, seamless services, and a mission to keep customers proactively protected and connected with their homes. Join us and contribute to the future of smarter, safer, and more sustainable homes.
Summary
The Manager, Vertical Quality Lead (VQL), serves as a key leader responsible for shaping and executing the overall quality strategy by directing a team of Principal Quality Engineers-each accountable for end-to-end quality within their respective product verticals. In addition to overseeing the entire Smart Hub Panel feature set, this role provides hands-on leadership and mentorship to QA teams, driving close collaboration across development, product, release, and program management. As the chief quality advocate for your vertical and the Principals across the Org, you will champion best practices, foster continuous improvement, and promote automation-first and shift-left testing approaches, ensuring robust risk mitigation in agile and DevOps-driven environments.
Key Responsibilities
- Vertical Quality Leadership:
- Own and evolve the end-to-end quality strategy across Foundations & Smart Hub Panel, ensuring alignment with business goals and product requirements.
- Serve as the single point of contact for quality within your vertical, representing Foundations & Smart Hub Panel in enterprise-level quality discussions, strategic planning, and go/no-go decisions.
- Team Management & Coaching:
- Lead, mentor, and grow QA engineers; foster technical excellence, ownership, and a continuous improvement mindset.
- Manage QA resource planning, team utilization, and career development for direct reports.
- Cross-Functional Advocacy:
- Act as primary liaison between Development, Product/Program Management, Quality, and Release teams.
- Drive cross-functional alignment on quality KPIs, release criteria, and test plans across all Smart Hub Panel features and foundational services.
- Influence and enable product and engineering leaders to prioritize quality throughout planning and execution.
- Strategic Quality Practices:
- Define and implement robust QA processes, integrating manual and automated testing throughout the full SDLC.
- Champion automation-first and shift-left testing approaches to optimize CI/CD pipelines and ensure product reliability.
- Lead the creation of comprehensive test plans (including unit, functional, automation, and compliance testing such as 508).
- Own the creation and continual maintenance of Quality Requirements Documents (QRDs) and verification processes.
- Risk & Release Management:
- Proactively identify, manage, and escalate risks impacting quality or release schedules.
- Collaborate with Program and Release Management to define and monitor timelines, testing deliverables, and quality gates.
- Drive active participation in backlog refinement, bug reviews, release readiness assessments, and production support as needed.
- Quality Metrics & Data-Driven Insights:
- Utilize tools like Jira, Confluence, and dashboards to track quality metrics, visibility, and trends for Foundations & Smart Hub Panel products.
- Ensure rigorous documentation of test activities, outcomes, and decisions.
- Promote best practices in reporting, documentation, and test planning.
- Continuous Improvement & Technical Stewardship:
- Foster a culture of transparency, ownership, and innovation in quality engineering practices.
- Continuously enhance QA tools, frameworks, and processes to optimize coverage, efficiency, and reliability.
- Maintain deep product and technical knowledge to anticipate and address current and future quality risks.
Required Qualifications
- Experience:
- 8+ years in Quality Assurance, with 2+ years in a leadership/management role overseeing product/platform verticals or core app features.
- Significant hands-on experience in developing and executing quality strategies for complex, cross-functional platforms, ideally including mobile, web, device, and foundational services.
- Strong understanding of software test planning, automation, release management, and risk identification/mitigation.
- Deep knowledge of agile methodologies, DevOps pipelines, and CI/CD best practices.
- Demonstrated ability to lead high-performing QA teams and oversee resource planning.
- Experience with Atlassian tools (Jira, Confluence, GitLab), test management tools, and requirements documentation.
- Skills:
- Exceptional communication and collaboration skills; adept at influencing technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Technical expertise in test frameworks, automation tools, QA methodologies, and bug management.
- Proven problem-solving, analytical, and strategic thinking abilities.
- Strong project management skills-able to manage schedules, balance priorities, and drive results across multiple teams.
Desired Qualifications / Nice to Have
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, Engineering or equivalent experience.
- Industry certifications such as CSQA, ISTQB Advanced Level Test Manager, CSM, SAFe Agilist, Lean Six Sigma, or PMP/PMI-ACP.
- Passion for smart devices, IoT, cloud platforms, and the smart home ecosystem.
