Work with cutting edge technology, making the world a safer and more secure place. DroneShield (ASX:DRO) offers an opportunity to solve some of the world's most challenging technical problems in Electronic Warfare, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, RF sensing, Sensor Fusion and distributed systems. Working with high profile customers across militaries, government agencies, airports, critical infrastructure, law enforcement and many others.
With one of the largest listed defence company market capitalisations in Australia and having raised approximately $250m in 2024 alone, DroneShield is undergoing hypergrowth stage, fuelled by rapidly increasing use of drones for nefarious applications, from battlefield, to terrorism, to contraband delivery and commercial espionage.
This role is in the DroneShield Sydney headquarters in Pyrmont, Sydney. There are approximately 300 staff based in the 4,000sqm facility today, scheduled to grow to approximately 400 staff by end of 2025. Overseas on the ground presence includes USA, Denmark, Mexico, and UAE, as well as distributors in over 70 countries globally.
About the role
DroneShield is seeking a highly experienced QA Manager to lead the QA Team across a portfolio of Software and Embedded Systems, with a focus on automation, integration, and cross-platform reliability. Based in Sydney, this position reports directly to the VP of Quality Engineering and will manage both Software and Embedded QA teams. You will work closely with Systems Engineering, Product Developers, Verification and Validation, Test & Evaluation and Support to ensure comprehensive quality oversight throughout the entire product lifecycle, from concept to deployment. This role will oversee the quality assurance of high-throughput, real-time systems that integrate machine learning algorithms, advanced sensor technologies, effector components, and embedded control software. Your team will work closely with the Sensors and Effector teams to validate complex hardware and software interactions through API validation, interface testing, and end-to-end systems integration testing. A deep understanding of software-hardware interoperability is crucial for delivering scalable and resilient products.
The ideal candidate will bring demonstrated expertise in automated testing, CI/CD pipeline integration, and shift-left quality practices, combined with the ability to create and drive a unified QA strategy across technical domains. You will be responsible for implementing automation coverage at every layer of the systems and development cycles. This includes owning test infrastructure, test documentation, and release readiness practices across multiple development teams. In addition to strong technical depth, this position requires strategic leadership capabilities to foster a culture of engineering discipline, ownership, continuous improvement, and cross-border transparency. You will play a key role in scaling the QA capability in Australia, improving visibility into quality metrics, and aligning QA efforts with the organisation's long-term technology strategy.
Responsibilities, Duties and Expectations
Quality Assurance Strategy & Test Leadership:
- Define and execute a robust QA strategy aligned with system architecture, engineering workflows, and the company's technology roadmap.
- Build end-to-end test plans covering integration, system, regression, and acceptance testing across software and embedded systems. Functional and Automated tests.
- Lead systems integration testing to validate full-stack functionality across sensors, embedded controllers, software applications, and cloud components.
- Develop and execute user acceptance testing (UAT) protocols in collaboration with product and Systems Engineering team.
Test Automation & CI/CD Integration:
- Design, implement, and maintain automated tests using modern frameworks (e.g., Selenium, Pytest, Playwright, Puppeteer and K6) integrated with CI/CD pipelines (GitLab).
- Own the automated benchmarking strategy for the systems to evaluate sensor performance and assess regression impact of software or hardware changes.
- Own the test management system (X-ray) and ensure reusability, traceability, and continuous coverage growth, alongside the traceability of the Requirements of the Systems Engineering team.
- Track and trace quality metrics to monitor coverage, defect leakage, and regression stability.
- Define testing strategies (e.g. functional, automated, performance, security) based on project requirements and systems.
Technical Delivery & Quality Discipline:
- Drive high-quality, predictable release cycles by enforcing technical discipline, QA checkpoints, and go/no-go quality gates.
- Ensure adherence to engineering best practices, documentation rigor, and risk-based testing approaches.
- Track and resolve testing dependencies, test environment gaps, and coverage risks across multiple product lines.
Cross-Functional Collaboration:
- Act as the primary QA interface for projects, coordinating with Product Management, Systems Engineering, Verification and Validation, Software, Embedded Systems, Platforms and Operations.
- Maintain close alignment with VPs of Software, Infrastructure, Security, and Embedded Systems across regions to ensure synchronised processes and tooling.
- Communicate risks, blockers, and quality trends to leadership and contribute to continuous improvement efforts across the product lifecycle.
Engineering Culture & Capability Building:
- Promote a culture of ownership, continuous improvement, and transparency in the QA and engineering teams.
- Establish visibility and reporting practices that foster accountability across global delivery teams.
- Mentor QA Engineers, QA Automation Engineers and SDETs to grow their technical skills in automation, testing strategy, traceability and verification.
- Collaborate with Talent Acquisition to scale the QA team, ensuring strong technical capability and cultural fit.
Data, Algorithm & System Support:
- Support the acquisition and processing of sensor and telemetry data for algorithm validation.
- Collaborate with AI/ML teams to establish realistic test datasets and system behaviours under different operating modes.
- Ensure QA efforts align with the overall technology and platform strategy.
Qualifications, Experience and Skills
- BS degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or similar technical field of study or equivalent practical experience.
- 5+ years managing Quality Engineering teams with proven experience in testing best practices, testing frameworks, test data management, continuous integration practices and developing quality engineering teams within a technology organisation.
- Proven experience managing end-to-end testing on complex, large-scale systems, application or projects.
- Deep understanding of test strategy development, methodologies, test planning and execution, and risk-based testing approaches.
- Strong experience in Embedded systems testing, hardware/software integration, or sensor-driven platforms.
- Proven expertise in Test Automation development using Python, or TypeScript.
- Deep understanding of API and UI test automation, as well as manual exploratory testing practices.
- Experience with test management tools (e.g., Jira/X-ray, TestRail) and CI/CD pipelines using Gitlab.
- Strong communication skills and a proven ability to work cross-functionally in Agile/Scrum environments.
- Understanding of hardware development lifecycles, and firmware testing.
- Knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS) and DevOps environments preferred.
Note for recruitment agencies: We do not accept unsolicited candidates from external recruiters unless specifically instructed.
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