[Hiring] Lead Functional Tester @EPAM

Role Description

We are looking for a dedicated Lead Functional Tester to join the team as a Verification & Validation (V&V) technical lead. You will own the overall V&V strategy and the evidence that platform deliverables work.

• Lead installation, upgrade, and regression testing of the platform on clean clusters.
• Drive the shift from manual checks toward repeatable, automated quality gates.
• Guide a small group of QA engineers in day-to-day execution.

Responsibilities:

• Define and own the V&V strategy, test approach, and acceptance criteria for the platform and its components.
• Lead and mentor a team of functional testers: plan work, review test artifacts, coach on debugging techniques, and grow the team's technical depth.
• Spin up clean Kubernetes environments, orchestrate execution of the platform installer (single-node and HA profiles, interactive and silent modes), and ensure full health verification of every pod/service.
• Oversee installation, upgrade, rollback, regression, and integration testing of the platform and its Helm-packaged components.
• Drive troubleshooting of complex deployment failures using kubectl, logs, and events; set standards for Helm chart installation, debugging, and cleanup.
• Validate and formalize GitOps-driven deployments (Git-versioned configs reconciled through Flux), including upgrade, rollback, and backup/restore flows.
• Establish config check and post-install smoke test standards; define what "working" looks like for each deliverable across the team.
• Own test plans, test cases, defect lifecycle, and regression suites for installer/CLI changes; ensure traceability and coverage.
• Lead the design and rollout of automated post-deployment health checks and pipeline-integrated quality gates.
• Produce and sign off on test evidence suitable for a regulated (medical device / healthcare) environment with formal validation and change control.
• Represent QA in architecture, release, and planning discussions; participate in daily stand-ups and sprint ceremonies with a distributed, North America-based scrum team.
• Interface directly with engineering leads, product owners, and stakeholders to align quality objectives with delivery milestones.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in QA, including prior experience leading or coordinating a QA team or V&V workstream.
• Strong background in installation, upgrade, regression, and integration testing of complex, distributed products.
• Deep hands-on experience with Kubernetes and installing/operating Helm charts.
• Proven ability to debug non-trivial deployments and establish team-wide practices for Helm release/chart management.
• Expertise in functional testing of containerized products, Docker, and Linux shell.
• Strong V&V mindset - ability to design end-to-end test strategies and produce clear, traceable, audit-ready test evidence.
• Experience mentoring engineers, reviewing test deliverables, and driving quality standards across a team.
• Clear, concise communication in English (B2+ level); comfortable working asynchronously with distributed stakeholders.
• Flexibility to work within US Eastern (ET) business hours.

Requirements

• Nice to have experience designing GitOps-based validation workflows with FluxCD.
• Familiarity with AWS (EC2, ECR, VPC, IAM) and on-prem/virtualized setups (VMware vSphere, Proxmox).
• Knowledge of Terraform, Ansible, and infrastructure testing tools (Terratest, InSpec, or equivalent).
• Hands-on competency in test automation/scripting (Bash, Python) and CI (Jenkins), with experience setting automation direction for a team.
• Prior work in regulated or compliance-sensitive environments (healthcare, medical devices) and basic Java stack knowledge.