Senior Manager- UAT

Location: Remote Salary Range: $110K-$135K ” The Senior Manager of the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) Team is responsible for leading, developing, and overseeing a team of UAT analysts who execute business-led testing for system implementations, enhancements, and operational changes. This role ensures high-quality delivery of testing activities across projects, promoting rigorous validation of business requirements, effective defect management, and readiness for production deployment. The Senior Manager provides strategic direction, manages resources and capacity, enforces testing standards, and partners closely with cross-functional leaders to ensure that solutions meet business objectives and regulatory standards. Responsibilities 1. Leadership & Team Management Lead, mentor, and develop a team of UAT analysts responsible for planning and executing UAT activities. Manage team workload, resource allocation, prioritization, and performance evaluations. Develop career paths, training plans, and skill-building strategies for the UAT team. Foster a culture of quality, accountability, and continuous improvement. 2. UAT Strategy & Governance Own and maintain the organization’s UAT methodologies, frameworks, processes, and best practices. Define standards for test planning, acceptance criteria, documentation, defect workflows, and quality controls. Establish governance processes for test sign-offs, production readiness, and traceability. 3. Oversight of Test Planning & Execution Direct the team in developing test plans, test scripts, test cases, and test data needs based on business requirements. Review and approve testing strategies, scope, timelines, and success criteria. Ensure execution quality, completeness of test coverage, adherence to timelines, and proper documentation of evidence. Provide senior-level guidance on risk areas, testing gaps, and mitigation strategies. 4. Defect & Issue Management Oversee end-to-end defect lifecycle management, ensuring clear documentation, prioritization, communication, and resolution. Partner with technical teams, project managers, and operations stakeholders to drive resolution of high-impact defects. Facilitate go/no-go discussions related to outstanding issues before production deployment. 5. Cross-Functional Partnership & Stakeholder Communication Serve as the primary liaison between business stakeholders, project teams, IT, QA, and operations regarding UAT activities. Ensure the team has appropriate test environments, data, and tools in place. Communicate testing progress, risks, dependencies, and major defect trends to senior management and project leaders. Participate in Steering Committees, project planning, and release readiness meetings. 6. Reporting, Compliance & Quality Assurance Oversee creation of UAT dashboards, status reports, test metrics, and executive summaries. Ensure all testing complies with regulatory, audit, and internal quality standards. Maintain comprehensive traceability between requirements, test scripts, and results. 7. Continuous Improvement & Innovation Identify process inefficiencies and lead initiatives to optimize testing effectiveness and team productivity. Evaluate and recommend UAT tools, automation opportunities, and data-management improvements. Promote a feedback-driven environment to enhance testing maturity across the organization. Qualifications Qualifications Education & Certifications Perferred Bachelor’s degree in Business, Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or related field or equivalent work experience. Preferred certifications: ISTQB, PMP, CSPO, CSTE, or equivalent QA/UAT certifications. Experience 7+ years of experience in UAT or QA roles, with at least 3+ years in people management or team leadership. 5+ years of experience in complex, regulated industries (insurance or financial services preferred). Strong background in business requirements analysis, testing governance, and release readiness. Experience with life insurance and annuities operations strongly preferred. Skills Expertise in UAT methodologies, test planning, and defect management tools (e.g., JIRA). Strong leadership, team-building, and performance management skills. Excellent problem-solving, risk assessment, and decision-making abilities. Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with comfort presenting to senior executives. Understanding of test automation concepts, test data management, and cross-system dependencies. Company EXL (NASDAQ: EXLS) is a leading data analytics and digital operations and solutions company. We partner with clients using a data and AI-led approach to reinvent business models, drive better business outcomes and unlock growth with speed. EXL harnesses the power of data, analytics, AI, and deep industry knowledge to transform operations for the world’s leading corporations in industries including insurance, healthcare, banking and financial services, media and retail, among others. EXL was founded in 1999 with the core values of innovation, collaboration, excellence, integrity and respect. We are headquartered in New York and have more than 54,000 employees spanning six continents. For more information, visit www.exlservice.com . EXL never requires or asks for fees/payments or credit card or bank details during any phase of the recruitment or hiring process and has not authorized any agencies or partners to collect any fee or payment from prospective candidates. EXL will only extend a job offer after a candidate has gone through a formal interview process with members of EXL’s Human Resources team, as well as our hiring managers.