Senior Test Manager

Start: 01.10.2026
Location: Zurich
Workload: 100%
Duration: 5 months
All-in rate: CHF 900.00

Project Description
The client is executing a 4-phase transformation to migrate a legacy mainframe application with 600 sub-products to a modern Java stack by mid-2028. The incoming Senior Test Manager will partner with a Senior Test Engineer to drive QA strategy across 80+ distributed product teams.

Job Responsibilities

• Define and drive the overall test strategy for the legacy-to-modern migration programme.
• Partner with the existing Senior Test Engineer to build the long-term QA and test automation vision.
• Oversee the existing automation framework and test engineers, reviewing architecture and maintainability.
• Provide concrete, actionable feedback to test engineers regarding their technical approach.
• Strategically decide which components should be automated versus tested manually.
• Align testing operations across Project Managers, Program Managers, and Technical Leads.
• Push back credibly on stakeholders to advocate for necessary investments in automation and documentation.
• Define entry and exit criteria alongside QA artefacts across all SDLC stages.
• Clarify specific QA responsibilities for Developers and Product Owners.
• Produce audit-ready evidence of QA activities to satisfy external regulators.
• Collaborate with 80+ product teams to implement unified QA standards and best practices.
• Coordinate testing workflows across distributed teams in Zurich, Poland, and India.
• Ensure correct comparison and validation of output formats between parallel running systems during cutover.
• Absorb complex domain and business-process knowledge quickly from the incumbent business expert.

• Seniority and Stakeholder Presence: Ability to assert credibility before PMs, architects, and tech leads, make risk calls, and drive decisions.
• Technical Migration Complexity: Genuinely grasp the risks and architecture of legacy-to-modern migrations.
• Python Code Evaluation: Ability to read and evaluate Python code to assess automation framework architecture and guide engineers.
• People Management: Proven experience managing test engineers (excluding budget responsibility).
• Distributed Team Collaboration: Comfort working across global teams in Zurich, Poland, and India.
• Experience Level: Guideline of 5+ years building/managing test automation and managing people.
• Financial services background or regulatory audit experience in other regulated industries like pharma.
• Prior mainframe-to-modern migration experience and familiarity with its unique challenges.
• Dual-system output validation experience comparing parallel legacy and modern system outputs.
• AI-assisted testing experience for reverse-engineering code or generating test cases.
• Proficiency with test management tools, specifically Xray for Jira.
• Technical breadth including API testing, backend testing, and data comparison testing.
• Balanced management experience across both manual and automated testing.
• Experience navigating large-scale transformation programmes.
• Proximity to Zurich to easily engage with key local decision-makers and architects.