Manager, Quality Assurance

Description

Most QA leaders inherit a process and make it a little better. That’s not what we’re hiring for.

We’re looking for a Manager, Quality Assurance who can fundamentally rethink how software quality should work in an AI-enabled engineering organization.

We already have a QA team, automation, established processes, and a functioning software delivery model. We’re not looking for someone to simply maintain it. You’ll be responsible for taking our QA organization to the next level — and then continuing to raise the bar after you get there.

That means challenging old assumptions about manual testing, regression testing, test case creation, defect triage, release validation, automation maintenance, quality gates, and even the traditional role of QA itself.

We believe AI creates an opportunity to dramatically improve how software quality is achieved. Not by replacing good people or good judgment, but by giving exceptional people far more leverage. We want a leader who sees that opportunity and knows how to turn it into reality.

You’ll own RTA’s quality standards and QA processes and be accountable for the quality of our software as measured by clearly defined KPIs. Quality is a shared responsibility across Engineering, and you’ll help build the systems, standards, and practices that make that ownership possible.

Someone who:

• Wants to reinvent QA, not preserve it. You question processes that exist simply because “that’s how QA has always worked.”
• Makes quality measurable. You use meaningful metrics such as escaped defects, repeat defects, defect origin, severity, automation effectiveness, regression cycle time, and time-to-detection to understand where we are improving and where we need to change.
•  Sees AI as a force multiplier. You actively look for ways AI can improve test design, code analysis, exploratory testing, defect investigation, automation, risk identification, and release confidence.
• Uses AI as leverage, not a substitute for judgment. You understand where AI can dramatically accelerate the team and where experienced human judgment is still critical. You expect the team to validate outputs, understand what they’re doing, and remain accountable for quality.
• Thinks beyond test execution. You understand that mature quality practices influence requirements, architecture, development, observability, deployment, and production behavior.
• Builds systems that make quality scalable. Your instinct is not to add more testers or more manual steps. It is to improve tooling, automation, feedback loops, and engineering practices.
• Sets a high bar — and then raises it. You are never satisfied simply because a metric improved. You continually ask what “great” looks like next.
• Experiments aggressively. You are comfortable trying new AI tools, workflows, agents, testing approaches, and automation techniques — keeping what works and quickly abandoning what doesn’t.
• Builds and develops a high-performing QA team. You set clear expectations, coach and develop your people, hold the team accountable for results, and help them grow beyond traditional manual testing into automation, analysis, tooling, systems thinking, and engineering.
• Uses data to challenge assumptions. You want evidence that quality is improving, not anecdotes.
• Is comfortable disrupting your own process. If the approach you implemented six months ago is no longer the best answer, you change it.
• Takes ownership. You don’t wait for Engineering leadership to tell you what QA should become. You help define it.

Most importantly, you care deeply about our customers. Our customers rely on Fleet360 to manage school buses, emergency vehicles, public works fleets, transit vehicles, and other critical assets. Software quality has real-world consequences, and we take that seriously.

If you join RTA, these are the three things we’ll look back on and say, “Yep, that’s why we hired you.”

The first thing we point to: customers stopped finding our defects.

You moved quality upstream — into requirements, design, development, and code review — so fewer defects were ever created, and the ones that were got caught long before a customer saw them.

You treated our escape rate as yours. Not a team’s, not a release’s. Ours.

How we’ll know:

• Customer-reported defects have fallen materially — and are still falling.
• QA is engaged before code is written, not handed a build at the end.
• More defects get caught in requirements, pull requests, and CI than in a test cycle.
• Acceptance criteria and testability got better because you pushed on them.
• Engineering owns quality alongside QA — and you’re the reason that shifted.

Manual regression stopped being how we validate software.

You went after repetitive human validation with AI, automation, and better tooling until it became the exception rather than the operating model — and our coverage kept growing while the hours required to hold it shrank.

How we’ll know:

• Manual regression hours per release have dropped sharply — without escapes rising.
• Automated coverage concentrates on the workflows and risks that actually matter, not raw test count.
• AI is standard practice in test design, edge-case discovery, defect investigation, and automation maintenance.
• Tests are cheaper to write and cheaper to maintain; brittle, redundant, and low-value tests are gone.
• You challenged the tooling whenever something better existed — including tooling you chose.

Defects stopped coming back.

When you arrived, a bug got fixed and nothing else changed. You built the learning loop we didn’t have, so every escape changed something structural — a process, a gate, a pattern, or a design decision.

How we’ll know:

• Defects stopped recurring in the same areas and from the same root causes.
• Fixes hold: reopens and fix-induced regressions have declined.
• Every escape produced a documented root cause and a change to process, tooling, coverage, or design.
• Release readiness is expressed as evidence and known risk, not gut feel.
• Leadership can see quality by release, team, and product area — and see it improving.

