Manager – IT Quality Specialty Services - Fully Remote!

Futures start here. Where first steps, new friendships, and confident learners are born. At KinderCare Learning Companies, the first and only early childhood education provider recognized with theGallup Exceptional Workplace Award, we offer a variety of early education and child care options for families. Whether it's KinderCare Learning Centers, Champions, or Crème de la Crème, we build confidence for kids, families, and the future we share. And we want you to join us in shaping it-in neighborhoods, at work, and in schools nationwide.

At KinderCare Learning Companies, you'll use your skills and expertise to support the work (and fun) that happens in our sites and centers every day. From marketers and strategists to financial analysts and data engineers, and so much more, we're all passionate about crafting a world where children, families, and organizations can thrive.

KinderCare is seeking an experienced Manager of IT Quality Specialty Services to lead critical functions across vendor management, customer acceptance testing (CAT), and User Acceptance Testing (UAT) coordination. In this role, you'll ensure our business partners, engineering teams, and external vendors work in lockstep to deliver high-quality, customer-ready solutions and influence the future of quality, testing, and business readiness across the organization.

The ideal candidate brings strong communication, test leadership expertise, and a passion for building efficient, business-focused quality practices.

Responsibilities:

UAT & Customer Acceptance Test Leadership

• Lead end-to-end UAT and CAT planning, execution, defect governance, and customer signoff.
• Develop and maintain UAT/CAT strategies, plans, test scenarios, acceptance criteria, and traceability to business requirements.
• Coordinate with business collaborators to ensure readiness of requirements, environments, and test data.
• Drive UAT execution quality, ensuring defects are triaged, prioritized, and resolved on time.
• Deliver comprehensive UAT/CAT status reporting, risk assessments, and go/no-go recommendations.

Vendor Management & Alignment

• Serve as the primary liaison between internal teams and external vendors for testing coordination, deliverable quality, and milestone tracking.
• Ensure vendor testing practices meet organizational standards and contractual expectations.
• Monitor vendor performance, escalate issues, and drive continuous process improvement with external partners.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with product owners, engineering (QE & Dev), project/program managers, and operations to ensure flawless delivery.
• Facilitate requirement walkthroughs and design reviews to validate test readiness and acceptance coverage.
• Support enterprise-level initiatives and integrations requiring cross-team coordination.

Quality Governance & Best Practices

• Define and champion standardized UAT and CAT processes, templates, and key performance metrics.
• Introduce risk-based testing, RCA processes, and continuous improvement across customer-acceptance quality practices.
• Maintain documentation, compliance standards, and audit-ready evidence.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Systems, Business, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 6+ years in Quality Assurance, UAT coordination, Business Systems Analysis, or related field.
• 2+ years in leadership or managerial capacity.
• Strong experience working with external vendors, system integrators, or offshore delivery teams.
• Proven ability to lead UAT/CAT efforts across complex enterprise programs.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and stakeholder leadership skills.
• Strong understanding of SDLC, Agile, and hybrid delivery models.

Preferred Experience

• 1+ Year of experience managing vendors, especially SaaS solution.
• SAFe or Agile certification.
• Experience using cloud-based solutions for web & mobile testing like Browser stack or Perfecto.
• Familiarity with test management tools (e.g., Jira, Zephyr, ALM, TestRail).
• Background in quality governance, test strategy development, or business readiness activities.
• Experience with end-to-end integration testing or automation awareness.

#LI-Remote

Our benefits meet you where you are. We're here to help our employees navigate the integration of work and life:
- Know your whole family is supported with discounted child care benefits.

- Breathe easy with medical, dental, and vision benefits for your family (and pets, too!).
- Feel supported in your mental health and personal growth with employee assistance programs.
- Feel great and thrive with access to health and wellness programs, paid time off and discounts for work necessities, such as cell phones.
- ... and much more.

We operate research-backed, accredited, and customizable programs in more than 2,000 sites and centers across 40 states and the District of Columbia. As we expand, we're matching the needs of more and more families, dynamic work environments, and diverse communities from coast to coast. Because we believe every family deserves access to high-quality child care, no matter who they are or where they live. Every day, you'll help bring this mission to life by building community and delivering exceptional experiences. And if you're anything like us, you'll come for the work, and stay for the people.

KinderCare Learning Companies is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, age, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, military or veteran status, gender identity or expression, or any other basis protected by local, state, or federal law.

Client-provided location(s): Flexible / Remote, North Andover, MA

Job ID: KinderCare-KNOWA0054JR32298EXTERNALENUS

Employment Type: FULL_TIME

Posted: 2026-01-07T19:39:01