Quality Assurance Engineer

Job Summary

The QA Engineer provides technical leadership for core enterprise integration initiatives encompassing large, multi-faceted information systems within the Enterprise Automation and Solution Delivery (EASD) at UBC IT.

The QA Engineer provides QA leadership and technical expertise in the area of Enterprise Integrations for 300+ integrations and applications across the Program Delivery portfolio, and is a recognized subject matter expert for the EASD. They will lead the execution of technical strategies that deliver QA initiatives, ensuring compliance with best practices throughout the software development life cycle.

While supporting efforts to establish and document a new QA test framework for EASD, they will also lead the development and implementation of test automation across all domains relating to Workday, Ecosystems, and/or Integrations. Upon completion of the domain’s new QA documented framework and test suite, the incumbent will provide the technical expertise to create an automated test solution while ensuring compliance with the newly established best practices

Success in this role will be measured by EASD’s:

• Ability to increase the number of automated test coverage areas
• Ability to ensure all risk areas and gaps are managed through documented edge case scenarios and effective handling
• Ability to establish a significant reduction in manual testing effort
• Successful adoption of automated test practices within EASD and among partnering teams
• Successful adoption of best practices documented in the new Quality Framework.

Organizational Status
The QA Engineer reports to the EASD SR Manager within EASD, while working closely with Analysts, Developers, Architects, and other Managers, vendors, and other staff across UBC IT.

Work Performed
Developing Strategies

- Develops the strategy for the development, enhancements, and upgrades of automated test suites to ensure long-term reliability and coverage

- Develops the strategy for selection of test automation tools, aligning it with test patterns/APIs/Applications being used throughout the portfolio.

- Designs a robust test automation framework to support reusability, maintainability, and automation best practices for both front-end and back-end

- Develops the plans and strategy for analyzing integration touchpoints, uncovering vulnerabilities, and validating resilience under extreme and diverse conditions.

-Develops the dashboard reporting strategy to present outcomes and risks using clear metrics, ensuring clear communication of potential integration weaknesses and necessary business decisions.

Developing Best Practices / Methodologies

- Partners with Architects, Test Managers, QA Leads, Project Managers, product vendors, and system integrators to establish best practices that ensure the quality of the solution outcome

- Coaches and mentors team members on automation best practices, tools, scripts and the designed framework.

-Consistently evaluates effectiveness of test framework using test coverage and KPIs

- Establishes the methodology for automation test strategy to support multiple domains including Workday, Ecosystems, and/or Integration

-Establishes the methodology for calculating ROI on all QA test initiatives

- Establishes the structure for basic performance testing scripts using current technologies

- Development of a test library to enable the team with reusable assets

- Train analysts and development teams on test case design and automation best practices

Leading Testing & QA Initiatives

-Leads the technical design, development, and execution of robust quality assurance test plans with a focus on identifying edge cases and failure scenarios (non-happy path tests).

-Leads the creation, maintenance, and execution of automation test scripts for multiple domains adhering to the defined automation methods, procedures, and quality objectives

-Builds and maintains scripts and dependencies for automated test framework

-Ensures all EASD integrations and applications are fail-safe, resilient, and ready for production

- Leads the development and implementation of automated data validation during conversion and report generations, ensuring accuracy and updates processes as required.

- Conducts regular automation testing status reviews with Architects, Test Managers, Delivery Managers, and team at required quality checkpoints.

-Leads requirement discussions with technical and business/functional teams to thoroughly understand existing integration workflows and architecture.

- Leads the CI/CD integration initiative to incorporate automated test suites into its design and build for continuous validation throughout the pipeline

- Creates materials for automation testing trainings, or other testing related topics.

-Leads initiatives to develop and implement automation of test data staging and data validation (between legacy and new systems) as well as automated API testing via Postman, SOAPUI, or similar toolsets.

Other

- Builds and maintains good working relationships and collaborates with team members who will take part in the testing activities.

- Performs other related duties as required.

Consequence of Error/Judgement
EASD integrations and applications serve the whole campus (over 10,000 faculty and staff and over 60,000 students) and thus has a high consequence of error with a negative impact to the whole organization.

The QA Engineer plays a significant role in supporting the implementation of systems and processes. Work requires judgment and initiative. Errors could have a significant impact on the success of project delivery, subsequent effects on UBC s strategic goals and visions.

Supervision Received
Works under the administrative direction of the EASD Sr Manager. The QA Engineer must be able to work independently and assume full responsibility for his/her decisions. Performance is reviewed by the EASD Sr Manager along with general feedback from Architects, Delivery Managers, and various Team members.

Supervision Given
Provides direction or procedural instruction to Analysts and Developers to help construct and run test scripts. Required to provide in person or documentation-based training to the EASD team and, where required, other IT professionals or stakeholders.

