Senior QA Engineer

Role Overview

As vCluster Labs' Senior QA Engineer, you will bridge the gap between rapid feature development and enterprise-grade reliability, owning the quality strategy for our core Kubernetes virtualization technology. You will act as the gatekeeper of quality, starting with a hands-on, deep-dive approach to manual testing to establish the baseline before architecting our future automated frameworks.

Responsibilities:

• Manual Validation & Strategy (80% Focus): Initially focus heavily on manual testing to gain a deep understanding of our product architecture. Conduct exploratory testing to identify usability issues, edge cases, and regressions not yet covered by automation.
• Backend Testing Expertise: Drive the testing strategy for our backend systems. Dive deep into API interactions, database states, and Kubernetes resource management to ensure stability in complex distributed environments.
• Path to Automation: Design and develop the roadmap for transitioning manual workflows into automated test frameworks (using Go or Python) for backend and UI testing.
• CI/CD Integration: Eventually integrate automated tests into our pipelines (GitHub Actions, etc.) to ensure high-confidence, fast feedback loops for our engineering team.
• Cross-Functional Advocacy: Collaborate closely with Engineering and Product teams to influence features early, advocate for testability, and align on quality standards before code is even written.

Qualifications:

• Deep QA Expertise: 5+ years of experience in QA or Software Testing (with 1+ year in a senior capacity). Expert in backend testing and comfortable validating complex logic without a UI.
• Kubernetes Fluency: Working knowledge of Kubernetes environments and distributed systems. Analytical skills to diagnose infrastructure-related issues, not just application bugs.
• Automation Readiness: Strong programming skills in at least one language (Go preferred, or Python) and the ability to build tooling and automation suites.
• Startup Adaptability: Thrives in ambiguity and can juggle multiple parallel projects. Understands that in a fast-moving environment, priorities shift, and capable of maintaining quality speed.
• Ownership Mindset: Strong initiative and ability to identify what needs to be done and follow through independently.

Bonus Points:

• Hands-on experience with major cloud providers (AWS, GCP, Azure).
• Deep understanding of CI/CD systems (GitHub Actions, Jenkins).
• Previous experience working with open-source commercialization or developer tooling products.
• Experience working in or with distributed, remote-first teams.

About VCluster Labs:

VCluster Labs is a venture-backed tech startup striving to be the leading force in enabling platform engineers. We raised +$30M from top-tier VCs and are in a hyper-growth phase looking for motivated people to complement our team. Our headquarters are in San Francisco (Salesforce Tower), but our team is distributed around the globe with a remote-first work culture. We're the company behind vCluster, an open-source technology for virtualizing Kubernetes (+10k GitHub stars). Open source is part of our DNA. The adoption of our commercial product based on vCluster has grown extremely fast (multi-million dollar revenue) and our customer base includes some of the biggest companies in the world, including 6 Global Fortune 500 companies as well as some of the fastest-growing tech unicorns.

Benefits:

• Competitive Salary: Competitive compensation package, including equity.
• Platinum-Level Insurance: Health, dental, vision, and life Insurance, including plans for you and eligible dependents (benefits vary depending on country).
• Flexible Working Schedule: Results matter more than clocking in and out at the same time every day.
• Workplace Flexibility: Flexible about where you work, with adjustments to the work environment as needed.

Culture & Values:

• Open Source, Open Mind: Actively contributing to and maintaining open-source projects. Fostering meritocracy internally.
• Build Tomorrow's Standards, Intentionally: Defining the state-of-the-art for tomorrow. Fearless in tearing down old approaches to build something better, disciplined in execution.
• Create Wow: Measuring success by the experience generated, both internally and externally.
• Own the Outcome: Responsibility ends when value is delivered. Connecting daily actions to the broader success of the company and customers.

Compensation Range: €70K - €90K Remote Model: N/A Country Code: de