IT Quality Assurance Specialist

Description

IT Quality Assurance Specialist

(IT Quality Assurance-Journey)

WaTech: Leading the way forward!

Washington Technology Solutions (WaTech) is at the forefront of integrating cutting-edge technologies that revolutionize how state services are delivered in Washington. By joining the WaTech team, you will contribute to assisting other state agencies in providing essential services to millions of Washingtonians daily. WaTech manages the state's essential technology infrastructure, enhancing governmental efficiency, security and safety.

About the position
This position is a part of WaTech's Secure Gateway Services (SGS), which is within the Digital Experience Division of the Technology & Operations (T&O) group and manages and operates the statewide shared security infrastructure including proxy servers, authentication systems, and logging and monitoring. SecureAccess Washington is the focus of the SGS group, providing access to state services via the Internet. The SGS provides secure access to mission-critical services for constituents and businesses that allow them to pay taxes, apply for unemployment benefits, access social service benefits, access law enforcement data and other critical services, and are key components of the security infrastructure for the state of Washington.

As the IT Quality Assurance Specialist, you will be relied on to ensure the accessibility, stability, functionality and security of systems related to Secure Gateway Services by conducting tests on applications and systems to verify the work as intended and writing up technical details including reproducibility of errors. By identifying and documenting defects or inconsistencies in the system, the QA tester uses these findings and tracking tools to inform the Development team, ensuring that issues are accurately communicated. Through regression testing, you will test previously functioning features to ensure they continue to work after updates or changes.

Duties

Some of what to expect with this role:

• Analyze requirements and technical specifications to determine and define testing scope.
• Develop well-structured test plans in accordance with operational standards and modify test plans when necessary.
• Develop test schedules to reflect individual tasks, task order of operations and task dependencies.
• Develop test cases in accordance with defined acceptance criteria to verify and/or validate basic flows and exception flows.
• Establish and maintain test case traceability to user stories, ensuring full test scope coverage.
• Develop test data, including the use of simple SQL commands and queries to validate data integrity and compare data results.
• Develop, implement and maintain test automation source code as test cases are updated.
• Integrate test automation into the build and deployment process.
• Provide information and documentation when reporting a new bug or issue. When reviewing customer-reported issues, collect and verify that the issue is fully documented and captured within the issue tracking system.
• Perform Tier 1-2 troubleshooting to add notes for the Development/Design team’s consideration.
• Serve as the primary QA liaison for SecureAccess Washington (SAW) within Secure Gateway Services. Work closely with SAW development teams, product owners and security specialists to ensure testing strategies align with SAW’s security and accessibility goals.
• Provide QA recommendations to SAW’s development team regarding risk mitigation and release planning.
• Conduct accessibility testing for SAW and documents compliance issues for review. This includes using tools such as screen readers (e.g., Job Access With Speech (JAWS) or NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA)) and keyboard-only navigation to simulate different user interactions.

Qualifications

Here’s what we’re looking for:

• Six years of work experience in web development and software quality assurance testing. This experience must include the following:
  • Two years’ experience with accessibility tools such as Job Access With Speech (JAWS), NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA), Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool (WAVE), or Accessibility Evaluation (AXE) to conduct accessibility testing and functional testing.
  • Two years’ experience in creating technical documentation to support business requirements and decision-making groups.
  • Two years’ experience using automated testing tools.
• A bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, or closely related field, may be substituted, on a year-for-year basis, for up to four years of experience
• Possess and maintain or obtain and maintain within six months of employment a Software and Application Testing Certificate of training completion. Examples:
  • Quality Assurance Institute (QAI)
  • American Society for Quality (ASQ)
  • International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB)
  • International Institute for Software Testing (IIST)

Preference may be granted to applicants with the following:

• Recent experience with scripting and automation
• Spanish proficiency

Supplemental Information

We value diversity and different perspectives:

WaTech is committed to providing equal access and opportunities to all qualified applicants and employees. We seek to attract and retain a diverse staff and welcome your experiences, perspectives and unique identity.

What WaTech offers:

As an employee of WaTech, you’ll have access to an outstanding employee benefits package that includes medical and dental plan options for you and your family, paid leave and holidays, retirement plan options and more.

While WaTech is headquartered in Olympia, Washington, which is near some of the country’s most scenic national parks, we are able to offer many of our positions telework and flexible schedule options to help support a healthy work-life balance.

To learn more about WaTech, and what our employees enjoy about working here, please visit our website.

How to apply:

Applications for this recruitment will be accepted electronically. Please select the large “apply” button at the top of this announcement. You may need to create a profile and account in Washington state's automated application system. We invite you to include your name and pronouns in your material to ensure we address you correctly throughout the application process.

To be considered for this position you will need to:

• Submit a complete Online Application.
• Answer all required Supplemental Questions.
• Attach a Letter of Interest that addresses how your experience qualifies you for this role.
• Attach a Resume that clearly documents the work history, training, and education that makes you a viable and competitive candidate for this position.
• Attach a separate document with at least Three Professional References. This should include: Reference name, nature of the relationship (i.e. company and supervisor, coworker, etc.), phone number, and email. References should be individuals you have worked with in the past five years, if possible, and include at least one current, or most recent supervisor. *We will not conduct reference checks without your signed release.

Note: Applications without the requested information identified above or containing supplemental question responses with comments such as "see resume" may lead to your application being disqualified from consideration.

Applicants wishing to claim Veterans Preference should attach a copy of their DD-214 (Member 4 copy), NGB 22, or signed verification of service letter from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to their application. (Please redact any personally identifiable data such as social security number prior to submittal.)

Conditions of employment:

This position requires a background check. Information from the background check will not necessarily preclude employment but will be considered in determining the applicant's suitability and competence to perform in the position and is a continued condition of employment.

Recruitment process:

First round of application assessments will be conducted seven days after the initial job posting date. The hiring authority reserves the right to offer the position at any time after the initial seven-day job posting date during the recruitment process. It is to the applicant's advantage to apply as early as possible. This recruitment may be used to fill multiple positions.

Contact us: For inquiries about this position, please contact Rebekah Wilkes at (360) 407-8646 or email to Rebekah.Wilkes@WaTech.wa.gov

Persons requiring accommodation in the application process or for an alternative format may contact Human Resources at (360) 407-8242 or Human.Resources@watech.wa.gov.Persons of disability or those who are deaf or hard of hearing can call the Washington Relay Service by dialing 7-1-1 or 1-800-833-6388. WaTech complies with the employment eligibility verification requirements of the federal Form I-9. The selected candidate must be able to provide proof of identity and eligibility to work in the United States consistent with the requirements of that form on the first day of employment.