Minimum Qualifications
Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline. Minimum of eight years of related experience including at least two years of managerial experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.

- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own

- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

-Excellent communication skills to collaborate cross-functionally and understand both technical and functional process flows

-Extensive experience in integration development, with a strong understanding of APIs, data flows, and system interoperability.

-Extensive experience in developing and executing test strategies, especially around edge-case and failure scenario testing.

-Familiarity with modern integration tools, such as RESTful APIs, middleware, and ETL processes.

-Strong analytical skills, with a passion for uncovering system weaknesses and ensuring high-quality outcomes.

- Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline. Minimum of three years of related experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience. Bachelor degree (or higher) in Business Administration, Commerce, Computer Science, Management Information Systems, Business Technology Management, or other relevant program is preferred.

- Minimum of 6 years cumulative software test automation experience (i.e. automation ROI, tool selection, automation strategy, automation framework, script maintenance, execution, reporting, and defect management)

- Minimum of 3 years of QA experience in multiple QA roles, including technical and functional tester

- Deep technical hands-on experience on dealing with APIs and related tools (REST, SOAP, Postman), as well as QA automation tools (Selenium, SOAPUI, Cucumber)

- Deep technical hands-on experience on thick client and web automation, or similar toolsets

- Experience in automated data validation using Alteryx or other data analytics tools

- Experience in working on multiple automation projects concurrently, each with unique needs while conforming to automation best practice

- Experience in integration with MuleSoft or other integration platforms

- Knowledge of test management tools, defects management tools, and testing progress reporting

- Experience with large program implementation supporting multiple test automation functions (data staging, data validation, smoke testing, functional testing, integration testing, regression testing, report testing, etc.)

- Ability to work with multiple teams and balance competing priorities while accomplishing the tasks at hand

- Ability to handle multiple work areas effectively with situations involving rapid change, shifting priorities, and / or simultaneous demands

- Strong facilitation and presentation skills with solid analytical and problem-solving skills displayed in the development and execution of test plans and the analysis of system problems

- High level sense of ownership with an entrepreneurial and self-directed mindset in a fast-paced, dynamic and vague environment

- Strong interpersonal skills and ability to integrate well into internal and external teams, and also be able to communicate with technical teams

- Demonstrated ongoing career development through active and self-motivated professional development.

- Demonstrated track record and commitment to delivering results and proactively supporting applications and services.

- Is well-versed with BDD, Cucumber, Selenium WebDriver and Webapp automation, or similar toolsets

- Has experience creating thick-client automation frameworks or similar frameworks

- Certifications in one or more of the following are an asset: related test management or testing certifications (ISTQB, ASQ, PMI-RMP, Six Sigma)

- Experience with Student and Enrolment functional or system implementation, and Workday are an asset

Core Competencies:

Collaboration (Intermediate – I): Actively solicits ideas and opinions from others to efficiently and effectively accomplish specific objectives targeted at defined business outcomes. Openly encourages other team members to voice their ideas and concerns. Shows respect for differences and diversity, and disagrees without personalizing issues. Utilizes strengths of team members to achieve optimal performance.

Communicating for Results (Intermediate – I): Conducts discussions with and writes memoranda to all levels of colleagues and peer groups in ways that support troubleshooting and problem solving. Seeks and shares relevant information, opinions, and judgments. Handles conflict empathetically. Explains the context of interrelated situations, asks probing questions, and solicits multiple sources of advice prior to taking action when appropriate.

Problem Solving (Intermediate – I): Applies problem-solving methodologies and tools to diagnose and solve operational and interpersonal problems. Determines the potential causes of the problem and devises testing methodologies for validation. Shows empathy and objectivity toward individuals involved in the issue. Analyzes multiple alternatives, risks, and benefits for a range of potential solutions. Recommends resource requirements and collaborates with impacted stakeholders.

Role Based Competencies:

Accountability: (Intermediate – I): Sets objectives that meet organizational needs. Provides recommendations to individuals and teams on ways to improve performance and meet defined objectives. Monitors and provides feedback on individual and team performance against defined standards.

Analytical Thinking (Intermediate – I): Coordinates the information gathering and reporting process. Reviews trends and compares to expectations. Conducts research to define problems and prepares responses to anticipated questions. Prioritizes multiple issues and opportunities. Identifies relationships and linkages within several information sources. Anticipates issues that are not readily apparent on the surface. Identifies root causes and effects. Defines priorities within performance objectives. Reports and identifies areas that need guidance in order to resolve complex issues. Anticipates the possible outcome of potential solutions.

Thoroughness (Intermediate – I): Demonstrates operational agility. Uses organizational systems that result in multiple critical activities to be identified and completed on time. Renegotiates priorities as necessary. Puts systems in place and uses them to monitor and detect errors and problems. Tests and inspects outputs and applies quality checks prior to work submission.