QA Manager

Job Description

• Work Policy: Remote
• Job Type: Full Time
• Salary Range: $150,000 – $185,000
• Experience Level: Manager / Senior
• Core Tech Stack: Hardware Validation, Firmware, OS Testing, Automated Scripting

About Nex

Nex is an innovative technology organization dedicated to helping families rediscover the joy of active movement. Created by parents, the company’s award-winning Nex Playground system merges technology with physical play, utilizing natural body motion to encourage families to play together. The kidSAFE+ COPPA compliant platform boasts a library of over 50 experiences, partnering with major brands like Hasbro and Sesame Workshop. Nex has been celebrated by TIME and Fast Company for its exceptional hardware and software design.

About the Role

Nex is seeking a highly skilled QA Manager to take total ownership of end-to-end quality across hardware revisions, firmware updates, PlayOS, and game experiences for the Nex Playground system. Reporting to the Director of QA, this role requires a leader who thrives on hands-on debugging while simultaneously defining testing strategies and release criteria. You will collaborate tightly with engineering teams to mitigate hardware-software risks, prevent critical regressions, and ensure a delightful consumer experience under real-world conditions.

What You’ll Do

You will safeguard system stability and compatibility by validating the complex intersections between hardware, firmware, and gaming software.

• Take complete ownership of hardware bring-up validation and ensure ongoing compatibility across hardware revisions, software builds, and PlayOS versions.
• Build out risk-based test plans for development stages (EVT, DVT, PVT) including peripheral connectivity, input tracking, boot/recovery flows, and storage integrity.
• Maintain a highly detailed compatibility matrix across all system components.
• Formulate test strategies for firmware and OTA updates, covering downgrade paths, sleep/wake cycles, interrupted updates, and failure handling.
• Establish strict quality gates, defining the entry and exit criteria required for confident hardware and firmware releases.
• Execute real-world stress testing to expose memory leaks, intermittent failures, and hardware degradation over long gaming sessions.
• Verify performance targets such as thermal behavior, frame-rate stability, and latency.
• Develop reliable automated regression coverage across OTA, device, and firmware workflows, implementing lightweight scripts to accelerate troubleshooting.
• Manage and coordinate external QA vendors, holding them to strict quality standards and delivery timelines.
• Drive cross-functional defect triage and priority discussions with engineering and product teams.

What You’ll Need

• Strong hands-on QA expertise focused on system-level testing, hardware-software integration, or OS/firmware validation.
• Proven capability to design risk-based test strategies and conduct thorough exploratory testing.
• Experience specifically testing OTA update flows, failure handling, rollbacks, and system recovery.
• Deep investigative skills utilizing crash data, traces, logs, and diagnostic evidence to troubleshoot intermittent performance issues.
• Proficiency in at least one scripting or programming language to build tools and maintainable automated tests.
• Prior experience managing and coordinating external QA partners or vendors.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills to clearly convey release risks to stakeholders.

Nice to Have

• Background in consumer electronics, manufacturing test concepts, or hardware bring-up (EVT/DVT/PVT).
• Experience in gaming QA, motion-tracking systems, or graphics profiling.
• Familiarity navigating Linux/Android debugging, ADB, device logs, or CI/CD ecosystems.
• Experience validating staged software rollouts at scale or managing physical device labs.

Benefits

• Competitive base compensation package.
• Flexible vacation policy and working hours.
• A product-driven, talent-first culture.
• Incredible hands-on exposure to cutting-edge technologies within the evolving motion gaming field.