77 Best blend Jobs in Lexington, Kentucky (April 2026)

Director Quality Engineering

5 days ago

Lexington

It All Starts with Our People As the leader in automotive preventive maintenance, Valvoline has a proven track record of growth. We continue to invest in our people, processes, and technology to strengthen our ability to efficiently deliver Quick, Easy, Trusted service across all our stores – every day. We're not just in the car business; we're in the people business. And we're looking for humble, hungry, and smart people to help us shape the future of mobility. If you're hungry to drive change and seek a dynamic, collaborative environment that fuels both personal and professional growth, you've found your place with us. Our highest priority is creating a welcoming workplace with team members from a wide variety of diverse backgrounds and experiences. How You'll Make a Difference Valvoline has a rewarding opportunity as a Director, Quality Engineering. In this role, you’ll be a strategic and hands-on leader who will drive the transformation of quality across our technology organization. This leader will be responsible for building and scaling a modern Quality Engineering function that goes beyond traditional QA, with ownership spanning QA environments, test automation, AI-enabled quality practices, quality governance, best practices, and the establishment of a Quality Engineering Center of Excellence (COE). The ideal candidate will bring a strong blend of leadership, technical depth, operating model design, and change management, with the ability to embed quality throughout the software development lifecycle. This role will partner closely with Engineering, Product, Architecture, Infrastructure, Security, and Delivery teams to create a scalable, efficient, and forward-looking quality strategy that supports speed, reliability, and business growth. Key Responsibilities Quality Engineering Strategy & Leadership • Define and lead the enterprise Quality Engineering vision, strategy, and roadmap aligned to Valvoline’s broader technology and business priorities., • Shift the organization from traditional testing approaches to a modern quality engineering model focused on prevention, automation, continuous validation, and measurable quality outcomes., • Establish quality as a shared responsibility across product, engineering, and delivery teams while maintaining strong governance and standards., • Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of quality engineers, automation engineers, and QA leaders. QA Center of Excellence (COE) • Build and operationalize a Quality Engineering Center of Excellence (COE) to define frameworks, standards, tooling, reusable assets, and governance processes., • Create enterprise-wide best practices for test design, automation, environment strategy, defect management, release readiness, and quality metrics., • Standardize quality processes across portfolios while allowing for flexibility based on product and platform needs., • Develop playbooks, templates, training, and maturity models to improve quality capability across teams. Automation & Tooling • Define and execute an enterprise test automation strategy across UI, API, integration, data, regression, performance, and end-to-end testing., • Drive adoption of scalable automation frameworks and ensure integration with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices., • Evaluate, select, and optimize quality tools and platforms to improve speed, coverage, traceability, and reporting., • Increase automation efficiency and effectiveness by implementing reusable components, common libraries, and engineering best practices. AI-Enabled Quality Engineering intelligent defect triage predictive risk analysis self-healing automation release quality insights test optimization and prioritization • Assess emerging AI capabilities and define practical use cases that improve quality outcomes, team productivity, and speed to market., • Partner with engineering and architecture leaders to ensure AI solutions are implemented responsibly, securely, and at scale. QA Environments & Test Data Management • Own the strategy for QA environments, including environment planning, availability, stability, governance, and optimization., • Partner with infrastructure and platform teams to improve environment readiness, reduce bottlenecks, and support parallel delivery., • Establish strong processes for test data management, environment provisioning, and integration dependency coordination., • Drive improvements in environment monitoring and readiness reporting to reduce delays and improve release confidence. Governance, Metrics & Best Practices • Define and implement quality KPIs, SLAs, dashboards, and scorecards to provide visibility into quality performance, automation maturity, defect trends, release risk, and environment health., • Set standards for quality gates, entry/exit criteria, defect leakage reduction, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement., • Build a culture of measurable quality and operational discipline through governance routines, audits, and executive reporting., • Ensure best practices are embedded into agile delivery, DevSecOps, and release management processes. Sourcing & Vendor Management • Define the sourcing strategy for quality engineering capabilities, including the right balance of internal talent, strategic partners, and offshore/onshore vendor models., • Lead vendor evaluation, selection, governance, and performance management related to quality engineering and testing services., • Optimize spend, capability, and service quality across external partners while ensuring alignment to Valvoline standards and delivery expectations., • Build workforce strategies that support both immediate delivery needs and long-term capability development. Cross-Functional Partnership • Partner with Product, Engineering, Infrastructure, Security, Architecture, and PMO leaders to embed quality into planning, design, development, and release processes., • Influence senior stakeholders on quality investments, transformation priorities, and operating model improvements., • Support mission-critical initiatives by ensuring strong quality planning, risk management, and execution. What You’ll Need to Succeed Qualifications • 10+ years in software quality engineering, • 5+ years leading enterprise QA teams, • Experience in high-volume retail, omnichannel, or consumer-facing environments strongly preferred API testing tools CI/CD tools Performance testing tools (JMeter, LoadRunner, etc.) • Experience leading QA in Agile/SAFe or hybrid environments, • Experience using agentic tools for test development and integrating work with agentic code development (ie: Github Copilot, Claude code), • Proven track record reducing defect escape rates Leadership Competencies • Enterprise systems thinker, • Data-driven decision maker, • Builder of scalable processes, • Collaborative but boundary-setting partner, • Comfortable operating in fast-paced retail cycles, • Must be authorized to work in the U.S. We Take Care of the WHOLE You • Health insurance plans (medical, dental, vision), • HSA and flexible spending accounts, • 401(k), • Incentive opportunity*, • Life insurance, • Short and long-term disability insurance, • Paid vacation and holidays*, • Employee Assistance Program, • Valvoline Instant Oil Change discounts, • Tuition reimbursement* Your Path to Valvoline Valvoline provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Join us in revolutionizing the automotive aftermarket industry while enjoying competitive benefits, a supportive work culture, and opportunities for advancement. Apply now and become an integral part of our journey at Valvoline. The Company endeavors to make its recruitment process accessible to any and all users. Reasonable accommodations will be provided upon request to applicants with disabilities to facilitate equal opportunity throughout the recruitment and selection process. Please contact Human Resources at 1.833.VVV.Report or email to make a request for reasonable accommodation during any aspect of the recruitment and selection process. The contact information is for accommodation requests only; do not use this contact information to inquire about the status of applications.

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