How you’ll be measured: Three numbers, reviewed every trimester: our escaped defect rate, the manual testing hours a release requires, and how often defects come back.

You will have diagnosed where RTA’s current QA model is limiting quality or speed, earned the team’s trust, and put at least one meaningful AI- or automation-driven improvement into production that measurably raises the bar.

• 5+ years of software quality assurance or quality engineering experience, preferably within a SaaS organization.
• 2+ years leading or managing QA or quality engineering professionals.
• A demonstrated track record of materially improving QA processes, teams, automation, or quality outcomes.
• Strong experience designing and implementing modern software testing strategies.
• Experience building, managing, or significantly improving automated testing programs.
• Experience with tools such as Playwright, Katalon, Cypress, Selenium, or similar frameworks.
• Strong understanding of API testing and modern web application architectures.
• Strong understanding of how QA fits throughout the software development lifecycle.
• Experience defining and using quality metrics to identify trends and drive improvement.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and root-cause analysis skills.
• Hands-on experience using AI tools to improve software quality or engineering workflows is strongly preferred.
• The ability to challenge existing practices, drive organizational change, and bring people along with you.

You’ve made it this far, so congratulations!

We are not hiring someone to run our existing QA department. We are hiring someone to help define what quality engineering at RTA should look like in an AI-first world.

You’ll inherit a functioning team and existing processes. Your job is to make them dramatically better.

Then do it again.

We want someone who looks at traditional QA practices with curiosity rather than reverence, who sees AI and automation as opportunities to create enormous leverage, and who is excited by the idea that some of the practices considered “best practice” today may be obsolete a few years from now.

If your first thought is, “There has to be a better way to do this,” we should talk.

• The anticipated salary range for this role is $140,000–$160,000 annually, depending on experience, skills, and qualifications.
• This is a full-time, fully remote-eligible role for candidates located in the United States.
• Occasional visits to RTA HQ in Glendale, Arizona for team meetings and events should be expected.
• Travel is expected to be minimal, generally up to 10% based on business needs.
• This position is classified as exempt and is not eligible for overtime pay.

We invest in our people — period.

• 401(k) with 6% Safe Harbor match (100% vested day one)
• Flexible PTO model built on trust and manager-approved time off
• Cigna PPO and HSA medical plan options with company contributions ($780–$1,950 annually)
• Garner Health HRA program: up to $1,000 individual / $2,000 family reimbursement opportunity
• Wellness rewards up to $350 annually
• Virtual care and mental health support resources
• Company-sponsored benefits including dental, vision, EAP, life, STD, LTD, legal plan, and identity theft protection options
• Additional employee perks, wellness initiatives, and discount programs

• #34 on the Fortune Best Small Workplaces™ 2026 list
• 99% of employees say RTA is a Great Place to Work® — Certified three years running
• 30% ARR growth — two years straight
• We’re an AI-forward company building for the future
• Meaningful work supporting the fleets and people who keep communities running
• Big growth. Real benefits. Strong culture. A team that delivers.

RTA has been established since 1979 and has the reputation of providing the best customer service in the market. Our purpose is to help fleets succeed.

We pride ourselves on creating a caring, family-oriented atmosphere for both staff and clients, and love that our work makes a positive impact on all the lives we touch. Our clients carry kids in school buses, first responders in emergency vehicles, patients in ambulances, food and medical supplies in trucks, and people just taking the bus or train to work.

We do meaningful work, and we want our clients to have the best tools available to them.

Our office spaces are open, spacious, and colorful, with an abundance of natural light. We come together often as a company to enjoy freshly baked desserts or awesome lunches and genuinely enjoy each other’s company. We offer some pretty unique perks and benefits, as well as all the standard ones. We’re happy to talk through all the options.

This role has the following physical and travel requirements:

• Ability to sit or stand for extended periods.
• Ability to work at a computer for prolonged periods.
• Ability to communicate effectively through video, phone, messaging, and other collaboration tools.
• Ability to travel up to 10% based on business needs, including occasional visits to RTA HQ in Glendale, Arizona.

RTA is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process or perform the essential functions of this role, please notify us at [email protected].

Employment with RTA is at-will. This means either the employee or the company may terminate the employment relationship at any time, with or without cause or notice, subject to applicable law.

Employment with RTA may be contingent upon successful completion of a background check and other pre-employment screenings, consistent with applicable law.

We cannot accept student visas or provide sponsorship at this time.

RTA is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable law.

As part of our commitment to creating a fair, efficient, and consistent hiring process, we may use artificial intelligence (AI) to help our recruiting teams organize, summarize, and analyze information provided by candidates, including resumes, application responses, and other materials submitted during the application process.

AI may be used to identify patterns, highlight relevant skills and experience, and assist in comparing a candidate’s qualifications with the requirements of a specific role. These tools are used to improve efficiency and consistency while supporting more informed hiring decisions, which will ultimately be made by the hiring team.