Best QA Test Lead and Test Manager Interview Questions (with Tips)

By Swati

By Swati

I’m Swati. I accidentally started testing in 2004, and since then have worked with at least 20 clients in 10 cities and 5 countries and am still counting. I am CSTE and CSQA certified. I love my job and the value it adds to software…

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Updated January 9, 2025
Edited by Vijay

Edited by Vijay

I'm Vijay, and I've been working on this blog for the past 20+ years! I’ve been in the IT industry for more than 20 years now. I completed my graduation in B.E. Computer Science from a reputed Pune university and then started my career in…

Learn about our editorial policies.

Here are the top QA Test Lead and Test Manager Interview Questions with perfect tips. Get to learn how to answer Team Playing and Leadership-related interview questions for the Test Lead’s position:

This article includes an absolute set of the top interview questions for QA/Test lead positions with simple and practical tips for your easy understanding.

We will cover a few of the most common but important QA test lead and test manager interview questions in the pattern of explanation-based answers.

Most Popular Test Lead & Test Manager Interview Questions

Most Popular Test Lead & Test Manager Interview Questions

Typically all QA interviewers test the interviewees in the 3 major areas below:

  1. Core technical knowledge and expertise
  2. Attitude
  3. Communication

While discussing on a QA test lead interview, the process is similar and the way to assess communication remains the same. Overall cohesiveness, conviction, and clarity are a few factors that contribute to effective communication.

When it comes to evaluating the first two areas for a QA test lead, we can divide the areas where the QA lead interview questions might come from 3 categories:

  1. Technical Expertise
  2. Team player attitude
  3. Management skills

We will take a look at each of these and then elaborate further. We will also analyze what kinds of attributes are preferred when it comes to the QA lead’s team playing and leadership skills.

Major Attributes include:

#1) Being hands-on: It is crucial for you as a lead to participate and become one of the team members for effective working of the project. This will ensure that the team trusts you and invests in your opinions/decisions. Also, it becomes an easier decision-making process for you as you are not relying on anyone else’s judgment or suggestions.

#2) Mentorship: There is no better way of learning than learning from examples. The team lead is the one who sets the example. All companies want to hire a mentor who not only excels at leading the team but also works towards creating more leaders.

#3) Superior functional/Technical knowledge & Expertise: There is no escaping experience and knowledge – be the best at what you do, think along the lines of future trends, implement new practices, measure success, and start all over again. Get certified, if necessary. Check out the following articles for more information on QA certifications:

Having understood what is required of us, let’s move on to some sample questions that could be asked.

Questions on Technical Expertise

This can be further divided into process and tool-based skills. Some of the sample questions are as follows:

Q #1) What were your roles and responsibilities and how was your time divided between tasks in a project?

Answer: Normally a test lead works on the project just the way the other team members do. Only 10% (industry standards might differ from project to project) of the time is spent on coordination activities.

You can further break this down into the following:

  • 50% – Testing activities- depending on the stage the project is in, this might be tested planning, design or execution
  • 20% – review
  • 10% – coordination
  • 20% – client communication and delivery management

STH Tip: Prepare ahead. Have all the numbers figured out ahead of time.

Further Reading => Test Lead Responsibilities

Q #2) What QA process do you use in your project and why?

Answer: When this question is asked to a QA team member, the idea is to assess their familiarity and comfort in using the process in place. However, when this question comes to the team lead, it is to understand that your expertise is being able to establish the said process. The best way to go about this is: brainstorm.

A sample answer could be this way: Currently, we follow a mix of both traditional and Agile projects. We handle releases in short sprints but within sprints, we would still create test plans and test scenarios but not test cases and report the defects as we would in the waterfall model. We use a Scrumboard to track progress and for defects, we use the Bugzilla tool. Even though our sprints are short, we make sure that all reviews, reports, and metrics happen on time.

You can add more to this: if it is an onsite-offshore model project – the dev and QA sprints are separated and lag behind one another, etc.

Suggested Reading => QA processes in end to end real projects

Q #3) What do you consider to be your key accomplishments/initiatives?

