QA Lead

We are looking for a QA Lead to stand up and own quality engineering at Distance, based at our Helsinki HQ. This is your chance to build a quality function from the ground up for technology so novel, no other company has it, and with no legacy or tech debt to fight. WHY DISTANCE? At Distance Technologies, the problem we're solving is simple to state and hard to solve: the amount of data in the world is endless, but human capacity is not. We are building a fundamentally new perception layer between humans and machines, transforming transparent surfaces into interfaces unlike the world has ever seen. Think of the windscreen of a car, the visor of a helmet, or a sight device, each becoming a new front-end for AI. The way we turn bits and atoms into expanded human perception is protected by over 50 granted patents internationally. We build it for two demanding worlds: defense and automotive. And we build it from a single foundation fusing software, hardware and computational optics. There are 50 of us today, with decade-long experience building world’s best products, optics, and open-source operating systems. We partner and build with globally leading companies like KIA, General Dynamics, Supacat, and Galvion, and we were Google Ventures' first investment in Finland. What we're building is hard, and will fundamentally change how we operate and see the world, and that's exactly why we seek exceptional people who enjoy building things never seen before. THE ROLE You'll stand up and lead quality engineering for Distance Runtime: test strategy, automation, and release gates. You are the accountable owner for the only question that matters at ship time: are we safe to ship? Not a passive gate at the end of the cycle, but embedded alongside our runtime, tracking, and platform engineering teams in how the product is actually built. You'll define and own the quality model end to end, from automated coverage in CI through visual regression and manual validation on reference hardware, and own release QA for tagged builds. You know what a go/no-go call takes; what's different here is a display product with hardware in the loop, where field and support issues need to flow straight back into your test cases and automation. Because much of this is still being shaped, you'll set the foundations yourself: release criteria per milestone with Engineering Management and Release/Build, the defect and reproduction workflow, and the quality gates that sit alongside Safety and Security's reviews. And you'll have the chance to grow a team as it scales. WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU Build from scratch. This is genuinely greenfield: a real chance to define the QA roadmap and practices, and to shape how AI agentic development is tackled from a testing point of view. No tech debt, no legacy to battle. You choose and use state-of-the-art tooling from day one. Work on novel technology no one else is building, in close collaboration with hardware and software on software-defined hardware, in domains, defence especially, that give the work real meaning. OUR EXPECTATIONS We are looking for a builder, not a passenger: you own your outcomes, take the initiative to remove obstacles, and move things forward without waiting for permission. Everything isn't ready yet and things change rapidly. You should be more excited than frightened about that, viewing ambiguity as an opportunity to build and shape how quality works here. You're a senior QA professional who has owned the test strategy for a shipped product, with clear evidence of ownership and career growth behind you. You've tested native/C++ systems and graphics- or hardware-dependent software: GPU drivers, display/output paths, or sensor/camera-adjacent products. You're at home reading logs and working shoulder to shoulder with developers on reproduction. Strong test design and crisp communication we take as given at your level. What we care about is the judgment underneath: knowing what's worth testing and where, and the confidence to push back when the quality bar isn't met. You have the personality to take the lead and, in time, build a team around you. Location-wise, this role is based at our Helsinki HQ and is mostly onsite. We seek fluent English, as our team is international. Finnish is not required. DID WE GET YOU INTERESTED? Apply via the application form at the latest on August 31st, 2026. Our recruitment process includes 2-3 discussions with the team. If you want to learn more about the position, reach out to our recruiter, Joel Kinnunen. Kindly note that, for data privacy reasons, we are not able to process applications sent via email.