{"id":2562367,"url":"https://alion.io/job/balor-games-qa-portfolio-manager","title":"QA Portfolio Manager","company":{"id":672310,"name":"Balor Games","domain":"balorgames.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/balorgames","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":null},"role":"QA","role_family":"QA","seniority":"senior","employment_type":"contractor","work_mode":"remote","remote_scope":"stated_countries","remote_scope_basis":"board_field","remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":[],"countries":[],"hiring_countries":["US"],"hiring_countries_total":1,"salary":{"min":34,"max":48,"currency":"USD","period":"hour","gross":null,"usd_annual":96000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-14T19:59:36Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-14","last_verified_at":"2026-10-17T23:44:16Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":3,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":3},"description":"About Balor Games\nBalor Games is a \"Triple I\" independent game publisher dedicated to long-term stewardship of high-quality creative works. Formed by former leaders of Humble Games, Balor Games oversees an expansive catalog of acclaimed indie games, following the acquisition of the Humble Games and Firestoke catalogs. \nBalor Games aims to serve as a cultural curator for independent games, while providing expertise, resources, and belief-driven support to visionary developers.\nPosition Intro:\nBalor Games is looking for a QA Portfolio Manager to own quality assurance strategy and execution across our published portfolio. In this role, you'll be the primary point of accountability for QA coverage on titles developed by multiple external developer teams, and you'll manage the outside QA vendors (FQA, CQA, LQA, compatibility) who deliver that coverage. You'll set testing strategy and standards, scope and book vendor engagements against title milestones, and be the escalation point when quality issues put a release at risk. You’ll also step in for hands-on testing when needed, confirming bug severity, verifying fixes, and writing clear, actionable bug reports. You'll work cross-functionally with Production, Publishing Services, and the developer teams themselves to make sure every title meets Balor Games' quality bar and platform certification requirements before it ships.\nKey Responsibilities include but not limited to:\nOwn QA strategy and standards across Balor Games' published portfolio, adapting scope and approach to each title's genre, platform mix, and risk profile.\n\nOversee day-to-day management of the external QA vendors (FQA, CQA, LQA, compatibility) supporting each title in Balor Games’ portfolio, including vetting and onboarding new vendors as needed.\n\nScope QA requirements against Production and developer-team milestones; book and track vendor Statements of Work (SOWs), quotes, and SOW end dates.\n\nManage QA vendor budgets, purchase orders, and invoicing; flag variances against approved budgets.\n\nServe as the primary QA liaison to Balor Games' external developer teams across the portfolio, aligning each studio's build/patch cadence with vendor testing cycles.\n\nPerform hands-on QA testing on titles as needed, including verifying fixes and writing clear, actionable bug reports.\n\nProvide detailed gameplay feedback to developer teams, benchmarked against comparable titles in the market.\n\nReview and prioritize bug reports and test results coming out of vendor QA passes; triage severity, drive fixes with developer teams, and participate in decisions around milestone acceptance and ship/no-ship quality calls in partnership with Production.\n\nServe as the main point of contact for data-driven reporting on each title’s game state, quality risks, and development trajectory, in partnership with Production and leadership.\n\nTrack platform certification and compliance requirements (PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, Steam, mobile storefronts) and ensure vendor testing plans cover them ahead of submission deadlines.\n\nMaintain a current view of vendor capacity, specialties, rate cards, and performance; monitor quality and delivery, manage escalations and resolution, and match the right vendor to each title and testing phase.\n\nBuild and maintain QA documentation, test plans, bug-tracking workflows, and reporting templates that scale across a growing, multi-developer portfolio.\n\nQualifications:\n5+ years of experience in QA leadership, vendor/partner management, or production within the video game industry, including direct oversight of external QA vendors.\n\nDemonstrated experience managing vendor SOWs and quotes for QA services.\n\nStrong working knowledge of FQA, CQA, and LQA testing methodologies, bug-tracking tools, and platform certification/compliance requirements across major consoles, PC, and mobile.\n\nProven ability to create, review, and refine test plans for games across a range of genres and modes, such as single-player vs. multiplayer and RPG vs. FPS.\n\nProven ability to manage QA across multiple concurrent titles and external studios, with project management skills to coordinate differing vendor pipelines, tools, and deadlines.\n\nExceptional communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with internal teams, external developer studios, and QA vendors.\n\nRelationship management skills with the ability to build and maintain internal and external partnerships.\n\nSelf-motivated with experience working independently and with a team, while being comfortable with ambiguity and shifting priorities.\n\nProficiency with bug-tracking/test-management tools, spreadsheets, and project tracking tools.\n\nBonus Points:\nAvid gamer with broad knowledge of current titles across PC, console, and mobile.\n\nExisting relationships with FQA/CQA/LQA vendors in the games industry.\n\nExperience with platform partner programs (PlayStation Partners, Xbox ID@Xbox/Partner, Nintendo Developer Portal).\n\nExperience working with indie or mid-size external developer studios.\n\nPassion for process improvement and cross-functional collaboration.\n\nWe are an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected category.","description_format":"text","description_chars":5372,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":5,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Mobile Games","Game Development"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-14T21:08:09Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":2,"expected_fill_days":29,"reasons":["conf:1","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":96000,"is_top_pay":false},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/balor-games-qa-portfolio-manager","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/balor-games-qa-portfolio-manager.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-18T01:10:51Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":1963,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-19T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":672310},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=672310"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fbalor-games-qa-portfolio-manager"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fbalor-games-qa-portfolio-manager"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fbalor-games-qa-portfolio-manager"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/balor-games-qa-portfolio-manager\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fbalor-games-qa-portfolio-manager"}]}