Staff QA Engineer - Cinema Imaging at Dolby
San Francisco, CA
$152,900–$210,200from the description
Aug 9, 2026
San Francisco, CA
Sep 24, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A hands-on Staff QA Engineer role within Dolby's Cinema QA group, responsible for owning end-to-end test strategy and execution for next-generation cinema imaging products — including projectors, cinema servers, and integrated theatrical systems. The position requires regular on-site work in Dolby's San Francisco hardware labs, deep expertise in digital video and imaging, and the ability to lead multiple concurrent programs while mentoring junior engineers and interfacing with external hardware partners.
Staff level · 7+ years · San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 2 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 20 people in the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software quality assurance analysts and testers). range 4–40
Applicant volume Moderate — A normal amount of company. The rare requirements below are what will separate a shortlisted application from the rest.
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $137,591 (middle half $99,460–$171,745). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Aug 11, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (8)
The 'Knowledge of These Tools Is Required' section at the bottom of the posting explicitly lists Unix/Linux, Python/PyTest, Jira, qTest, Git/Perforce, and AI Tools (Claude, MS Copilot, Copilot Studio, GitHub Copilot) as required — these are marked accordingly even though some also appear in the Preferred section.
Selenium appears in the requirements block as an example library alongside PyTest ('using various tools/libraries like Pytest, Selenium, etc.'); the 'or similar' qualifier means the specific tool is interchangeable, but hands-on test automation framework experience is a hard gate.
GitLab CI is listed in the requirements block with 'Electric Flow, or similar' as alternatives; the CI/CD pipeline integration requirement itself is a hard gate.
AI Tools are listed in the 'Knowledge of These Tools Is Required' section; specific tools named include Claude, MS Copilot, Copilot Studio, and GitHub Copilot — grouped as alternatives under a single skill.
The degree (Bachelor's or Master's in a technical field) appears only under Preferred Experience, so it is not treated as a hard requirement.
The salary range of $152,900–$210,200 is stated as the San Francisco/Bay Area base and may vary for other locations; bonus, benefits, and potential equity are also mentioned.
The role is explicitly on-site in San Francisco hardware labs; remote work is not offered.
The alt SOC (15-1252 Software Developers) is noted because the role includes meaningful test automation development and framework ownership, though the primary day-to-day work is clearly QA/validation.
Read the full posting
The employer publishes the full description on their own site — read it there ↗. Or sign in to read it here — it's free, and it also lets you track this application.