QA Lead

Location: Berlin, Germany
Contract type: On-Payroll, Full-time (40h/week), fixed-term contract (with a strong possibility of extension or conversion to permanent employment based on performance and project requirements)
Expected Start Date: asap or 01.01.2027

Please note this is a Berlin based role and we are unable to support relocation in this case.

The QA Lead will own quality on The Conformist, a semi-sandbox narrative RPG for PC and console, from test strategy to release builds. The role works closely with designers and writers on branching dialogue and quest logic, and with programmers on bugs, tools, and build health. It reports to the CTO and works closely with Production.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the QA strategy and pipeline, scaled to the team's size and schedule: bug-reporting standards, severity definitions, build checklists, and release criteria that other Torpor projects can reuse.
• Write and maintain test plans, test cases, and regression checklists for features, quests, dialogue, systems, and tools.
• Test hands-on on PC and console at every stage, focusing on branching narrative, variable state, and save/load integrity.
• Triage and track bugs, verify fixes, and run regression passes on milestone builds.
• Prepare and sign off release builds for milestones, demos, and launch, including console certification submissions.
• Work with designers and writers on narrative and quest logic, and with programmers on bugs, tools, and build health.
• Test in-house development tools, such as the narrative editor, and recommend features and workflow improvements.
• Coordinate playtests and external QA partners, turning findings into actionable reports.
• Document QA processes and best practices for the wider team.
• Report to the CTO, work closely with Production, flag risks early, and help plan scope and tasks.

Requirements

Essential qualifications

• Proven professional experience as a QA Lead or Senior QA Tester in games, including leading testers, with at least one shipped title, ideally a narrative or systemic RPG.
• Platform QA experience across PC, console (dev kits and PlayStation TRC, Xbox XR, and Nintendo Lotcheck certification), and mobile (iOS and Android device coverage, App Store and Google Play submission).
• Solid understanding of QA across the full development lifecycle, from prototype to post-launch patches.
• Experience writing test plans, test cases, and regression suites, and clear, reproducible bug reports with sound severity and priority calls.
• Experience testing branching narrative: dialogue trees, quest states, and save/load persistence of player choices.
• Experience preparing, smoke-testing, and signing off release builds.
• Working familiarity with the Unity editor for inspecting scenes, reading logs, and reproducing issues.
• Experience using AI tools in QA workflows, such as test case generation, bug triage, log analysis, or automated playtesting.
• Strong ownership; comfortable being the sole owner of a discipline and balancing priorities across projects.
• Comfort with documentation and task-tracking tools such as Miro, Notion, or Codecks.
• Strong communication and feedback skills in cross-disciplinary teams, and excellent written and spoken English.
  
  

Preferred qualifications

• Steam Deck verification experience.
• Automated testing experience (Unity Test Framework, smoke-test scripts, and CI build checks), ideally with C# scripting.
• Localization QA for text-heavy games.
• Performance, memory, and stability profiling.
• Managing external QA vendors, playtests, or community betas.
• Experience with narrative authoring tools (articy:draft, Ink, and Yarn Spinner) or testing internal tools and recommending features.
• Interest in narrative-driven RPGs and/or political games.

Benefits

• Health & Wellbeing: Free Urban Sports Club membership (Berlin employees).
• Transport: Fully covered Deutschland-Ticket (Berlin employees).
• Flexible Hours: Start your day between 8:00 and 10:00 CET, with core working hours from 10:00 to 15:00 CET.
• Hybrid Work: Work 3 days in the office and 2 days remotely (Berlin employees).
• Work from Abroad: Up to 10 remote working days per year outside Germany (employees).
• Team Events: Regular team events and access to the NLND community network.
• Feedback & Growth: Regular feedback and development sessions.
• Annual Bonus: Performance-based bonus.
• Vacation: 24 paid vacation days per year (full-time employees).

Salary

Minimum: 35000
Maximum: 40000
Currency: EUR
Pay period: Annual
Additional info: The expected annual gross salary range for this role is approximately 35.000 - 40.000 EUR, depending on experience and qualifications.