Director, Quality Engineering

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.

Role Summary           

In the Age of AI, quality isn’t a phase or a team at the end—it’s a capability built in by design.  We’re seeking a Director of Quality Engineering (QE) to lead our transformation from traditional manual QA to a developer‑centric, AI‑augmented, risk‑based QE model across multiple product verticals (mobile apps, device/firmware, and platform/services).  This leader partners closely with Engineering, Product, Release, and our Vertical Quality Leads (VQLs) to prevent defects early, accelerate flow, and raise the bar on reliability, accessibility, and customer trust.  You will redefine culture, talent, tooling, and metrics—owning the strategy, operating model, and outcomes that make “quality everyone’s job,” with QE as the architects of prevention and stewards of risk.

What You’ll Do

1. Cultural reset: Gatekeepers → Architects

• • Re‑author the mission of quality from find bugs to prevent defects and accelerate delivery; codify behaviors, responsibilities, and rituals that embed quality at design time.  Leverage VQLs (Principal Quality Leads) to represent vertical quality in executive forums and drive collective accountability across disciplines including in Product, Engineering, etc.
  • Establish a Team One operating model: co‑locate QEs within product squads; ensure participation in discovery, architecture reviews, threat modeling, and risk sizing—not just release checkpoints.

2. Talent strategy: Upskill for AI‑augmented QE

• • Build a competency framework and learning paths for three personas: Builders (QE Leads with strong coding), Domain Strategists (deep product knowledge + exploratory excellence), and Legacy Testers (with targeted transition plans).
  • Deploy AI‑augmented workflows (prompting patterns for test generation, test‑data synthesis, and log/trace analysis) so engineers focus on logic and risk.
  • Strong technical background to partner with Engineering and the Automation Director (e.g., understanding when and why frameworks like Playwright/Cypress/Appium are used), without needing to design or write automation.  Able to guide quality strategy, risk-based coverage, and AI‑augmented QE practices across verticals.

3. Shift‑left (for real) & SDLC integration

• • Pre‑commit quality: Require test hooks/observability points at design time; QEs help define seams for automation and telemetry before a line of code is written.
  • AI policy in PRs: Configure AI‑assisted static checks and PR gates for reliability/maintainability rules; QEs own guardrail policies and exemptions.
  • Definition of Done 2.0: A story is done only when automated checks (unit/component/E2E where appropriate), AI‑generated edge‑case coverage, and accessibility baselines are in place and green.  QE/VQLs co‑own release criteria and QRDs.

4. Platform & tooling: Self‑healing, evidence‑driven

• • Stand up an AI‑native test platform (visual AI/self‑healing selectors, change‑impact analysis, and intelligent retries) to reduce maintenance toil and flakiness.
  • Synthetic data at scale: Provide compliant, scenario‑rich datasets instantly to eliminate environment/data bottlenecks.
  • Standardize ALM/test management (Jira + Xray/TestRail/Zephyr), dashboards, and evidence discipline (traceability, result artifacts) across verticals and vendor teams.

5. Observability & Release governance

• • Instrument quality telemetry (test effectiveness, Defect Removal Efficiency/escapes, defect rate, cycle time, change failure rate) and run release readiness reviews with VQLs, Functional Managers, and Release Managers.
  • Drive corrective and preventive actions when quality telemetry trends against set standards; ensure audit‑ready traceability and evidence.

6. VQL partnership & Vertical leadership

• • Co‑author Vertical Quality Plans with VQLs: risk models, KPIs, and release criteria per domain; act as an escalation point for cross‑vertical quality risks.
  • Represent vertical quality in executive forums, enabling transparent trade‑offs and clear go/no‑go calls with defensible evidence.

7. Vendor effectiveness & operating cadence

• • Define playbooks, SLAs, and calibration for partner teams; ensure consistent standards, tooling hygiene, and audit readiness.
  • Run a Lean “waste audit” cadence to quantify maintenance toil (flaky tests, environment issues, data waits) and redirect capacity via AI/platform improvements.

How You’ll Measure Success (KPIs)

• Escaped Defect Rate (EDR) trending down across verticals; Defect Removal Efficiency (DRE) trending up.
• Cycle time (Commit → Deploy) reduced without eroding reliability; improved change failure rate (CFR) and MTTR due to better prevention and faster diagnosis.
• Automation coverage vs.  risk: Coverage is targeted to high‑value, high‑risk paths—not “test everything.”
• Accessibility conformance baselines and improvement per release (Section 508/WCAG 2.2 AA).
• Signal quality of dashboards: fewer flaky tests, higher pass‑rate integrity, actionable reports in Jira/Xray/TestRail with clear traceability to requirements and risks.

Required Qualifications

• 12+ years in Software Quality/Engineering with 5+ years leading multi‑team or multi‑product quality organizations, ideally in consumer, IoT, or device‑cloud ecosystems.
• Demonstrated success transforming QA → QE: culture change, org design, upskilling, platform/tooling modernization, and KPI re‑architecture.
• Expertise in risk‑based test strategy, exploratory testing, AI‑assisted test development, and integrating quality signals across CI/CD.  Owns release criteria/QRDs and go/no‑go rigor with VQLs/Functional Managers/Automation Leads/Release Management.
• Familiarity with modern test frameworks and languages (e.g., Playwright/Cypress, WebDriver/Appium; TypeScript/JavaScript, Python, or Java).
• Strong command of ALM/test management (Jira, Xray/TestRail/Zephyr) and evidence/traceability practices; vendor management with measurable outcomes.
• Proven ability to instrument and interpret telemetry (logs, traces, metrics), and to partner with SRE/Platform for observability.
• Bachelor’s degree in an Engineering discipline (e.g., Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical/Computer Engineering, or related field).  Advanced degree a plus.

Preferred Qualifications & Credentials

• ISTQB Advanced Level (Test Manager, Test Analyst, or Technical Test Analyst) and/or Certified Software Quality Analyst (CSQA).
• Agile certifications (CSM, PSM) and/or scaled frameworks (SAFe).
• Lean Six Sigma (Green/Black Belt) with demonstrated use in reducing waste and cycle time.
• Accessibility expertise with working knowledge of WCAG 2.2 AA and Section 508, including tooling (e.g., axe, Lighthouse, NVDA/JAWS, VoiceOver).
• Familiarity with AI/ML in testing (e.g., self‑healing locators, test generation, change impact analysis) and responsible AI guardrails for PR checks.
• Experience in regulated or security‑sensitive domains; knowledge of secure SDLC, privacy, and compliance best practices.

Ways of Working

• Operates as a servant‑leader who builds psychological safety while setting a high bar for engineering rigor and accountability.
• Communicates crisply with executives and engineers alike; translates telemetry into decisions and clear trade‑offs.
• Drives an inspect‑and‑adapt cadence: quarterly Vertical Quality Plans, monthly waste audits, weekly signal reviews, and daily squad rituals.

Location & Work Model

• In office, Lehi, UT, with periodic travel to key engineering hubs (as needed for planning, release readiness reviews, and vendor calibration).

Equal Opportunity Employer

Vivint Smart Home, an NRG company, is an equal opportunity employer.  We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

If you reside in or intend to work remotely from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Washington D.C., Washington State or another state or locality with a pay transparency law, you may contact Careers@nrg.com for compensation information related to this position and other information as required by applicable law. Please include the job title in your request. 

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/Vet/Disability. Level, Title and/or Salary may be adjusted based on the applicant's experience or skills.  

Official description on file with Talent.