Director of Quality Engineering

ABOUT CODE METAL

Code Metal is redefining code translation for mission-critical industries, helping defense partners move more quickly and reliably from algorithm to silicon. Our platform accelerates deployment of DSP, RF, communications, and embedded signal processing algorithms onto heterogeneous compute targets, including GPUs, FPGAs, ASICs, and edge SoCs. We also support automotive, aerospace, and semiconductor partners deploying complex algorithms onto constrained hardware with speed and rigor.

This is the first dedicated quality engineering leader at Code Metal. You'll define what "quality" means here, build the team and tooling to enforce it, and partner with engineering, product, and customer success to bake verification into how we ship rather than bolting it on at the end.

ABOUT THE ROLE

You'll start hands-on — designing test strategy, picking the tooling, writing the first cohort of frameworks alongside the team — and grow into a true functional leader as the organization scales. If you've ever wanted to design a quality program from a blank page, with executive buy-in and a team that actually cares about engineering rigor, this is that role.

Responsibilities:

• Define and own Code Metal's quality engineering strategy across functional, integration, performance, load, and reliability testing.

• Build and lead the Quality Engineering team — hire, mentor, and grow QE / SDET and test infrastructure engineers.

• Stand up the test automation platform: CI/CD test orchestration, ephemeral test environments, end-to-end regression suites, performance benchmarks, and chaos / fault-injection tooling.

• Drive a "shift-left" culture: code coverage gates, static analysis, contract tests, design-for-testability reviews, and developer-friendly tooling that makes the right thing the easy thing.

• Own release-readiness criteria. Be the person who can credibly say "this build is ready to ship" — and hold the line when it isn't.

• Establish engineering quality metrics that measure test effectiveness, release readiness, automation coverage, test reliability, performance stability, and customer-reported defect trends, while integrating and operationalizing the validation frameworks developed by the research teams.

• Partner with infrastructure / platform teams on production observability so quality signals don't stop at the deploy boundary.

• Work with engineering leadership and security to implement quality processes that support ISO 27001, including test evidence, release controls, change management, documentation, and audit readiness.

Required Requirements:

• 10+ years in software quality engineering, SDET, or test infrastructure roles, with at least 4+ years leading teams.

• Demonstrated success building or maturing a Quality Engineering organization.

• Deep technical chops: you can read the code your team is testing, design test architectures, and write production-quality automation yourself when needed.

• Experience testing complex software systems such as developer tools, compilers, language runtimes, infrastructure platforms, distributed systems, or code generation platforms.

• Experience with modern CI/CD (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Buildkite, CircleCI or similar), containerized test environments, and infrastructure-as-code for test platforms.

• Excellent judgment about where automation provides the greatest value and when exploratory or manual testing is the better investment.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to work effectively across engineering, product, and executive leadership.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with compiler technology, language tooling, code generation, static analysis, or developer platforms.

• Experience with property-based testing, contract testing, or fault-injection testing.

• Experience implementing or supporting engineering processes for ISO 27001, SOC 2, or similar security and compliance frameworks.

• Experience supporting customers in regulated industries (defense, fintech, healthcare).

BENEFITS

• Pay depends on experience, but we strive to be at the upper end of the salary range

• Health care plan with 100% premium coverage, including medical, dental, and vision

• 401k with 5% matching

• Paid Time Off (uncapped vacation, plus sick and public holidays)

• Flexible hybrid or remote work arrangement

• Relocation assistance for qualifying employees

Wage Transparency - The salary range for this role is not a guarantee of compensation or salary, as the final offer amount may vary based on factors including, but not limited to, individual proficiency, skills, experience, and location.

We are an equal opportunity employer. US Citizenship may be required for certain project assignments involving security clearance.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.