MANAGER SOLUTION QUALITY ASSURANCE & DEVOPS

The QA & DevOps Manager will establish and lead a unified function responsible for ensuring the quality, security, and reliability of the Bank's digital solutions, while automating and accelerating software delivery through robust DevOps practices and Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines.

The role will serve as a guardian of technical excellence, overseeing the full spectrum of quality assurance—from code development through to production—and managing the end-to-end software delivery pipeline.

The Manager will integrate quality and security directly into the development lifecycle through a Shift-Left approach, ensuring that solutions and delivery processes are resilient, secure, reliable, and meet high standards before reaching customers.

Key Responsibilities and Deliverables

1. Quality Assurance and DevOps Strategy

• Develop and implement an integrated Quality Assurance and DevOps strategy aligned with the unit's goal of rapid, reliable, and secure software delivery.

• Define and govern quality gates, security checks, and deployment pipelines across the entire Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

• Champion a "Quality as a Culture" mindset across engineering and business analysis teams.

• Continuously improve quality and delivery practices to support reliable digital solutions.

2. Quality Assurance and Testing

• Lead the team in designing and executing comprehensive testing strategies.

• Oversee:

  • Manual testing

  • Automated testing

  • Performance testing

  • Regression testing

• Ensure effective testing of both front-end and back-end systems.

• Establish appropriate quality standards and controls throughout the development lifecycle.

3. DevSecOps and Security Testing

• Integrate security testing directly into CI/CD pipelines.

• Oversee SAST, DAST, SCA, and container security scanning.

• Ensure vulnerabilities are identified, assessed, and remediated early in the development lifecycle.

• Promote secure software development practices based on recognised security principles, including OWASP.

• Ensure security and quality requirements are embedded into the development process.

4. Code Quality and Technical Standards

• Establish and enforce code quality standards.

• Promote the use of static code analysis, peer reviews, and quality metrics.

• Monitor code maintainability and identify opportunities to reduce technical debt.

• Ensure engineering teams consistently follow established development and quality standards.

5. SDLC Process and Risk Management

• Own and continuously optimise the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) process.

• Identify, assess, and mitigate risks relating to:

  • Software quality

  • Application security

  • Production deployments

  • Software delivery processes

• Ensure software delivery processes comply with applicable technology governance and risk requirements.

6. CI/CD Pipeline Management

• Own and optimise the end-to-end CI/CD pipeline using GitLab CI/CD.

• Manage the delivery pipeline from code commit through production deployment.

• Ensure pipelines deliver software with appropriate levels of speed, reliability, security, and control.

• Automate deployment and delivery processes wherever possible.

7. Infrastructure Management

• Oversee management of the Bank's hybrid infrastructure environment.

• Manage environments involving:

  • Windows systems

  • Linux systems

  • VMware

  • Hyper-V

  • Docker

  • Kubernetes

• Ensure infrastructure supports reliable, secure, and scalable software delivery.

8. Environment Management

• Manage development, staging, and production environments.

• Ensure consistency and reproducibility across environments.

• Promote cost-effective and efficient environment management.

• Ensure appropriate controls are maintained across the software delivery environments.

9. Team Leadership and Development

• Manage and mentor two specialised teams:

  • QA Engineers, including automation and security specialists.

  • DevOps Engineers.

• Provide technical and professional leadership to team members.

• Build team capability through coaching, mentoring, knowledge sharing, and continuous development.

10. Stakeholder Collaboration and Governance

• Act as the key liaison between the Engineering team and other units, including:

  • IT Operations

  • CISO Office

  • Risk

  • Other relevant stakeholders

• Ensure technology activities comply with Bank-wide policies, standards, risk requirements, and governance frameworks.

• Provide clear visibility into quality metrics, security posture, and deployment status to the Head of Innovation and other stakeholders.

11. Technology Toolchain Management

• Evaluate, select, implement, and manage QA and DevOps tools.

• QA tools may include:

  • Tenjin

  • Selenium

  • Cypress

  • JUnit

  • OWASP ZAP

• DevOps tools may include:

  • GitLab

  • Ansible

  • Terraform

  • Prometheus

  • Grafana

12. Automation and Continuous Improvement

• Drive automation of repetitive processes, including:

  • Software testing

  • Infrastructure provisioning

  • Software deployment

• Maximise operational efficiency and minimise human error through automation.

• Foster a culture of continuous improvement through blameless post-mortems and iterative refinement of processes and tools.

• Identify opportunities to improve the Bank's technology delivery capabilities, quality, security, and efficiency.

Business Behaviours

Passion

Committed to excellence, delivering outstanding results, and making a positive impact on customers and stakeholders.

Teamwork

Collaborates effectively, demonstrates mutual respect, and values diverse perspectives to achieve shared success and deliver greater value to the Bank.

Integrity

Upholds honesty, transparency, and accountability while ensuring ethical practices in every action.

Innovation

Embraces creativity and forward-thinking approaches and continually seeks new solutions to enhance customer experience and drive business growth.

Qualifications, Experience and Competencies

Academic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field.

Professional Experience

• Minimum of 5 years of experience across a combination of Software Engineering, DevOps, or Quality Assurance roles.

• At least 2 years of experience in a leadership or management capacity.

• Mandatory experience in the financial services sector or another heavily regulated industry.

• Strong understanding of IT governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) frameworks.

Technical Experience

The successful candidate should have:

• Proven experience building and managing CI/CD pipelines, preferably using GitLab.

• Experience working in hybrid Windows/Linux environments.

• Hands-on experience with containerisation technologies, particularly:

  • Docker

  • Kubernetes

• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools such as:

  • Terraform

  • Ansible

• Experience with test automation frameworks, including tools such as:

  • Selenium

  • Cypress

  • Rest-Assured

• Experience with security testing approaches and tools, including:

  • SAST

  • DAST

  • SCA

• Good understanding of OWASP principles.

• Strong understanding of software quality assurance, DevOps, CI/CD, application security, and technology risk management.

Application Requirements

Applicants should submit the following documents:

• Cover letter

• Detailed Curriculum Vitae (CV)

• Copies of academic documents

All documents should be combined and submitted as one file.

Mode of Application

Applications should be addressed to:

Chief People & Strategy Officer
Pearl Bank Uganda

Send your application by email to:

hr@pearlbank.com