P6P6 — Principal Professional
Principal – Director of QA/Head of QA
Define QA vision company-wide.
What this level means
Top individual contributor; recognized authority with strategic impact, equivalent to a low executive level
- Scope
- Organization-wide architecture and the hardest problems
- Autonomy
- Defines direction; minimal oversight
- Complexity
- Strategic, open-ended problems shaping the technical future
- Impact
- Organization-wide
- Decision rights
- Sets technical strategy for a major area
- Leadership
- Recognized authority; multiplies many teams
- Typical experience
- 12–18 yrs
What you'd do
- Innovate QA processes.
- Align QA with business strategy and user expectations.
- Define vision
- Align strategies
- Lead innovation
Skills, knowledge & tools
- Vision setting
- Strategic alignment
- Innovation
- Executive leadership
- Industry trends
- Strategic alignment
- Innovation strategies
- Leadership
- Executive Leadership
- Industry knowledge
- Innovation strategy
What good looks like
- 12+ years, including multi-studio or cross-industry quality leadership
Common titles
Quality Assurance VIQuality Assurance 6Principal Quality AssurancePrincipal – Director of QA/Head of QA
What it pays
Market-pay benchmarks for this family × level are being recalibrated across all survey sources and will return shortly.
O*NET / SOC: 15-0000 — Computer & Mathematical Occupations (inferred)