Lead Quality Engineer

Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago•Chicago, IL

20h•Onsite

About The Position

At the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, employees come first - that’s why we offer a highly competitive compensation and bonus package, and access to a comprehensive benefits program designed to meet the needs of our employees. Our mission at FHLBank Chicago: To partner with our members in Illinois and Wisconsin to provide them competitively priced funding, a reasonable return on their investment, and support for their community investment activities. Simply said, we're a bank for banks and other financial institutions, focused on being a strategic partner for our members and working together to reinvest in our communities, from urban centers to rural areas. Created by Congress in 1932, FHLBank Chicago is one of 11 Federal Home Loan Banks, government sponsored in support of mortgage lending and community investment. At FHLBank Chicago, we bring people together. We are committed to a high performing, engaged workforce, and to supporting the communities we serve across Illinois and Wisconsin. Our Buddy Program pairs new hires with tenured employees to guide their onboarding. Our professional development and training opportunities through upskilling, mentorship programs, and tuition reimbursement allow employees to grow their career with us. Our collaborative, in-office operating model brings teams together to foster innovation, connection, and shared success. To support balance and flexibility, employees are provided an allocation of remote days to use as needed throughout the year.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline; equivalent experience may be considered.
10+ years of Quality Engineering or SDET experience, including hands-on leadership supporting Workday, HR, Finance, ERP, SaaS, or related enterprise platforms.
5 + years of experience mentoring, coaching, or supervisory oversight to Quality Engineers, SDETs, or software delivery teams.
Experience designing, implementing, and maintaining enterprise-scale automated test frameworks and quality engineering solutions for Workday, HRIS, Finance, ERP, SaaS, APIs, data integrations, batch processing, and financial systems.
Strong hands-on programming experience using object-oriented languages such as C#, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, or equivalent.
Experience with modern test automation frameworks including Playwright, Selenium, Appium, SpecFlow/Cucumber, API automation frameworks, BDD and service virtualization tools.
Experience integrating automated testing and quality controls into CI/CD pipelines using platforms such as GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, Jenkins, or similar technologies.
Strong experience testing Workday, HR, Finance, ERP, SaaS platforms, APIs, integrations, databases, and enterprise applications.
Experience with performance/load test, test environment/data TDEM management, security, and non-functional testing practices.
Experience with source control, code review, branching strategies, and modern engineering workflows using GitHub and/or Azure DevOps.
Working knowledge of relational databases including PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, or similar technologies.
Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS or comparable environments, microservices and Event based architectures, domain model understanding.
Familiarity with DevSecOps tooling and practices, including code quality, security scanning, software supply chain controls, and automated quality gates.
Deep understanding of modern Quality Engineering, automation-first testing, continuous testing, shift-left practices, and defect prevention.
Strategic Thinking beyond day to day test delivery.
Ability to do hands-on coding, scripting, and automation framework design capabilities.
Requires working knowledge of SDLC, Agile or Hybrid, DevOps, TDD, BDD, DevSecOps, CI/CD, and modern engineering delivery practices.
Ability to embed automated quality checks, test coverage, release readiness controls, and quality gates into delivery pipelines.
Strong analytical, troubleshooting, SQL/data validation, HR/Finance business process validation, and root-cause analysis skills.
Ability to communicate quality risks, technical issues, and delivery impacts clearly to both technical and business stakeholders.
Strong collaboration skills across Product, Engineering, Architecture, Security, Operations, Risk, and Compliance teams.
Ability to plan, prioritize, estimate, and execute work effectively in a fast-paced delivery environment.
Demonstrated leadership, project management, mentoring, coaching, problem-solving and team enablement capabilities.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Kainos Smart test tool is a PLUS.
Experience with Workday HCM, Workday Financials, ERP integrations, payroll, compensation, talent, procurement, accounting, and related business processes is preferred.
Experience within a banking, financial services, or other regulated industry is preferred.
Technical Experience - C#, TypeScript, Python (optional – Java Script/Python)
Playwright, Selenium, Specflow
API Automation & Testing - Postman, Swagger/OpenAPI, Workday Web Services (SOAP/REST)
GitHub, Azure DevOps, CI/CD Pipelines, GitHub Actions
PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server
AWS and/or comparable cloud solutions & architectures.
Performance Testing - Artillery, Gatling, JMeter
Test Environment/Data Management - Tonic.ai or equivalent, including HR and Finance data validation
Security Testing and DevSecOps Tooling
GitHub Copilot and AI-assisted engineering tools
Knowledge of banking, financial services, HR, Finance, ERP controls, audit, regulatory, and risk-control expectations is preferred.
Software Monitoring / Event Management / Operational Validation
Incident / Problem Management / RCA
Defect Management, Defect Prevention & Detection
Shift-Left / Shift-Right Testing
Agile / Secure SDLC Practices
DevOps / DevSecOps Practices, TDD / BDD
Architecture & Technical Specifications Review
Testability Analysis, Work Planning / Estimation / Prioritization
Stakeholder Communication / Cross-Functional Collaboration
Mentoring / Technical Guidance, Technical Leadership / Coaching
Intermediate Competencies- Software Development / Unit Testing Awareness
Project Management / Requirements Management
Security Testing and Analysis
AI-Assisted Engineering and Testing

