QA Operator

Data Drone builds 0-1 SaaS products and the team that ships them. No bosses, no managers — the playbook manages, the copilot tracks. Every role owns a small, defined space with extreme accountability. Nothing ships to our customers without QA sign-off.

You'll own quality. Every feature passes through you before it reaches production. You run the test suite, file the bugs, verify the fixes, and give the green light to deploy. Your sign-off is the gate between "code complete" and "customer-facing." Without your approval, nothing ships.

• Daily: run smoke tests and triage incoming bugs within 4 hours — gating bugs escalated immediately.
• Per release: run the full regression suite, verify fixes, and hold the quality gate.
• Per bug: file with full reproduction steps, severity, and screenshots; verify before closing.
• Weekly: keep the QA Practice current — test cases, regression catalog, device matrix.
• Always: test across the full device matrix, not just your primary device.

• Own the quality gate — sign-off required before every deployment
• Run smoke tests daily, regression tests before every release
• File bugs with full reproduction steps, severity, and screenshots
• Triage bugs within 4 hours — gating bugs escalated immediately
• Verify every bug fix before closing
• Maintain the QA Practice (100+ test cases, regression catalog, device matrix)
• Maintain the QA Onboarding Playbook
• Test on the full device matrix — not just your primary device

• You've tested software used by real customers. Not academic testing — production QA.
• You can file a bug report that an engineer reproduces on first attempt. Steps, expected, actual, environment, screenshot. Every time.
• You understand the difference between a gating bug and a cosmetic issue — and you know when to block a release vs. when to file and move on.
• You can run a regression suite methodically — not skipping tests because "that area didn't change."
• You can push back on shipping when quality isn't there. Not confrontationally — professionally. You hold the gate.
• You can write test cases. Not just execute them — design new ones when new features ship.

• Experience with test automation (Selenium, Playwright, Cypress)
• Experience with API testing (Postman, REST client)
• Experience with mobile testing across device matrices
• Experience maintaining test documentation at scale (100+ test cases)
• Familiarity with SMB SaaS products

• The gate is sacred. Your sign-off means "this is ready for customers." Don't give it unless you mean it.
• Bugs are gifts. Every bug you find before the customer does is a crisis prevented. File with pride.
• Edge cases are where bugs live. Happy paths work. Weird combinations of inputs, timing, and device quirks — that's where quality breaks.
• Reproducibility is non-negotiable. "It's broken" is not a bug report. Steps to reproduce, every time.
• Regression is not optional. "We only changed one thing" is how regressions happen. Run the suite. Every time.
• If it's in your head, it's fragile. Testing knowledge belongs in the QA Practice as test cases. Not in your memory.

• 30 Days — Full regression baselined. QA Practice reviewed. First bugs filed with quality reproduction steps. Onboarding friction points documented.
• 60 Days — QA Practice updated and current. Bug report quality proven. Regression runs clean on every release. You've held the gate.
• 90 Days — Zero escaped bugs to production. QA Practice comprehensive. Your sign-off is trusted. The playbook is handoff-ready.

Test management and bug board (Sheets/Trello), staging environment, screen recording, error tracking, Slack, Google Drive, AI copilot.

You won't be the…