Lead QA Engineer

$91,520 - $95,680/Yr

The Mice Groups - San Mateo, CA

Full-time - Mid Level

San Mateo, CA

Administrative and Support Services

About the position

The Lead Quality Engineer position is a pivotal role within the International IT team, located in New York City, that focuses on leading and directing quality engineering efforts across various retail and e-commerce platforms. The successful candidate will be responsible for writing and executing comprehensive test plans and test cases for systems such as Retail Management Systems, Warehouse Management Systems, and IBM Sterling Order Management Systems. This role is not only about testing but also involves a significant leadership component, where the engineer will oversee multiple projects, collaborate with business stakeholders, engineers, and vendors, and manage a team of Quality Engineering contractors as needed based on project requirements. As the team expands into new markets, the Lead Quality Engineer will play a crucial role in hiring and training new resources, whether they are contractors, consultants, or full-time employees. The position requires a deep understanding of programming languages and logical reasoning to effectively comprehend business requirements and the functionality of applications. The engineer will be expected to resolve issues and contribute to the overall improvement of system functionality, demonstrating versatility and leadership qualities in a fast-paced environment. The role operates within an agile framework, with project teams working in two-week sprints that culminate in feature demos. The Lead Quality Engineer must be a quick learner with strong analytical skills and the ability to adapt to stressful situations. The position also involves hands-on work with code from the outset, requiring collaboration with both onsite and offshore engineers. The engineer will be responsible for setting up new testing environments for specific platforms as needed, ensuring that testing strategies are effectively implemented and that the quality of software is maintained throughout the development lifecycle.

Responsibilities

• Lead and direct quality engineering efforts across retail and e-commerce platforms.
• Write and execute comprehensive test plans and test cases for various systems.
• Oversee the progress of projects regarding time, scope, quality, and budget.
• Communicate project status and updates across PMO and senior leadership.
• Set up testing strategies and timelines, including functional, integration, and end-to-end testing.
• Create test plans and test cases/scenarios based on project needs.
• Hire and train new resources for the Quality Engineering team.
• Break down large, complex projects into manageable pieces for iterative delivery.
• Lead the Quality team towards automation test scripts.
• Test complex retail software and order management applications in a cross-product platform environment.
• Set up testing environments as needed for specific platforms.
• Write user acceptance and regression testing criteria.
• Assist in data setup for end-to-end testing by understanding the data model architecture.
• Design and document test scripts based on business requirements and user stories.
• Troubleshoot issues and analyze debug logs.
• Document, track, and validate defects in the bug tracking system.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field, or relevant certification or equivalent experience.
• 6+ years of experience in Software Quality Engineering/Test role.
• Experience with Agile software development methodology and knowledge of retail systems.
• Experience in bug tracking systems, particularly Jira and other Confluence tools.
• Knowledge of APIs, including calling SOAP and REST endpoints using JSON and XML data.
• Experience using Java, Springboot, and Javascript for software development or automation.
• Basic expertise in writing and executing SQL queries is a plus.
• Knowledge of modern tech concepts such as Microservices, Cloud Native apps, and Kubernetes.
• Experience with CI/CD tools like Jenkins or Bamboo.
• Experience in any test management tool is a plus.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to think critically and solve problems effectively.

Nice-to-haves

• Hands-on experience with Selenium and any BDD automation framework model like Jbehave or Cucumber.
• Experience in GIT branching strategy.

Benefits

• Competitive hourly pay between $44-$46 (W2).
• Hybrid work model with 2 days on-site per week.