For more than 30 years, SonicWall has delivered a partner-first unified cybersecurity portfolio that helps SMBs, MSPs, and IT teams consolidate network security, endpoint security, security service edge (SSE), and threat response across hybrid environments. By bringing connected technology, real-time threat intelligence, automation, and expert services together, SonicWall helps organizations simplify security operations, achieve better security outcomes, and lower total cost of ownership. Backed by a global ecosystem of more than 17,000 partners, SonicWall delivers enterprise-grade protection built for SMB and mid-market realities.
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Role Overview
We are looking for a highly experienced Senior QA Manager to own end-to-end quality for SonicOS, the core operating system powering SonicWall’s next-generation firewall products. This is a high-impact leadership role where you will define quality strategy, drive automation and test infrastructure investments, and partner closely with Product Management, Development, Release Engineering, DevOps, and Support teams to ensure every release meets high standards of reliability, security, and customer trust.
You will be responsible not just for test execution, but for shaping how quality is built into the product lifecycle — from early design reviews and threat modelling to release readiness and post-release learning.
Key Responsibilities
Quality Strategy & Release Ownership
- Define and continuously improve the QA strategy for SonicOS across major releases, patches, and hotfixes
- Establish quality gates, entry/exit criteria, and clear release readiness standards
- Drive risk-based testing and shift-left practices to catch issues early
- Own go/no-go decisions for releases from a quality standpoint
Firewall Domain & Technical Leadership
- Provide strong technical leadership across firewall features such as:
- Stateful firewall, NAT, VPN (IPSec/SSL), routing, HA
- Security services like IPS, DPI-SSL, Gateway AV, App Control, Web Filtering
- Review PRDs, design documents, and architecture proposals with a quality & security mindset
- Define comprehensive test strategies covering:
- Functional correctness and complex E2E customer workflows
- Performance, scale, and stress (throughput, sessions, DPI impact)
- HA failover, upgrades/downgrades, config migrations, and long-run stability
- Champion security and negative testing to validate abuse cases and threat scenarios
Automation, CI/CD & Test Infrastructure
- Define the long-term automation vision (UI, API, CLI, E2E) and measurable coverage goals
- Partner with automation leads to build scalable, reliable frameworks integrated into CI/CD
- Drive stability and reliability of automated test suites (reduce flakiness, improve signal)
- Own strategy for testbeds spanning hardware appliances, virtual firewalls, and cloud deployments
- Work with infra teams to ensure availability, capacity planning, and reliability of test environments
Execution Excellence & Metrics
- Own and track key quality metrics: defect leakage, escape rate, regression effectiveness, automation ROI, flakiness trends
- Lead regular release readiness and quality reviews with senior stakeholders
- Drive deep root cause analysis for production escapes and systemic quality gaps
- Convert learnings from field issues into preventive quality improvements
People Leadership & Stakeholder Influence
- Build, mentor, and retain a strong leadership bench of QA managers, leads, and senior engineers
- Set clear expectations, career paths, and technical growth plans for the QA organization
- Influence engineering leadership and PMs to prioritize quality, reliability, and customer impact
- Represent QA in leadership forums, customer escalations, and cross-functional reviews
Required Skills & Experience
-
10+ years of total technical experience, including at least 2+ years in a management or leadership role
- Strong background in testing firewall / network security products or similar system software
- Deep understanding of networking and security fundamentals (TCP/IP, routing, NAT, VPN, HA, IPS/DPI concepts, authentication mechanisms)
- Experience owning quality for complex, large-scale system software releases
- Proven leadership experience managing and scaling QA teams across geographies
- Strong exposure to automation strategy and CI/CD-driven quality practices
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence senior technical stakeholders
Good to Have
- Prior experience with SonicOS or comparable firewall OS platforms
- Exposure to security compliance programs (FIPS, Common Criteria, SOC2)
- Experience testing in hybrid environments (hardware + virtual + cloud)
- Experience handling customer escalations and field issue RCA
What Success Looks Like
- Predictable, high-quality SonicOS releases with reduced Sev1/Sev2 customer issues
- Measurable improvement in automation coverage and test effectiveness
- Faster feedback cycles for Dev and PM through shift-left and CI/CD integration
- Strong QA leadership bench and high team engagement
- Improved customer trust and reduced critical escalations
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SonicWall is an equal opportunity employer.
We are committed to creating a diverse environment and are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, marital status, veteran status, pregnancy, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.
At SonicWall, we pride ourselves on recruiting a diverse mix of talented people and providing active security solutions in 100+ countries.
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