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The 2026 Roadmap for Aspiring QA Leaders
Ajay Balamurugadas
Head of Customer Success and Strategy
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Session Outline
This talk is for testers who want to grow into QA leadership—not by waiting for a promotion, but by taking charge of their growth. I’ll share what I believe the role of a QA leader will look like in 2026, and how testers can start preparing today. We’ll talk about shifting from just executing to driving clarity, building systems thinking, communication, and learning how to stay relevant in an AI-heavy world. I’ll also share how to spot disguised opportunities around you, how small experiments shape your growth, and why learning to learn is the real differentiator. No titles needed—just consistent action, curiosity, and ownership.
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What you’ll learn
More About Speaker
Ajay Balamurugadas is a passionate and hands-on software tester, known for his deep commitment to learning and community-driven growth. A graduate of the Problem Solving Leadership workshop and various influential testing courses like BBST by AST, Rapid Software Testing, Rapid Testing Intensive, and the Lean Software Testing Workshop, Ajay continuously invests in sharpening his skills and sharing knowledge.
Starting his career testing standalone desktop applications, Ajay quickly expanded into web and mobile application testing. His journey gained momentum as a co-founder of Weekend Testing (www.weekendtesting.com), and through initiatives like Test Maniac and collaborations with communities like The Test Tribe (https://www.thetesttribe.com).
Ajay’s concise, practical books are widely appreciated in the testing community for offering ready-to-use insights — available at bit.ly/ajleanpub and bit.ly/booksaj. His thoughts on software testing are regularly shared via his blog and Twitter.
A proud advocate of the Context-Driven Testing community, Ajay considers his induction into the Bach Brothers’ Testing Legion of Merit, his keynote at CAST 2015 (bit.ly/ajkeynote), and attending the legendary Problem Solving Leadership workshop by Jerry Weinberg and Esther Derby among his most significant professional milestones.
Beyond titles and achievements, Ajay finds the greatest fulfillment in the number of testers whose careers have been positively influenced through his mentoring, training sessions, and community involvement.
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Sobhitha Neelanath is an accomplished Engineering Leader with diverse technology experience of almost two decades.In her current role at Salesforce India, she leads the engineering team for Service Cloud. She is passionate about DEI and contributes actively to multiple technical and women specific communities and mentoring initiatives.She is a Google Women Techmakers Ambassador and has delivered sessions for global audiences.
A recipient of multiple accolades for her contributions towards women in tech ,she was recently selected for the Top 50 Asia Women Tech Leaders Award.
Her Mantra for life is “Explore, Believe, Achieve”.
Connect with her at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sobhitha-neelanath/
INDIA's TOP SOFTWARE TESTING EXPERTS
TribeQonf 2025 Speakers
Niranjan Srinivasan
SVP and Service Offering Head
Mahesh Venkataraman
MD- Automation and Technology
Jaydeep Chakrabarty
Head of AI in Tech
Pradeep Soundararajan
Founder & CEO
Aparana Gupta
Director of Engineering
Microsoft
Mallika Fernandes
Managing Director
Harinee Muralinath
Director
Vinayak Hegde
Principal AI Advocate
Ex-Microsoft
Rajalakshmi Srinivasan
Director - Product Management
Rahul Shetty
QA Instructor @ 1 Million Learners Udemy
Rahul Verma
Senior Consultant & AI Coach
Ajesh Viswambharan
Director of QA
Ajay Balamurugadas
Head of Customer Success and Strategy
Sobhitha Neelanath
Sr. Manager, Software Engineering
Raneesh Choudhary
Lead QE
Vignesh S.
Senior SDET
Fathima Harris
Quality Analyst, Lead Consultant