- Experience with API contract testing, cloud and performance/load testing.
- Familiarity with microservices architecture, networking, and mobile development IDEs (e.g., Xcode).
- Strategic Mobile QA Leadership: Define, implement, and continuously evolve the end-to-end quality strategy for Vivint's native iOS and Android mobile applications, ensuring comprehensive test coverage and high standards.
- Team Leadership & Mentorship: Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of mobile QA engineers, fostering their technical skills, career progression, and a continuous improvement mindset.
- Quality Process & Standards: Establish and champion robust QA processes, including test planning, execution, defect management, reporting, and bug review best practices, tailored for mobile development.
- Automation-First & Shift-Left: Drive the implementation of an "automate-first" strategy, integrating automated testing early into the mobile development lifecycle and advocating for testability from requirements through design.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner directly with Architects, Product Managers, Designers, Engineering Leads, and other stakeholders to embed quality principles and best practices throughout the entire mobile software development process.
- Release & Production Readiness: Actively participate in backlog refinement, automation prioritization, and production calls. Raise quality concerns proactively during development and help resolve production issues efficiently.
- Project & Risk Management: Create and manage complex project schedules across multiple mobile teams, proactively identify, manage, and de-escalate risks, and communicate project status, risks, and dependencies clearly to all stakeholders.
- Data-Driven Quality: Utilize tools like JIRA and Confluence to track quality metrics, build insightful dashboards, and generate reports that provide visibility into mobile app quality status, trends, and team performance.
- 8+ years of progressive experience in Quality Assurance, with at least 5+ years in a leadership/management role specifically focused on native mobile application testing (iOS and Android).
- Deep expertise in the entire Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and modern quality engineering practices.
- Proven experience leading, mentoring, and developing direct reports, fostering a growth mindset within a QA team.
- Strong understanding and experience with the mobile application ecosystem, including release processes for iOS App Store and Android Play Store.
- Demonstrated experience in implementing an "automate-first" and "shift-left" testing strategy within mobile development.
- Proficiency in working in fast-paced, Agile, and matrix-based organizational structures.
- Exceptional project management skills, including the ability to create and manage schedules, prioritize deliverables based on business needs, and effectively lead meetings.
- Strong risk identification, management, and de-escalation abilities with both strategic and tactical approaches.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, capable of articulating complex technical information and project status to diverse audiences.
- Experience with Atlassian products (JIRA, Confluence, Gitlab) for project management, defect tracking, and knowledge sharing.
- Ability to build reporting dashboards in JIRA and reports in Confluence to provide data-driven insights.
- Solid knowledge of web-based services and their interaction with mobile applications.
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
- Passion for smart devices, IoT, and the smart home ecosystem.
- Experience with cloud performance/load testing and reliability testing.
- Familiarity with microservices architecture and API contract testing.
- Working knowledge of networking and database concepts.
- Experience with Xcode or other mobile development IDEs.
NRG Energy is committed to a drug and alcohol-free workplace. To the extent permitted by law and any applicable collective bargaining agreement, employees are subject to periodic random drug testing, and post-accident and reasonable suspicion drug and alcohol testing. EOE AA M/F/Protected Veteran Status/Disability. Level, Title and/or Salary may be adjusted based on the applicant's experience or skills.
EEO is the Law Poster(The poster can be found athttp://www.eeoc.gov/employers/upload/poster_screen_reader_optimized.pdf)
Official description on file with Talent.
About NRG
At NRG, we are the power industry’s leading company and we’ve grown from a power generator into an energy provider that powers homes and businesses throughout America.
Our customer-focused mentality has led us to create technologies and tools that empower residents and organizations to think critically about their electricity, including where their power is coming from, what impact it has on the environment, and how they can become more conscious energy users. We partner with businesses to customize innovative power and sustainability solutions that are informed by our years of experience as market leaders. And we work diligently to stay ahead of an ever-evolving energy climate with rising demands.
Energy is all around us, fueling our day-to-day experiences. It keeps our families safe, it keeps our businesses running and it helps our neighborhoods thrive. But we have to be willing to transform the way we approach energy and imagine new solutions that will strengthen our collective energy community. We’re proud to be leading that transformation, and we hope you’ll join us.
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