Chapter Lead, Test Engineer

Do you want to be part of an inclusive team that works to develop innovative therapies for patients? Every day, we are driven to develop and deliver innovative and effective new medicines to patients and physicians. If you want to be part of this exciting work, you belong at Astellas!

Astellas Pharma Inc. is a pharmaceutical company conducting business in more than 70 countries around the world. We are committed to turning innovative science into medical solutions that bring value and hope to patients and their families. Keeping our focus on addressing unmet medical needs and conducting our business with ethics and integrity enables us to improve the health of people throughout the world. For more information on Astellas, please visit our website at www.astellas.com .

This position is remote and is based in Bangalore, India. At Astellas we recognize the importance of work/life balance, and we are proud to offer a hybrid working solution allowing time to connect with colleagues at the office with the flexibility to also work from home. We believe this will optimize the most productive work environment for all employees to succeed and deliver. Hybrid work from certain locations may be permitted in accordance with Astellas’ Responsible Flexibility Guidelines.

Purpose and Scope:

As the Chapter Lead – Testing Chapter, you will provide strategic leadership, technical oversight, and talent development across multiple squads focused on software testing. You will drive the enterprise-wide testing strategy, ensuring best-in-class testing frameworks, automation, and performance testing capabilities across agile teams. Your role will focus on test excellence, fostering a culture of quality, continuous learning, and operational excellence.

Our agile operating model is structured into two key components:

Digital Execution – Ensures product development aligns with business goals, facilitating large-scale collaboration.

Digital Capability – Focuses on skill growth and career development within the testing discipline, ensuring expertise and leadership development.

As the Chapter Lead – Testing, you will be responsible for developing enterprise-wide testing capabilities, standardizing best practices, and mentoring Chapter Leads and Test Engineers to drive efficiency, resilience, and agility.

Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

Strategic Leadership & Testing Vision

Define and implement the enterprise-wide testing strategy, ensuring alignment with digital transformation objectives.

Champion a quality-first mindset, integrating testing into all phases of the software development lifecycle (shift-left testing).

Advocate for test automation, performance testing, and security testing across the organization.

Ensure testing aligns with industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices.

People Leadership & Capability Development

Lead, mentor, and develop multiple Chapter Leads and Test Engineers, fostering a high-performance testing culture.

Define career development pathways, technical learning agendas, and skill-building frameworks for testers.

Build a strong talent pipeline by attracting, retaining, and upskilling top testing professionals.

Collaboration & Cross-functional Influence

Act as the bridge between agile product teams and testing expertise, ensuring balance between delivery speed and test coverage.

Partner with engineering, DevOps, and product teams to drive test-driven development (TDD), behavior-driven development (BDD), and continuous testing practices.

Advocate for experimentation, learning, and automation-first strategies.

Operational Excellence & Technical Governance

Establish and enforce best practices, frameworks, and governance for testing in an agile environment.

Drive automation, CI/CD integration, and AI-driven testing capabilities to enhance test effectiveness.

Ensure test environments, data, and execution strategies support scalable, secure, and cost-effective solutions.

Lead compliance-driven testing efforts, ensuring adherence to regulatory and quality assurance standards (e.g., GxP, HIPAA, GDPR)

Required Qualifications:

Preferred Qualifications:

ISTQB Advanced Level, Certified Agile Tester (CAT), Certified Test Automation Engineer (CTAE), Tricentis Tosca Certification, AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, or equivalent industry-recognized testing certifications.

Working Environment:

At Astellas we recognize the importance of work/life balance, and we are proud to offer a hybrid working solution allowing time to connect with colleagues at the office with the flexibility to also work from home. We believe this will optimize the most productive work environment for all employees to succeed and deliver. Hybrid work from certain locations may be permitted in accordance with Astellas’ Responsible Flexibility Guidelines.

Category PlatformX

Astellas is committed to equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment.

EOE including Disability/Protected Veterans