Responsibilities

Advancing the Bank’s quality engineering capabilities by shifting from traditional test execution toward an automation-first, engineering-led quality model driving built-in quality end to end.
Combining hands-on technical delivery like an experienced SDET with team leadership, quality governance, and mentoring across agile delivery teams.
Designing, developing, and maintaining End to End Test Plans, scalable automated test frameworks.
Integrating continuous testing into CI/CD pipelines.
Partnering with developers, product owners, business analysts, HR, Finance, ERP platform owners, security, architecture, operations, and risk stakeholders to ensure quality is built into every phase of the SDLC.
Enabling the Bank’s modern engineering transformation across Workday, HR, Finance, ERP, and SaaS platforms through test automation, performance testing, test environment, test data, and DevSecOps practices.
Enabling AI-assisted delivery, secure pipeline controls, DORA-aligned metrics, and quality ownership across product teams.
Directly contributing to Test plans, automation frameworks, test strategy, code review, CI/CD quality gates, and technical problem-solving.
Coaching Quality Engineers / SDETs, influencing standards, and helping product teams adopt modern quality practices.
Leveraging Kainos Smart to design, execute, and manage comprehensive testing activities for Workday HR/Finance implementations, upgrades, and ongoing enhancements.
Leading testing of semi-annual Workday releases.
Utilizing Azure DevOps to manage test cases, track defects, monitor testing progress, and produce clear, actionable quality dashboards for project stakeholders.
Validating SaaS applications across functional, integration, regression, performance and end-to-end testing scenarios to ensure reliability, usability, and alignment with business requirements.
Leading business users through User Acceptance Testing (UAT), including test planning, coordination, execution support, defect triage, and sign-off readiness.
Planning, developing, maintaining, and executing automated test suites that improve testing efficiency, strengthen coverage, and support repeatable quality assurance practices.
Leading the Quality Engineering strategy cross-team and end to end.
Test Management for all test engineering approaches (Functional, Regression, SIT, E2E, UAT, Performance/Load, Test Data, Test Environment).
Test automation architecture, Exploratory and continuous testing practices across agile product teams, ensuring quality is built into every stage of the SDLC.
Architecting, designing, developing, and maintaining scalable test plans, automated test frameworks, and reusable quality engineering solutions supporting Workday, HR, Finance, ERP, SaaS, API, integration, end-to-end, performance, and non-functional testing.
Defining and implementing quality engineering strategies and best practices across agile teams, including system architecture review, test pyramid alignment, risk-based automation, test data strategy, environment readiness, traceability, and release quality criteria.
Partnering with Product, Engineering, Architecture, Security, Infrastructure, and Operations teams to drive shared ownership of quality, defect prevention, testability, non-functional requirements and production readiness.
Building, Integrating and maintaining automated tests using strong coding practices, quality gates, reusable libraries, page/object models, service-level test patterns, test data utilities, and CI/CD-ready execution models to enable rapid, reliable, and secure software delivery.
Supporting DevSecOps transformation by embedding security and quality controls into the SDLC.
Collaborating with developers, architects, HR and Finance partners, ERP platform owners, product owners, business analysts, security, infrastructure, operations, and risk/compliance stakeholders to validate requirements, acceptance criteria, design quality, and production readiness.
Reviewing user stories, acceptance criteria, architecture designs, API contracts, data flows, and technical specifications to identify test scenarios, risks, improve testability, and prevent defects earlier in the lifecycle.
Establishing, Measuring/Monitoring and communicating quality metrics such as automation coverage, escaped defects, defect trends, test effectiveness, pipeline quality gate results, deployment readiness, and DORA-aligned delivery outcomes.
Leading root-cause analysis and continuous improvement initiatives, driving systemic solutions that reduce risk, improve reliability, and strengthen engineering outcomes.
Supporting audit readiness and regulatory expectations by ensuring quality processes produce traceable evidence, controlled approvals, policy-aligned gates, and measurable risk reduction.
Mentoring, coaching, providing supervisory support and technical leadership to Quality Engineers, SDETs, and other engineering team members while supporting talent development, performance, prioritization, and delivery execution.
Championing & Promoting modern engineering capabilities including AI-assisted testing, GitHub Copilot adoption, reusable automation assets, human-in-the-loop quality controls and enterprise quality engineering transformation initiatives.