Answer: Everyone wants to be a successful manager. Awards, performance ratings and company-wide recognition (positive feedback, employee of the month), etc. are all great, but do not discount the day-to-day accomplishments.

You may have streamlined the reporting process, simplified a test plan, or created a document that can be used to sanity test a system that is complex with very minimum supervision when used, etc.

Q #4) Have you been involved in test estimation and how do you do it?

Answer: Test estimation gives an approximate idea of how much time, effort, and resources are required to test. This will help determine the cost, schedule, and feasibility for most projects. Test leads are approached for test estimation at the beginning of every project. Therefore, the answer to the question of whether test estimation was part of the job profile for a QA lead is “Yes”.

The “How” part differs from team to team and leads to lead. If you have used function points or any other techniques, be sure to mention that.

Also, if you have not used those methods and based the estimation totally on historical data, intuition, and experience, make sure to say and provide a rationale for doing so.

For example: When I have to estimate my projects or CRs, I simply create basic Test scenarios (high-level) and get an idea of how many test cases I might be working with and their complexities. Field or UI-level test cases can be run and written at a pace of about 50-100 per day/person. Medium complexity test cases (with 10 or more steps) can be written at about 30 per day/person. High complexity or end-to-end ones are at a rate of 8-10 per day/person. All of this is an approximation and there are other factors such as contingencies, team proficiency, available time, etc., that have to be taken into consideration but this has worked for me in most cases. So, for this question, this would be my answer.

STH Tips

  • Estimations are approximations and are not always accurate. There will always be a give and take. But it is always better for a testing project to overestimate than underestimate.
  • It is also a good idea to talk about how you have sought the help of your team members in coming up with test scenarios and identifying complexities because this will establish you as a mentor, which every team lead should be.

Also Read => How To Be a Good Team Mentor, Coach, and a True Team-Defender in an Agile Testing World? – The Inspiration

Q #5) What tools do you use and why?

Answer: QA process tools such as HP ALM (Quality Center), bug tracking software, and Automation software are things that you should be proficient with all your team members.

If you use any management software such as MS Project, or Agile management tools highlight that experience and talk about how the tool has helped you with your day-to-day tasks.

For example: Talk about how you use JIRA for simple defects and task management in your QA Project. Also, if you can talk about the JIRA Agile Add-in and how it has helped with Scrumboard creation, planning user stories, sprint planning, working, reporting, etc., that would be great.

Q #6) Questions about Process familiarity and Mastery

Answer: If the process you follow at your workplace is the waterfall, onsite-offshore, Agile, or anything to that effect, expect detailed Q&A about its implementation, success, metrics, best practices, and challenges among other things.

Check the below links for more information:

Now, let’s check the questions related to team player attitude and management.

Interview Questions on Attitude & Management

In this section, we are providing a list of the best and most commonly asked Test Manager Interview Questions useful for the Test Manager role.

Test Manager plays a very prominent role because he has to lead the entire testing team. So the questions will be a little bit difficult by reading below you will be quite confident.

Real-time interview questions are also mentioned here.

Test Manager Interview Questions

Given below is the list of Scenario-Based Interview Questions and answers for the Test Manager:

Q #7) Customer has reported severe defects in the Daily balance report. The customer is unhappy that the problem is not fixed even after a week. What action will you as a PM take to restore the confidence of the customer and ensure that this will not happen in the future?

Answer: Conflict resolution – Get on your customer’s wavelength. Get facts, ask questions, get detailed info, take notes, and listen carefully. Establish and initiate an action program (admit errors if they are there, negotiate a satisfactory solution, state the solution and get an agreement, take action, and follow up with a customer).

Finally, establish a proper daily problem review process to prevent such problems in the future.

Q #8) It’s observed that the testers in your organization are performing tests on the deliverable even after significant defects have been found. This has resulted in unnecessary testing of little value because re-testing needs to be done after defects have been rectified. You are the test manager and are going to update the test plan with recommendations on when to stop testing. List the recommendations you are going to make.

