Director, Quality Engineering at Magnet Forensics

Who We Are; What We Do; Where We’re Going Magnet Forensics is a global leader in the development of digital investigative software that acquires, analyzes, and shares evidence from computers, smartphones, tablets, and IoT-related devices. We are continually innovating so our customers can deploy advanced and effective tools to protect their companies, communities, and countries.   Serving thousands of customers globally, our solutions are playing a crucial role in modernizing digital investigations, helping investigators fight crime, protect assets, and guard national security.   With employees based around the world, Magnet Forensics has been expanding our global presence. As a part of Magnet Forensics, you can expect to make a difference in the world, no matter what role you play. You’ll be supported through learning and development, not to mention an incredible team with unbelievable talent and integrity.   If you think you would be the right person to join our team working towards this goal, we would love to hear from you!  Role Overview Magnet Forensics is seeking an experienced Director, Quality Engineering to define and drive what “software quality” means across our organization. As we evolve from desktop software to SaaS-based digital investigation platforms, quality, reliability, and accountability are central to our mission. The Director, Quality Engineering will lead Magnet Forensics’ quality strategy, ensuring that every product and release reflects the highest standards of reliability, performance, and user trust.  This role is both strategic and hands-on, defining the organization-wide approach to quality while building scalable systems, practices, and culture to embed quality into every stage of our SaaS development lifecycle. You will partner closely with Product, Engineering, and DevOps leadership to establish a unified definition of quality, formalize processes and metrics, and implement the tooling and practices that enable continuous, high-confidence delivery of SaaS software. NOTE: This role is Hybrid, therefore, Candidate must be able to commute to the Waterloo, Canada Headquarters about once a week. Key Responsibilities: • Define the Organization’s Quality Framework • Establish a clear, actionable definition of software quality that aligns with Magnet Forensics’ mission, customer needs, and engineering practices. • Translate quality into measurable metrics, standards, and processes applicable across all teams and products. • Define and formalize a “Definition of Done” that encapsulates code, testing, documentation, deployment, and observability requirements.Build Quality into SaaS Development • Lead the implementation of SaaS-oriented testing practices, including continuous integration testing, automated regression, load testing, and production monitoring. • Partner with platform and DevOps teams to refine deployment environments and methods that ensure accountability and repeatability in releases. • Drive the adoption of shift-left practices and ensure quality validation happens throughout the development process.Tools, Automation, and Measurement • Lead the selection and rollout of tools and frameworks for test automation, performance validation, and quality reporting. • Define and monitor organization-wide quality KPIs (e.g., defect escape rate, test coverage, release confidence metrics, MTTR, deployment success rate). • Establish dashboards and feedback loops to give leadership and teams visibility into quality and release readiness.Leadership and Culture • Build, mentor, and lead a distributed team of quality engineers who are embedded in feature squads but aligned through a centralized vision and standards. • Foster a culture of quality and accountability across all engineering disciplines, encouraging teams to view quality as a shared responsibility, not a gatekeeping function. • Partner with Engineering Directors, Product Management, and SREs to continuously improve delivery maturity. Required Qualifications: • 10+ years of experience in software quality, test engineering, or software development roles, with at least 3 years leading a quality or test organization. • Proven success establishing or scaling quality programs in SaaS or cloud-native environments. • Strong understanding of modern software delivery practices: CI/CD, automated testing, blue/green and canary deployments. • Hands-on familiarity with test automation frameworks (e.g. Cypress, Playwright, and Selenium) and CI/CD toolchains (e.g. GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, Jenkins). • Experience defining and operationalizing software quality metrics and translating them into business outcomes. • Excellent communication and leadership skills; ability to influence and drive cross-functional alignment. Nice To Haves: • Experience in regulated or mission-critical software domains (e.g., forensics, security, defense, healthcare). • Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and container orchestration (Kubernetes). • Exposure to DevSecOps practices, observability systems, and post-release quality monitoring (APM, tracing, etc.). Success in This Role Looks Like: • A clearly defined and adopted quality strategy and definition of done across all engineering teams. • Automated testing pipelines integrated into CI/CD, with measurable improvement in release confidence and defect rates. • Quality engineers embedded effectively within feature teams but aligned through shared standards and leadership. • Release processes that are predictable, observable, and auditable. • A culture of quality ownership where teams proactively prevent issues, not just detect them. Compensation & Benefits: • The Compensation Range is for the primary location for which the job is posted. Please note that the actual compensation may vary depending on location and job-related factors such as qualifications, experience, knowledge and skills. If you are applying for this role outside of the primary location and you are selected for an interview, the Talent Acquisition Partner can share more information with you. If the compensation structure for the role includes an incentive component (ie. most Sales roles) the range below represents total target compensation (TTC) (base salary + variable). Compensation Range: • MIN: $163,100 - MID: $233,000 - MAX: $279,600 CAN Magnet Forensics is proud to offer Benefits such as: • Generous Time Off Policies • Competitive Compensation • Volunteer Opportunities • Reward and Recognition Programs • Employee Committees & Resource Groups • Healthcare and Retirement Benefits The Most Important Thing We’re looking for candidates that can provide examples of how they have demonstrated Magnet CODE in their previous experiences: CARE – We care about each other and our mission to make a difference in the world. OWN – We are accountable for our results – while never forgetting to act with integrity, empathy, and respect. DEDICATE – We put our heart and soul into meeting the needs of our customers and helping them serve the people they protect. EVOLVE – We are constantly innovating and exploring new ways to work together to make an impact with our work. Here at Magnet Forensics, we are committed to continuous learning and are focused on building a diverse and inclusive workforce. This commitment will be reflected in our hiring processes and embedded in our values and how we treat one another. If you’re interested in this role, but do not meet all of the qualifications listed above, we encourage you to apply anyways.   Magnet Forensics is an Equal Opportunity Employer and considers applicants for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetics or any other basis forbidden under federal, provincial, or local law. We are committed to providing an inclusive, accessible recruitment process and work environment. Accommodation is available to all applicants upon request throughout the hiring process. Please contact [Upgrade to PRO to see contact] should you require any accommodations. All offers of employment at Magnet are contingent upon satisfactory completion of a background check. All background checks will be conducted in accordance with all applicable laws. Magnet will consider each position’s job duties, among other factors, in determining what constitutes satisfactory completion of the background check. Refusal to consent to a background check may be grounds for revoking an offer of employment. US Applicants: Magnet Forensics participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S.