About the role
**5 days/week on-site in Markham office**
The QA Lead will drive the quality vision and execution for one or more product lines. This is a hybrid leadership role blending hands-on testing expertise with strategic people, process, and tooling leadership — including the integration of modern AI capabilities. You’ll guide a high-performing QA team to deliver reliable, high-quality software through a thoughtful mix of manual/exploratory testing and automated test engineering.
Key Responsibilities:
Quality Strategy & Governance
- Define and evangelize the overall QA strategy, quality KPIs, and release readiness criteria.
- Champion modern quality practices including shift-left (TDD/BDD) and shift-right (observability, production monitoring) testing.
- Lead the development of risk-based test plans, traceability matrices, and continuous quality improvement strategies.
- Leverage AI-assisted tools for test prioritization and risk analysis to target high-impact areas.
People Leadership
- Hire, mentor, and grow a multidisciplinary QA team including manual testers, SDETs, and automation engineers.
- Coach team members on test design, root cause analysis, automation best practices, and career development.
- Conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and individual growth plans to build a culture of accountability and learning.
Manual & Exploratory Testing
- Lead the creation of detailed test cases, exploratory charters, and session-based test documentation.
- Execute thorough validation across web, mobile, and API layers, including usability, accessibility, and edge cases.
- Manage comprehensive test cycles: smoke, regression, UAT, load/performance, and production verification.
- Use AI tools to generate exploratory ideas and summarize findings efficiently.
Automation Engineering
- Design and maintain robust UI, API, and integration test suites using frameworks like Playwright, Cypress, or Selenium.
- Build out CI/CD-integrated pipelines (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, Azure DevOps) with rapid failure detection.
- Implement test data management, service virtualization, and environment provisioning.
- Adopt cutting-edge AI tools for self-healing tests and automated script generation to reduce maintenance overhead.
Process, Tooling & Quality Reporting
- Standardize tooling across the QA lifecycle (e.g., Jira/Xray, TestRail, Zephyr).
- Drive SLA adherence for defect triage, reporting, and resolution.
- Deliver clear, actionable QA dashboards and facilitate root cause analysis (RCA) and retrospectives.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Represent QA in agile ceremonies, design reviews, and release readiness discussions.
- Work closely with Product, DevOps, Engineering, Security, and Customer Success to ensure quality goals are aligned.
Qualifications & Experience:
- 3+ years leading QA or SDET teams.
- Strong background in both manual and automated testing for SaaS/cloud-native applications.
- Experience working with offshore teams.
- Proficient in JavaScript/TypeScript and one or more automation frameworks (e.g., Playwright, Cypress, Selenium).
- Deep familiarity with Agile/Scrum, CI/CD workflows, Git-based version control.
- Hands-on experience with API testing (Postman, REST-assured, Pact), data validation (SQL/NoSQL), and performance tools (JMeter, k6).
- Experience with containerized environments (Docker, Kubernetes) and at least one major cloud platform (AWS, Azure, GCP).
- Strong communication, coaching, and stakeholder management skills.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Certifications: ISTQB Advanced Test Manager, Certified Agile Tester, or equivalent.
- Experience in microservices, event-driven, or IoT systems.
- Exposure to security testing (e.g., OWASP ZAP, Burp Suite, SAST/DAST).
- Familiarity with observability tools like Grafana, Prometheus, New Relic, or Datadog.
- Experience implementing AI-powered QA tools (e.g., generative testing, predictive analytics, self-healing automation).
About Frontier Dental CA
Frontier Dental is a fast growing dental supply company headquartered in Toronto, Canada focused on providing dentists throughout North America with a bespoke shopping experience. With offices and distribution centers across North America, Frontier Dental offers over 40,000 skus with same day shipping. We carry all name-brand products at no unfair mark-ups, ensuring a clean and pleasant experience.
Despite our growth and national reach, we stay rooted in our company values which encompass a commitment to excellence, autonomy and accountability, keeping it real, team centricity and upholding a respectful and inclusive environment. We embody the statement of "big enough to serve you, small enough to care". Our team members are procured from within the dental industry which means they speak the same language as our dentist and dental assistant customers throughout the ordering process. With years of experience in the dental trade, Frontier Dental brings an unparalleled and fresh experience to our valued customers.
