Quality Assurance Lead

Steampunk•McLean, VA

3d•$90,000 - $130,000

About The Position

The Quality Assurance Lead owns the quality function for a multi-product federal program and leads a team of QA testers. The role establishes testing standards, provides program leadership with visibility into risk and release readiness, and develops the people performing the testing. When additional support is needed for a release, the lead tests alongside the team. The lead manages QA planning and execution across products, maintains quality processes and reusable templates, oversees QA deliverables and metrics, and reports on delivery health and readiness to program leadership and the customer. The role also guides test automation, oversees test environments and test data, participates in Agile planning and ceremonies, and collaborates with technical and project leaders. It builds the customer relationship from a quality perspective by advising on best practices, supporting standardization, and keeping the customer informed.

Requirements

Must be able to obtain a government clearance.
4+ years in software quality assurance.
A track record of managing people, including setting priorities, running 1:1s, giving direct feedback, and developing testers.
Experience defining test strategy, plans, and standards across more than one product or project at a time.
Ability to assess risk and release readiness and communicate findings clearly to technical and non-technical audiences, including customers.
Strong manual testing and test design skills, including requirements traceability and defect management in Jira or a similar tool.
Hands-on test automation experience for web applications and APIs, such as Selenium, Postman, REST Assured, or Provar, sufficient to guide strategy and review the team's work.
Working knowledge of UAT planning, test data management, and Section 508 accessibility testing.
Experience delivering in Agile environments such as Scrum or SAFe, including backlog refinement and PI or sprint planning.
Proficiency with Jira, Confluence, Git, and a test management tool such as TestRail or Zephyr.
Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.

Nice To Haves

2+ years leading, mentoring, or directing other testers.
Experience supporting federal government programs, including agency-specific onboarding and reporting.
Experience testing enterprise Salesforce implementations, including Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Experience Cloud, writing SOQL queries, and working in sandbox environments.
DHS Trusted Tester certification or other accessibility testing credentials.
ISTQB, Salesforce, or SAFe certifications.
Familiarity with Apex, Lightning Web Components, Flows, and reading developer console logs.
Experience with CI/CD pipelines such as Jenkins or GitHub Actions and embedding automated tests in them.
Experience with performance or security testing practices.

Responsibilities

Manage and mentor manual and automation testers, including allocating work to capacity, holding regular 1:1s, providing timely feedback, and supporting career growth.
Identify expertise gaps, conduct QA technical screens, and support recruiting, onboarding, and resource planning.
Support team morale and retention, and handle QA administration such as timesheet approvals and PMR preparation.
Define and maintain testing standards, QA processes, and reusable templates for product teams.
Lead program- and project-level test planning, and consult on and review UAT plans, Section 508 accessibility test plans, test data management plans, and automated testing plans.
Participate in PI Planning and track work against QA milestones.
Own QA deliverables, requirements traceability, the defect management process, and defect metrics and process reviews.
Build and maintain standard QA KPIs, and report risk, delivery health, and release readiness across products to program leadership and the customer.
Establish and enforce quality gates at each stage of the delivery pipeline.
Guide the strategy for increasing automated testing and help the team grow and maintain test suites.
Oversee test environment configuration and test data setup so testing cycles start on time with reliable data.
Participate in Agile ceremonies, including backlog refinement, sprint and PI planning, stand-ups, and retrospectives, and help write clear, testable acceptance criteria.
Work closely with the Tech Lead, Technical Architect, Project Managers, DevOps Lead, and HelpDesk Lead.
Build the customer relationship from a quality perspective by consulting on best practices, supporting process standardization, and keeping the customer informed.
Test alongside the team when a release needs additional hands.