Practice Manager - Quality Assurance

Summary

Join Datacom as a Practice Manager– Quality Assurance, reporting to the General Manager. You will be responsible for building the business pipeline, growing a high-performing team, and managing a multi-million-dollar budget. This pivotal role requires deep technical expertise and strong commercial awareness to craft, position, and sell QA services. You will lead and mentor your team, focusing on customer-centricity and collaboration. The role involves pre-sales support, strategic planning, and hands-on delivery leadership. Datacom offers a dynamic and supportive work environment with various perks.

Requirements

• Management or other equivalent leadership experience of technology teams
• Experience managing and leading IT professionals and leaders
• Demonstrated expertise in managing client relationships
• Understanding of budgeting and time and resource constraints
• Deep understanding of the Digital Product Lifecycle and software delivery
• The ability to assess clients' needs, identify customer requirements and connect them to business outcomes
• Experience leading teams to develop cohesive product designs, roadmaps, technical architecture, and estimates
• You will have strong leadership, management and organisational skills
• Extensive experience in managing and nurturing strategic client relationships is essential. You must be skilled at identifying client needs and translating those needs into QA services that drive business outcomes. This includes engaging clients to solve complex challenges, demonstrating the value of QA solutions, and positioning your practice as a trusted advisor. You will also take an active role in pre-sales and service selling , working directly with clients to understand their challenges and presenting tailored QA services and solutions that align with their business objectives. Your ability to develop long-term relationships and increase client satisfaction will be key to the success of your practice
• A strong understanding of commercial and financial management is critical. You should have experience managing multi-million-dollar budgets and possess the ability to drive business growth by creating a profitable pipeline of opportunities. This includes proficiency in pricing, resource planning, and financial forecasting, as well as the ability to build and position market-facing propositions. You will work closely with the sales team to identify client needs and craft tailored solutions, selling QA services and driving new business opportunities
• The ideal candidate will have proven experience leading and growing high-performing teams. You should excel at mentoring Team Leads and Senior Consultants, fostering a culture focused on customer-centricity, collaboration, and continuous team development. You will need to demonstrate strong leadership in workforce planning, technical hiring, and managing cross-functional teams to ensure the delivery of high-quality outcomes
• You should have a deep understanding of the Digital Product Lifecycle and software delivery, along with expertise in quality assurance practices and methodologies. Knowledge of Agile , DevOps , and product development methodologies is essential, as is familiarity with application design practices for medium to large enterprises. You will need to create, position, and sell tailored QA services and solutions that add value to your clients’ businesses, using your technical knowledge to craft compelling propositions
• Experience in setting and executing growth strategies for your practice is a must. You will work closely with the wider management team to align regional and practice-specific goals with broader business objectives. Your role will involve designing and running workshops to create value throughout the product lifecycle, and managing operational aspects to ensure effective and efficient delivery of services. You will also need to demonstrate strong leadership in driving service adoption and delivering results across client projects
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills are essential for engaging with senior leaders, clients, and internal teams. You will need excellent influencing and negotiation skills to lead complex initiatives, manage expectations, and secure buy-in from key stakeholders. Your ability to present technical solutions to non-technical stakeholders and clearly articulate the value proposition of your services will be crucial in selling QA solutions and building client trust
• You will be responsible for assessing complex client challenges and driving innovation to address those challenges with QA solutions. Strong problem-solving and critical thinking skills in fast-paced environments are necessary, as is a passion for continuously improving service offerings. You will be expected to leverage new technologies and approaches to stay ahead of market trends, ensuring that your practice remains competitive and capable of meeting evolving client demands
• Deep expertise in Agile and product development methodologies, particularly within QA environments, is required. You should be familiar with continuous integration (CI), continuous delivery (CD), and automation practices. In addition to leading the delivery of services, you will also be responsible for driving Agile transformation initiatives within your practice and for clients, helping to position your team as a leader in the QA services space
• A self-starter who is enthusiastic and collaborative, you will need to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced consulting environment. You will have the ability to balance multiple priorities and manage competing demands while consistently driving business growth. Your entrepreneurial spirit and service-selling mindset will be key in identifying new opportunities, responding to client needs, and leading your practice toward continued success. You should be proactive in identifying opportunities for cross-selling services and expanding client engagements

Responsibilities

• Assist with pre-sales, providing support to our sales and new business teams by engaging directly with customers to tackle some of their biggest challenges
• Champion the products and services for which you are the owner, leveraging the relationships you build with customers to create opportunities for the wider Digital Engineering Service Line
• Remain knowledgeable on the “state of the art” for your practice, using these insights to continuously develop the local offering
• Consult with the wider Development practice management team to define and execute a growth strategy for your practice
• Design, run and improve a range of workshops with our customers to create value throughout the product lifecycle and deliver tangible outcomes for Projects
• Lead and grow a high performing team, mentoring the Team Leads and Senior Consultants within your practice, creating a strong culture with a focus on customer-centricity, collaboration, and team growth
• Operationally, you will assist with workforce planning and technical hiring decisions within your practice, with the support of your peers
• Hands-on delivery leadership across the development lifecycle across Datacom teams and customer teams when required - with strong support from the delivery practice
• Build relationships with relevant partners
• At times, perform billable work as a Lead Consultant across workshops or Software delivery where required
• Commercial and Financial Management of the local Practice
• Assist in setting and executing of the regional strategy

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrate experience providing thought leadership in Quality Assurance with enterprise clients is a bonus
• Demonstrate expertise in agile and product development methodologies and practices
• Demonstrate expertise in a variety of application design methodologies and practices for medium to large enterprises
• Experience in custom software delivery or product management is advantageous. You should have the ability to lead teams in developing cohesive product designs, roadmaps, and technical architecture. Hands-on experience delivering software projects throughout the development lifecycle is important, as you will be actively involved in ensuring successful delivery and leading client engagements that involve both service delivery and consulting expertise

Benefits

• Social events
• Chill-out spaces
• Remote working
• Flexi-hours
• Professional development courses