Answer:

We need to take the following measures:

a) Acceptance criteria should be tightened.
b) Test cases should be re-evaluated (preferably peer review).
c) If possible, more test cases should be added with boundary values and equivalence class partition cases.
d) More test cases with invalid conditions should be added.
e) Stop criteria need to be modified.

Q #9) You are newly appointed as a test lead in an organization that uses manual testing. Your boss wants you to put forth three testing tools and their features to create awareness about the testing tools in the top management. Suggest any three testing tools for your test environment and why would you suggest them?

Answer:
The third question is a very important one. You can write to Test Director, WinRunner/Loadrunner, McCable, or any other coverage tool. The test director is useful for tracking defects. WR or LR to do functionality/Load testing and Coverage tool to check the code coverage thereby helping in White box testing.

Q #10) You are working on a project, where the requirements change dynamically. The data in the project comes from various ends (from various Platforms) and is interdependent. You see this as a big risk to the project. How would you plan accordingly?

Answer: Give a Plan that takes care of the risk and is identified in the Risk Areas. Say that the testing scope would concentrate more on Data-driven tests etc.

Now, let’s see some common questions related to Team Playing and Leadership.

Questions on Team Playing and Leadership

Q #11) Do you write test cases?

Answer: The answer to this question should always be a resounding “Yes”. Test leads are testers too. Even though they take on additional responsibility of guiding and leading the team, they still do most activities that testers do.

Also Read => Writing Test Cases from SRS

Q #12) How do you resolve team member issues?

Answer: This should be done informally first. Ask each individual out for coffee and listen to each side of the issue. If it’s a simple misunderstanding, ask them to resolve it within themselves mutually. If need be, call for a meeting and talk to them without letting things escalate. You should not let things impact work. However, if they start to affect the project, give a warning and if necessary, escalate to human resources as a last resort.

Also read:

Q #13) How do you provide feedback to a team member who isn’t doing very well?

Answer: First and foremost, set guidelines for all team members and keep them informed of what is expected of them and in what time frame. In short, define the parameters of success. For example, if it’s a new team member, let them know what you expect from them:

  • What module will they be working on?
  • Timelines
  • Deliverables
  • Formats of deliverables
  • Updating/managing work on tools (such as QC, Rally, JIRA, etc.)
  • Timesheets and so on.

Set a period after which to evaluate, such as a month or so. Once done, collect the statistics.

  • How many times has the timesheet not been filled?
  • Negative review comments received on work
  • Deliverables not being done on time etc.

Based on the statistics, if the performance isn’t satisfactory, follow the steps given below:

  • Discuss the results with the team member
  • Seek approval or confirmation that they understand what hasn’t been working
  • Set up a new plan, new attributes of success, and a new performance review timeline
  • Think of measures to fix it or provide help

Q #14) How do you handle the induction of new team members? OR What do you do to train new team members?

Answer:

  • Set aside time for knowledge transfer and orientation
  • Share all the information regarding who to get in touch with in case of questions regarding different areas of the system and their email addresses or physical introductions (For example: BA, networking team, tool admins, help desk, Dev team, etc.)
  • Provide tool accesses
  • Share documentation, templates, previous artifacts, test plans, test cases, etc
  • Share expectations in terms of their performance (refer to the answer to question number: 13)
  • When possible, assign a team member to work closely with them for a brief amount of time
  • Keep channels of communication open to stay in touch and understand their progress

Q #15) What is your involvement in reviewing test cases, defects, and status reports?

Answer: It is very easy to say that you check each and every document that is created. However, that might not always be seen as a positive thing. Team leads have to establish a process so that they can run teams efficiently, therefore make sure that you make your teams “self-sustaining” with minimum hand-holding.

This would be my answer

I am involved in test case reviews just like any other team member. We do periodic peer reviews. I do not review everyone’s work; however we review each other’s work. There are very strict processes established before this process begins so all of us can share work and make sure this goes on smoothly.

I have re-checked all the defects to make sure they are valid, not duplicates, and complete in their description. This is more of a task at the beginning of the test cycle, however, as we get more into testing, this step reduces as the teams get more comfortable with the process and can do it effectively. All the status reports are then consolidated and sent by me as this is the team lead’s responsibility as per the company’s process.

