Director, Quality Assurance in Winnipeg

Catalis is a leading government Software as a Service (SaaS) and integrated payments provider, powering a wide range of government operations at the municipal, county, state, and federal levels. Our innovative solutions are designed to streamline processes, enhance efficiency, and improve the delivery of government services to the public. At Catalis, we are committed to leveraging technology to make government interactions simpler, faster, and more accessible.

Join a dynamic team, focused on helping Municipal Governments “Connect and Simplify Municipal Information to help make data informed decisions.” We are a data and service company with the goal of being an Alberta based technology company recognized across Canada. We are a small team that has seen year-over-year growth and is well positioned to increase our breadth and depth within the niche rural and small urban market, and we are looking for top-talent team members who can help take us to the next level.

What we Offer: Catalis is a fast growing and award-winning technology company that serves small urban and rural municipal governments across Canada. We offer competitive compensation, full paid vacation, and comprehensive health & dental benefits. We focus a lot of energy on professional development, offering free access to unlimited Udemy courses for personal and professional advancement, as we want our employees to ride the wave and grow with our business. We strive to be an example of a successful high-growth technology company in Alberta, and our team members depend on each other to make it happen.

This opportunity is based at Catalis’ office in Old Strathcona (Edmonton, Alberta). Our new office includes an innovative vibe, stand-up desks for all staff, foosball games, an active workplace enrichment committee, fitness challenges, an office dog, lounge areas, and more!

The Opportunity: Catalis is seeking a strategic, execution-focused head of Quality Assurance to establish and lead a centralized, shared services QA organization. Today, QA operates independently within each of our five product verticals, resulting in fragmented processes, inconsistent tooling, and duplicated effort. This role exists to change that.

This leader will be responsible for consolidating these siloed QA teams into a unified shared services model based in India, serving all verticals through standardized processes, common tools, and a single quality vision. Approximately two-thirds of our current QA staff is based in India and one-third in the US; this leader will architect the organizational structure, operating model, and governance frameworks needed to bring these teams together under one cohesive organization.

This is a leadership position based in Edmonton, serving as the senior quality assurance leader across Catalis, managing offshore QA Managers and their teams in India while partnering closely with US-based engineering, product, and executive stakeholders. The role requires periodic travel to India for in-person team syncs, organizational planning sessions, and relationship building with the offshore teams. Prior hands–on experience standing up a shared services QA organization is essential.

Beyond organizational transformation, this leader will leverage emerging technologies—particularly AI and intelligent automation—to fundamentally reimagine how QA delivers value. The expectation is not simply to automate existing manual processes, but to transform the role of QA itself: shifting quality left, embedding quality engineering into every phase of the SDLC, and building an automation-first culture that reduces cycle time and raises the quality bar across all products.

What you Will do:

• Shared Services Formation & QA Strategy: Lead the transformation from five independent, vertical-specific QA teams into a centralized shared services QA organization based in India, defining the target operating model, team structure, roles, and service delivery framework. Design and implement a shared services governance model including service-level agreements (SLAs) with each vertical, demand management processes, capacity planning, and resource allocation across verticals. Establish a unified quality vision, standards, policies, methodologies, and best practices to replace the fragmented approaches that exist today, ensuring consistent adoption across all teams and verticals.
• Offshore Team Leadership & Organizational Development: Directly manage and develop a team of offshore QA Managers in India and their respective QA Analyst teams, driving the transition from siloed vertical alignment to a shared services structure. Build high-performing teams through strong hiring practices, clear performance expectations, structured onboarding, and ongoing mentorship tailored to the India talent market.
• AI-Driven QA Transformation: Develop and execute a vision for AI-augmented quality engineering that goes beyond tool adoption to fundamentally transform how the QA organization operates and delivers value. Identify and implement opportunities to leverage AI and machine learning for intelligent test generation, self-healing test scripts, predictive defect analysis, automated test case creation from requirements, and smart test prioritization.
• Test Automation & CI/CD Integration: Architect and oversee the development of a standardized test automation framework for use across all verticals, leveraging modern tools such as Playwright or comparable frameworks. Define automation strategy including scope, coverage tiers (smoke, regression, integration), framework structure, and maintenance standards.
• Client & Stakeholder Engagement: Serve as the senior QA representative in client-facing discussions, providing clarity on quality processes, test coverage, defect management, and release confidence. Partner with Product, Engineering, and Account Management teams to communicate quality risks, timelines, and mitigation strategies to external stakeholders.
• Accessibility Testing & WCAG Compliance: Own the enterprise accessibility testing strategy, ensuring all software products meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA compliance standards as required by federal mandates governing government-facing software. Define and enforce accessibility testing standards, processes, and tooling across all verticals and QA teams.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent professional experience).
• 10+ years of experience in Quality Assurance, including 5+ years in a senior leadership or director-level role.
• Proven experience building and leading a centralized shared services QA organization, ideally in India, including operating model design, team structure, SLA definition, demand management, and cross-vertical service delivery.
• Demonstrated success managing large-scale offshore QA teams in India, with deep understanding of the India talent market, engagement models, communication strategies, cultural nuances, and performance management across time zones.
• Track record of consolidating fragmented or siloed QA functions into a unified organization with standardized processes and tools.
• Demonstrated experience leveraging AI and emerging technologies to transform QA practices, including evaluation and adoption of AI-assisted testing tools, intelligent test generation, and predictive quality analytics.
• Hands‑on experience with modern test automation frameworks with the ability to guide architectural decisions and drive an automation‑first culture.
• Experience implementing an enterprise test case management platform.
• Demonstrated experience leading WCAG 2.2 Level AA accessibility testing programs, including tooling, audit processes, and remediation workflows.
• Proven experience defining and implementing a performance and load testing strategy, including tooling selection and CI/CD integration.
• Strong proficiency with Jira for defect tracking and QA workflow management.

Catalis is committed to building and promoting a diverse workforce and celebrates the unique qualities that individuals of various backgrounds and experiences offer. As an equal employment opportunity employer, all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, and other protected status as required by applicable law.