I've heard a lot about Jira not being optimized for QA as, at its core, it is specifically a Project Management solution, and, therefore, it is not about test management. But let's be honest here, Jira feels unnecessarily complicated when you get started with it, regardless of your position or goals. And given it's the go-to standard for organizing and managing software development projects – of which QA is an integral part – you'll barely have a choice in the matter.
That being said, Jira can (and should) be optimized in a way that is equally efficient for developing new features, testing, and releasing them.