People Lead Software Testing

Description

What is your role?

At Lely, software plays a crucial role in the performance, reliability, and safety of our robotic solutions. Every day, our products help dairy farmers around the world work more efficiently while improving animal welfare and supporting sustainable food production.

As People Lead Software Testing, you are responsible for leading, coaching, and developing a team of Software Test Engineers. You are an experienced people manager who supports employees in their professional growth, manages performance, and creates an environment where collaboration, ownership, and continuous development are key priorities.

This is a formal people management position, not a hands-on technical test lead role.

You lead a team of Software Test Engineers who are responsible for verifying software functionality and validating the integration of software within our robotic systems. At the same time, you contribute to the continuous improvement of our testing approach, helping development teams make informed decisions based on objective data and verification results.

You combine people leadership with technical expertise. You create an environment where engineers can grow, collaborate effectively, and continuously improve their skills. By working closely with Software, Systems, Electronics, and Mechanical Engineering teams, you help ensure that quality is embedded throughout the product development process.

The work is carried out at our campus in Maassluis. Remote working is the exception in this role.

Your main responsibilities include:

Leading, coaching, and developing a team of 7 to 14 Software Test Engineers with varying levels of experience.

Take full responsibility for people management, including performance management, performance reviews, recruitment, coaching, and individual development plans.

Defining and improving verification strategies, test approaches, and quality processes for software and system integration.

Supporting teams in creating testable requirements and data-driven validation methods.

Providing insights and recommendations on product maturity and release readiness throughout the development lifecycle.

Driving collaboration between testing, software development, systems engineering, and other technical disciplines.

Contributing to the further development of testing and verification practices within Product Development.

Requirements

• You are a people-oriented leader with a strong technical foundation and a passion for product quality. You enjoy helping engineers grow, bringing teams together, and creating clarity in complex development environments.
• In addition, you bring:
• A bachelor's or master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Software Engineering, or another relevant technical discipline.
• Several years of experience in software testing, verification, or quality engineering within a technical product development environment.
• Proven experience as a formal line manager of a technical team, with direct responsibility for performance management, performance reviews, recruitment, and employee development. Experience solely as a technical coordinator or hands-on test lead is not sufficient for this position.
• A broad technical interest and affinity with multidisciplinary systems, software, and robotics.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build alignment across different teams and disciplines.
• Fluency in English.
• You are able to work from our campus in Maassluis, as this position does not offer the option to work from home.
• Experience within robotics, mechatronics, systems engineering, or complex hardware-software environments is considered a strong advantage.
• Additional Information
• Working at Lely means contributing to sustainable progress within one of the most innovative organizations in the Netherlands. You contribute to making the agricultural sector future-proof, and we make sure that you get all the space, resources and support you need to do so.
• An international working environment with opportunities for own initiative and entrepreneurship.
• Excellent working conditions, including up to 8 weeks of vacation per year and a good pension scheme.
• A salary within the scale of € 7,000 - € 8,000 gross per month, in which we like to see opportunities for growth from your starting salary towards the future.
• You have the option to participate in a preventive medical examination.
• During the Christmas period, Lely closes its door for two weeks.
• Good growth opportunities: you are in control of your development and can choose from various training courses through our Lely Academy, from personal development to job-specific training.
• Our modern Lely Campus offers daily access to extensive sports facilities: an indoor gym, outdoor padel courts, an outdoor basketball and volleyball court, table tennis and table soccer. You can join Hyrox workouts or sign up for personal training - and challenge your colleagues during an active break.
• Enjoy fresh coffee and tea from our own barista, with milk straight from our farm, as well as a healthy and affordable company restaurant.
• flexible working hours and plenty of opportunity to spend extra time on campus (between 6:00 AM and 8:00 PM) for sports and relaxation.
• A free shuttle bus will take you to and from the metro in Maassluis, so your workday starts and ends smoothly.
• Successes need to be celebrated: from anniversaries to Christmas parties - at Lely we know how to do it!
• Recruitment & Selection agency, consultancy, and/or secondment agency?
• We appreciate the interest, but we are looking for all our candidates directly. We understand that you, as an intermediary, want to present candidates for our great positions and thus contribute to our ambitions, but this is not how we have set up our recruitment. This means that all unsolicited profiles offered on Lely vacancies will be treated as direct applications.
• Company Description
• Lely, founded in 1948, is committed to creating a sustainable, profitable, and enjoyable future in agriculture. Driven by the challenges farmers face and the needs of cows, we develop high-quality robots and data systems that improve animal welfare, flexibility, and productivity on dairy farms. Our mission is to support sustainable food production.
• For more than 30 years, we have been a global leader in the sales and service of automated systems for successive generations of dairy farmers. Every day, we inspire our colleagues to provide customers with innovative solutions and to be a reliable partner for long-term advice and support. With our state-of-the-art Lely Campus in Maassluis and a worldwide network of dedicated Lely Centers offering tailored sales and service, Lely operates in more than fifty countries.