Management and Program Analyst

Agriculture, Office of the Chief Financial Officer•Washington, DC

About The Position

This position is with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Transformation Management Organization in Washington, D.C. The Management and Program Analyst serves as the Quality Assurance and Testing Lead, establishing, directing, implementing, monitoring, and improving enterprise quality assurance, testing, business validation, and organizational readiness activities for Department-wide modernization initiatives. The role develops and administers the Department-wide Quality Assurance and Testing Strategy and leads integrated testing across business processes, enterprise applications, infrastructure, customer services, shared services, cloud environments, data conversion, cybersecurity, and operational readiness. It establishes quality standards, testing policies, governance procedures, quality management frameworks, acceptance criteria, release readiness standards, and testing methodologies. The position evaluates modernization initiatives throughout the system development lifecycle, conducts quality assessments and reviews, and advises senior executives on enterprise quality performance, modernization readiness, and organizational risks. It also represents the chief technology officer in executive governance meetings, customer agency discussions, vendor reviews, and Federal modernization initiatives.

Requirements

At least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 grade level in the federal service or equivalent experience in the private sector.
Experience leading enterprise testing and quality assurance efforts, including user acceptance testing, business validation, operational readiness, release readiness, and defect tracking.
Experience developing integrated test strategies, defining quality metrics, managing defects, preparing go/no-go recommendations, and validating business and operational requirements.
Experience coordinating testing across functional users, technical teams, data teams, cybersecurity, operations, contractors, and partner agencies.
Experience identifying quality and implementation risks, documenting findings, and providing recommendations to support decisions before deployment or release.
Must be a U.S. Citizen or U.S. National.
Males born after December 31, 1959, must be registered with Selective Service or exempt.
Must pass a background investigation and/or fingerprint check, E-Verify employment verification, and comply with the federal direct deposit requirement.
Must serve a one-year probationary period unless prior federal service is creditable.

Nice To Haves

Certifications in one or more of the following are strongly desired: International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB), Software Quality Analyst, Manager of Software Quality, Agile Testing, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Information Technology Infrastructure Library 4 (ITIL 4), Lean Six Sigma, Project Management Professional (PMP), or equivalent.

Responsibilities

Develop and administer a Department-wide Quality Assurance and Testing Strategy for enterprise modernization initiatives.
Lead integrated testing activities across business processes, enterprise applications, infrastructure, customer services, shared services, cloud environments, data conversion, cybersecurity, and operational readiness.
Develop enterprise quality standards, testing policies, governance procedures, quality management frameworks, acceptance criteria, release readiness standards, and testing methodologies.
Direct Business Process Validation, Testing, End-to-End Testing, User Acceptance Testing, Operational Readiness Testing, Regression Testing, Performance Testing, Data Validation Testing, and Parallel Payroll Testing.
Evaluate modernization initiatives throughout the system development lifecycle to ensure business, technical, security, and operational requirements are met before implementation.
Conduct quality assessments, root cause analyses, lessons learned reviews, independent quality reviews, and post-implementation evaluations.
Lead testing governance boards, release management reviews, executive quality briefings, and customer readiness assessments.
Develop quality management techniques to improve modernization delivery and organizational performance.
Advise senior executives on enterprise quality performance, modernization readiness, and organizational risks.
Represent the chief technology officer at executive governance meetings, customer agency discussions, vendor reviews, and Federal modernization initiatives.