About the role
**5 days/week on-site in Markham office**
The QA Lead will drive the quality vision and execution for one or more product lines. This is a hybrid leadership role blending hands-on testing expertise with strategic people, process, and tooling leadership — including the integration of modern AI capabilities. You’ll guide a high-performing QA team to deliver reliable, high-quality software through a thoughtful mix of manual/exploratory testing and automated test engineering.
Key Responsibilities:
Quality Strategy & Governance
- Define and evangelize the overall QA strategy, quality KPIs, and release readiness criteria.
- Champion modern quality practices including shift-left (TDD/BDD) and shift-right (observability, production monitoring) testing.
- Lead the development of risk-based test plans, traceability matrices, and continuous quality improvement strategies.
- Leverage AI-assisted tools for test prioritization and risk analysis to target high-impact areas.
People Leadership
- Hire, mentor, and grow a multidisciplinary QA team including manual testers, SDETs, and automation engineers.
- Coach team members on test design, root cause analysis, automation best practices, and career development.
- Conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and individual growth plans to build a culture of accountability and learning.
Manual & Exploratory Testing
- Lead the creation of detailed test cases, exploratory charters, and session-based test documentation.
- Execute thorough validation across web, mobile, and API layers, including usability, accessibility, and edge cases.
- Manage comprehensive test cycles: smoke, regression, UAT, load/performance, and production verification.
- Use AI tools to generate exploratory ideas and summarize findings efficiently.
Automation Engineering
- Design and maintain robust UI, API, and integration test suites using frameworks like Playwright, Cypress, or Selenium.
- Build out CI/CD-integrated pipelines (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, Azure DevOps) with rapid failure detection.
- Implement test data management, service virtualization, and environment provisioning.
- Adopt cutting-edge AI tools for self-healing tests and automated script generation to reduce maintenance overhead.
Process, Tooling & Quality Reporting
- Standardize tooling across the QA lifecycle (e.g., Jira/Xray, TestRail, Zephyr).
- Drive SLA adherence for defect triage, reporting, and resolution.
- Deliver clear, actionable QA dashboards and facilitate root cause analysis (RCA) and retrospectives.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Represent QA in agile ceremonies, design reviews, and release readiness discussions.
- Work closely with Product, DevOps, Engineering, Security, and Customer Success to ensure quality goals are aligned.
Qualifications & Experience:
- 3+ years leading QA or SDET teams.
- Strong background in both manual and automated testing for SaaS/cloud-native applications.
- Experience working with offshore teams.
- Proficient in JavaScript/TypeScript and one or more automation frameworks (e.g., Playwright, Cypress, Selenium).
- Deep familiarity with Agile/Scrum, CI/CD workflows, Git-based version control.
- Hands-on experience with API testing (Postman, REST-assured, Pact), data validation (SQL/NoSQL), and performance tools (JMeter, k6).
- Experience with containerized environments (Docker, Kubernetes) and at least one major cloud platform (AWS, Azure, GCP).
- Strong communication, coaching, and stakeholder management skills.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Certifications: ISTQB Advanced Test Manager, Certified Agile Tester, or equivalent.
- Experience in microservices, event-driven, or IoT systems.
- Exposure to security testing (e.g., OWASP ZAP, Burp Suite, SAST/DAST).
- Familiarity with observability tools like Grafana, Prometheus, New Relic, or Datadog.
- Experience implementing AI-powered QA tools (e.g., generative testing, predictive analytics, self-healing automation).
About Frontier Dental CA
Frontier Dental is a fast growing dental supply company headquartered in Toronto, Canada focused on providing dentists throughout North America with a bespoke shopping experience. With offices and distribution centers across North America, Frontier Dental offers over 40,000 skus with same day shipping. We carry all name-brand products at no unfair mark-ups, ensuring a clean and pleasant experience.
Despite our growth and national reach, we stay rooted in our company values which encompass a commitment to excellence, autonomy and accountability, keeping it real, team centricity and upholding a respectful and inclusive environment. We embody the statement of "big enough to serve you, small enough to care". Our team members are procured from within the dental industry which means they speak the same language as our dentist and dental assistant customers throughout the ordering process. With years of experience in the dental trade, Frontier Dental brings an unparalleled and fresh experience to our valued customers.