Blue Tees Golf is a dynamic, fast-growing consumer electronic golf technology company that is revolutionizing the golfing experience. We specialize in the design, development, and distribution of innovative products that enhance the performance and enjoyment of golfers worldwide. We aspire to be more than another golf technology brand. We champion the progression of the game and motivate golfers to Play Different®. That’s why at Blue Tees Golf our mission is to make high-quality equipment accessible to all golfers.

Job Summary

As Manager, Quality Engineering, you will independently assess whether Blue Tees Golf products are ready for customers. You will own release readiness across new device programs, app and subscription updates, and cloud-only deployments.

You will build Blue Tees Golf’s quality process and lead its execution through an offshore test team, a structured user acceptance testing (UAT) program run with Product Management, a golfer beta panel, and a third-party security testing partner. You will establish written standards and release criteria, review the evidence, and make a clear, defensible recommendation on whether each release is ready to ship.

This is a hands-on leadership role. You will spend approximately one day a week testing products yourself to identify issues scripted tests may miss and assess the quality of vendor results. You will also work closely with Product, Engineering, Hardware Program Management, and other teams to make quality a consistent part of every release.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, document, and own the quality process and release gates for device programs, app and subscription releases, and cloud-only deployments. Set the appropriate level of testing for each release type.
• Establish written exit criteria with Product Management before development begins. Own the evidence-based release readiness verdict, present it at release reviews, and exercise stop-ship authority when criteria are not met. Document any override through the required CEO-approved waiver process, including an owner and remediation date.
• Accept or reject engineering handover packages before system testing. Define hotfix, staged rollout, halt, and rollback paths appropriate to each release type.
• Define test coverage for the mobile app, subscription and account platform, and backend services, including functional, integration, system, regression, smoke, exploratory, negative, and boundary testing.
• Verify that purchases, restores, trials, upgrades, downgrades, billing retries, refunds, and cross-platform entitlements work as specified and cannot be improperly accessed or bypassed. Validate analytics and subscription reporting.
• Define coverage for mobile and backend performance, memory, battery and thermal behavior during a full round, peak-demand load, OS upgrades, permissions, interruptions, offline use, and low-storage conditions. Review accessibility and app store submission requirements.
• Validate firmware and device-to-app behavior, including over-the-air updates and recovery, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connectivity, pairing, reconnection, data handoff, multi-device use, and mismatched firmware and app versions.
• Own and maintain a tiered compatibility matrix covering device and firmware combinations, as well as app versions and backend API versions still in use. Direct regression testing against that matrix and maintain the device farm, golden-unit library, and firmware archive.
• Review hardware reliability, durability, and compliance evidence against product requirements at the release gate. Hardware Program Management owns the test plans, external labs, certifications, and EVT/DVT/PVT execution; you determine whether the resulting evidence supports release. Use field failures and returns data to improve future test coverage.
• Select, onboard, and direct an offshore bench and regression test team that is independent of the development partner. Establish its test case library, working agreements, time-zone overlap, escalation path, and opportunities for exploratory testing.
• Design the scripts, coverage, acceptance criteria, and sign-off process for UAT. Product Managers execute the tests; you determine whether UAT has passed. Build and run a golfer beta panel with assigned field tests and documented round results.
• Set the test automation strategy with the engineering-side automation engineer, including priorities for the highest-risk regression tests. Own test case management and traceability from requirements through defects.
• Own defect triage, severity definitions, the release bug bar, and a single defect tracking workflow. Engineering owns development priorities and schedules; you own quality severity and release criteria.
• Publish a concise weekly quality report for the VP of Product, CTO, and CEO covering escaped defects, crash-free sessions, regression results, open defects by severity, UAT completion, and field testing. Lead post-launch monitoring and reviews of defects that reached customers.
• Own the product security exit criteria and review security testing evidence supplied at handover, including SAST, DAST, software composition analysis, and a software bill of materials. Manage an annual third-party penetration test covering wireless connectivity, firmware, the mobile app, and APIs, and track findings through resolution or formal acceptance. Hands-on security testing is performed by the partner.
• Maintain connected-product security evidence with Hardware Program Management and Legal, including evidence relevant to EU RED and EN 18031, the UK PSTI Act, and EU Cyber Resilience Act readiness. Coordinate vulnerability disclosure and product security incident procedures, and validate privacy and data-handling requirements with Legal.

Qualifications and Requirements

Required

• Experience building and running a quality process, including written release gates, test standards, and evidence-based ship decisions.
• Ability to lead distributed or offshore test teams through clear documentation, test handoffs, working agreements, and vendor performance management.
• Test strategy experience spanning a connected device and companion mobile app, including firmware, backend services, accounts, and subscriptions.
• Experience testing subscription purchases and entitlements, billing states, backend APIs, compatibility with older client versions, and regression across multiple devices and software versions.
• Experience with release management across different cadences, including staged app rollouts, firmware updates, feature flags, and backend rollback.
• Ability to design structured UAT that is executed by cross-functional partners who do not report to you.
• Ability to evaluate hardware reliability and compliance evidence produced by program teams and external labs.
• Strong defect management, quality measurement, executive reporting, and written communication skills.
• Sufficient product security knowledge to define a release gate, commission third-party testing, and evaluate findings.
• Judgment and communication skills to make and defend a release decision with Engineering and executive leadership.
• Ability to work in person in San Diego with physical access to devices and local field testing.

Preferred

• Working knowledge of connected-product security requirements, including EU RED and EN 18031, the UK PSTI Act, and the EU Cyber Resilience Act.
• Experience setting test automation priorities and reviewing automated regression coverage within a CI workflow.
• Experience testing privacy and data-handling requirements, including consent, retention, deletion, and app store disclosures.
• Experience working with original design manufacturers or contract manufacturers.
• Familiarity with golf products and the ability to evaluate their behavior in an on-course setting.

Education and Experience

• 7+ years of experience in quality assurance, testing, or product validation, including 3+ years leading a test function or directing distributed test teams.
• Experience owning release readiness or gate sign-off for a shipped consumer hardware or connected-device product with a companion app.
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience in consumer electronics, IoT, or another hardware-driven industry strongly preferred.

Benefits

• Competitive salary and bonuses
• Medical, dental, vision & supplemental coverage
• 401(k) with 3% match
• Unlimited paid time off, including holidays and sick leave
• San Diego; In Office

Blue Tees is an E-Verify participant employer.