QA Manager, Digital Games

Mattel • El Segundo, CA

19h

About The Position

We’re looking for a QA Manager to own release confidence and quality outcomes across a portfolio of digital game titles developed with external studios and validated by specialist QA and localization partners. With a strong focus on mobile free-to-play (F2P) games, this is a publishing-side leadership role that manages quality strategy, risk management, partner accountability, and scalable QA operations—so players get stable, polished experiences at launch and throughout LiveOps.

Requirements

• 6+ years in mobile games QA or related quality operations with 2+ years managing third-party vendor relationships or distributed teams.
• Demonstrated experience managing QA for live mobile free-to-play (F2P) through LiveOps and release cycles, with strong ownership of release readiness and quality outcomes.
• Deep knowledge of QA test methodologies, defect lifecycle management, and mobile device/OS test coverage strategies.
• Proficiency with QA tooling (e.g., Jira, TestRail, Zephyr) and analytics dashboards.
• Strong operational judgment: risk-based testing, exit criteria, prioritization in fast-moving environments, and clear, decision-driving reporting.
• Confident cross-functional leadership and communication with producers, engineers, product leaders, and external studios.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with portfolio QA operations across multiple titles/time zones; comfort directing work remotely.
• Familiarity with modern games QA practices (automation-aware thinking, quality metrics, testability) and ability to be hands-on when needed.
• Localization QA experience (multi-language/multi-region launches).
• Certifications such as CSM / PSM.

Responsibilities

• Establish QA process within the publishing workflow: Partner with internal Publishing Platform and Core Team leads to integrate vendor QA processes into the production and release workflow.
• Own quality strategy and signals: Define quality standards, test strategies, KPIs/metrics, and reporting that guide prioritization and drive change across teams and partners.
• Lead release readiness: Establish quality gates, exit criteria, and go/no-go recommendations for launches, updates, and hotfixes—balancing scope, timing, and acceptable risk without becoming a bottleneck.
• Manage partners and vendors: Define QA deliverables, SLAs, and success KPIs with vendor partners; oversee performance reporting, capacity planning, turnaround times, test coverage accuracy, and issue escalation paths; conduct regular vendor performance reviews and continuous improvement initiatives to optimize cost, quality, and time-to-market.
• Run defect triage and escalation: Enforce defect quality standards, severity frameworks, and escalation paths; ensure fixes are verified, regression-safe, and communicated clearly to stakeholders.
• Scale QA operations: Implement reusable test plans, checklists, bug taxonomy, device/OS coverage strategy, and continuous improvement rhythms (reviews, audits, corrective actions).
• Champion LiveOps quality: Support fast, safe release cadence with post-release validation, incident support, and learnings/root-cause analysis that reduce repeat issues.
• Support App Store submissions: Partner on submission readiness (checklists, technical compliance/disclosures, signing/build variants) and coordinate rapid response to first-party feedback to keep releases on track.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: No Education Listed