The Associate Manager, IT is responsible for leading a team that supports and maintains quality assurance activities across enterprise and business\-critical applications. This role combines people leadership, test management, and operational excellence to ensure high\-quality application releases and reliable business operations.
The role will partner closely with business stakeholders, application teams, project managers, vendors, and cross\-functional IT teams to ensure effective test planning, execution, defect management, and release readiness.
*Key Responsibilities**
Lead, mentor, and develop a team of technical engineers and analysts.
Conduct performance reviews, goal setting, coaching, and career development planning.
Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and quality\-first delivery.
Set clear expectations for team priorities, deliverables, service standards, and performance outcomes.
Ensure adherence to ITIL processes, including Incident, Problem, Change, and Service Request Management.
Track, prioritize, and coordinate defect resolution with application, development, business, and vendor teams.
Support team members in resolving blockers, managing escalations, and navigating competing priorities.
Partner with business stakeholders to understand requirements, acceptance criteria, testing scope, and priorities.
Collaborate with project managers, business analysts, developers, application support teams, and release teams to support delivery timelines.
Manage third\-party vendors and application support partners to meet contractual SLAs.
Promote effective communication across business, IT, vendor, and cross\-functional teams.
*Education \& Experience**
Advanced Degree with 3\+ years of relevant experience or
bachelor’s degree with 5\+ years of experience in software testing, application delivery, or enterprise application support in large, global environments
Preferred fields: Computer Science, Information Technology, or related discipline
1–3 years of supervisory or people management experience
*Technical \& Functional Skills**
Strong experience in test management and QA processes.
Working knowledge of ITIL service management practices; ITIL certification preferred.
Experience with functional testing, regression testing, integration testing, system testing, and UAT support.
Familiarity with automation tools such as Selenium, Playwright or similar tools.
Experience with test management and defect tracking tools such as Jira.
Understanding of Agile, Waterfall, or hybrid delivery methodologies.
Basic understanding of CI/CD pipelines and automation integration within release processes.
Ability to track metrics, prepare status reports, and communicate quality risks clearly.
Proven ability to manage priorities across multiple projects, applications, and stakeholders.
Strong problem\-solving skills, including structured defect analysis and resolution follow\-up.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain technical concepts to non\-technical audiences.
Strong customer service mindset and relationship\-building skills.
*Preferred / Nice to Have**
ISTQB, Agile, Scrum or similar certification.
Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt.
Experience in regulated environments such as pharmaceutical, life sciences, healthcare, or manufacturing.
Knowledge of GMP and Computer Systems Validation.
Experience supporting testing for applications impacting 50 \-100\+ users.