Also Read = > How to Perform Test Documentation Reviews in 6 Simple Steps

Q #16) How do you analyze risks and overcome them?

Answer: Risk analysis is a mandatory activity for every test plan stage. In the later stages, in case there is not enough time or any other unfavorable situations arise, we do another round of risk analysis.

For details, samples, and information – check out the articles below:

Q #17) What kind of guidance have your team members sought from you and how did you help?

Answer: This is a personal experience-based question. Some things that you can highlight in this area are given here:

  • If you have helped a team member schedule some time off due to their situations
  • Helped technically
  • Provided professional guidance
  • Suggested certification
  • Recommended them for organization-wide recognition
  • Send an appreciation email for a job well done

I am sure we all try our best to achieve the best synergy, so I am sure you have more than one instance where you were a positive influence on someone. Be sure to have a story up your sleeve for an interview.

Q #18) What do you consider before hiring or firing?

Answer: As of now, not all test leads might be involved in this. So, if you have never done this, say so. Generally for hiring, technical knowledge, positive attitude, effective communication, etc. are critical. Firing is more reserved for a misdemeanour, embezzlement, etc. Common mistakes can be fixed.

Conclusion

This is a quick wrap-up on the questions asked in the interview to the QA lead or manager with their answers.

As a parting note, I would like to bring to your attention that when answering questions in an interview, do not look at it as an examination. You should consider it as a platform to brainstorm and put forth your point of view and your individual experiences.

Suggested Reading =>> Manager Interview Questions with Answers

You can post your experience and feedback in the comments section below. We would love to hear from you.

Also Read =>> Top Project Management Interview Questions

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31 thoughts on “Best QA Test Lead and Test Manager Interview Questions (with Tips)”

  1. hi swati thank you for the article it would help more for 2 to 3 years experienced test engineer.
    would like to see more on this..

    Reply
  2. Good one. would be waiting for the next one. Yes, you mention all good questions and whose chances are more than 80% to be asked in the Interview question.

    The best part is the way you told to answer which may lead to revealing more information from the candidate side to the interviewer

    Reply
  3. Really the content is awesome. Hats off of you! Kindly keep posting these type of things. It will be useful to both the freshers and experienced people who enter to the testing field.

    Reply
  4. Thank you swathi… It’s really appreciate ur effort.. Please keep posting this kind of questions… It’s really very usefull for us… Please send me 5 plus years manual tester interview questions with answer to my mail id if possible… Plz really it vl be more usefull for me..

    Thank you so much.
    shazia.rafeeq27@gmail.com

    Reply
  5. Hi Swati,
    Thnx for the article and sharing most common questions asked and also for the answers provided.
    Looking forward to more such informations

    Rgds

    Reply
  6. hello swati mem
    i read whole article and i realized you share good information.this is also helpful for those person they recently enter software testing field and also experienced person.
    Thank you for sharing this article…

    Reply
  7. I also saw one common question
    if as a test lead you find some issues a day before the release date. what you will do?

    Reply
    • @Sreenu

      As test lead if you find any defect before release date, if the issue is blocking issue or major functional impact. We need to hightlight to dev team and try to put hot fix. Also need to analyse why this has missed in the testing, revisit the Test cases / RTM and also verify the test coverage.

      Reply
  8. I am physically handicapped person looking for home based jib..one of my friend recommended me of web testing home based job..i dont know anything about it..can you help me..

    Reply
  9. This is a very nice article. The content will helpful for the people who are in the leadership position and thanks for sharing this article. Keep posting such articles.

    Reply
  10. @Sreenu:

    if as a test lead you find some issues a day before the release date. what you will do?

    QA can “assist” business side with information about quality and process.

    Deciding to release with severe bug (and escalate next release with a fix) or postpone release is business decision. It can be done only by someone who understands how customer works.

    Reply
  11. #9 is outdated tools and not recommend to tell to the interviewer. He can explain the latest open-source tools
    and its features that how it helps for project need according to testing techniques.

    Reply

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