Senior QA — Quality Enablement in a Scrum Team

Tokyo · Contractor · Senior (6-9 yrs)
Senior QA — Quality Enablement in a Scrum Team — Digital Bank, Tokyo
Not an automation role. A digital bank in Tokyo is looking for a senior QA who works inside the Scrum squad: risk-based testing, requirement review, test strategy across levels. JSTQB/ISTQB concepts, working Japanese. Must already live in Japan.
- Risk-Based Testing
- Requirement & Design Review
- Test Strategy (unit/API/integration/E2E)
- JSTQB / ISTQB
- Scrum / Agile Quality
- Jira / Xray
Location requirement
You must already be living in Japan with valid work authorization. We are not sponsoring relocation or visa transfers from overseas for this role. Applications from outside Japan will not be considered.
Context
Our client is building a new digital bank in Tokyo, backed by established players in Japanese finance. The bank has not launched yet: the immediate goal is to go live with a deliberately minimal scope, then hold quality as the product grows. You join the QA function at the moment where the practices are still being set.
The role: quality inside the Scrum team, not test automation
Read this part carefully, because it is what makes this role unusual. Test automation is owned by a separate, dedicated team. What this client needs is a QA engineer who works inside the Scrum squad and catches risk, ambiguity and quality gaps early — during refinement and design, not at the end during a test phase.
The QA manager framed the job around four areas. Nobody is expected to be strong in all four.
- Risk-based testing — identify the key risks from business impact and likelihood of failure, and prioritise testing accordingly.
- Requirement and design review — review user stories, acceptance criteria and design documents to surface ambiguity, missing information and gaps before implementation starts.
- Test strategy and approach — define the right test approach across levels (unit, API, integration, E2E) based on the characteristics and risks of each feature.
- Stakeholder communication — work closely with product owners and developers, facilitate quality discussions, and grow shared ownership of quality across the squad.
What this role is not
- It is not an automation engineering role. A separate team owns automation implementation.
- It is not a pure process or coaching role either. You are still hands-on, and you still run your own tests.
- It is not a Head of Quality position. You are supported by internal full-time engineers and take ownership of quality activities progressively — not everything from day one.
Profile
- Currently based in Japan with valid work authorization — no relocation or visa sponsorship from overseas for this role.
- At least 5 years in QA; senior QA, QA lead or quality enablement experience is what fits best here.
- A solid grasp of the fundamental concepts behind JSTQB / ISTQB — the team uses that vocabulary daily when building test plans and designing tests. Certification is a plus; genuine command of the concepts is the real criterion.
- Comfortable writing a test plan from scratch: entry and exit criteria, scope, priorities, environments, tools, risks, schedule.
- Experience working as QA inside Scrum events — planning, daily, review, retrospective.
- Affinity for banking or other regulated domains is welcome, though not a hard requirement.
Language
English to work inside the squad, and working-level Japanese to bridge with the product owner side. JLPT N2 is the reference point, and strong QA seniority can offset a lighter level of Japanese — as can excellent Japanese with slightly less seniority. If you hold a JLPT certificate, have the certificate number to hand.
Process
Two interviews on the client side: a first round with a senior QA engineer, then a round with the QA manager that switches to Japanese partway through. We prepare you for both, in detail — we know the questions that get asked.
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Senior QA — Quality Enablement in a Scrum Team — Digital Bank, Tokyo