Under the direction of the Director of the Senate Business Office and supervised by the Application Development Manager, the Quality Assurance Engineer (QAE) is responsible for verifying Senate products to ensure products meet their requirements and are working as designed using manual, exploratory and automated techniques. The QAE works in conjunction with the application development teams to detect, track, and fix issues during the development stage, giving consideration not only to the customer experience, but also to the technical aspects of the system. The QAE is responsible for the monitoring and reporting of quality assurance metrics, risk factors, and effectiveness of methodology and testing tools.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS

• Designs, documents, and implements testing plans for manual and automation tests
• Determines the best use of exploratory testing and then executes and documents testing methods and any relevant findings
• Engages as a member of the application development teams in the development cycle to understand the effects of feature changes/enhancements and minimize risk
• Works as a member of the development teams to shift testing left by engaging early and often
• Prepares quality metrics reports and works with management to make them transparent to the organization
• Documents and reports risk factors and presents risk factors to the application development team and key stakeholders explaining potentially necessary risk response planning, mitigation and control measures, and how those may affect product priorities
• Works with the development team to determine root causes for all software issues and aids in the development of practical, efficient, and permanent technical solutions
• Determines, initiates, develops and guides process improvements and best practices?throughout software development lifecycle.
• Identifies, prioritizes, and executes tasks as per project timelines
• Participates and contributes as a member of project team; continually learns and grows good QA practices under the guidance of the other experienced QAE team members, Project manager/Scrum master or Application Development Manager through techniques of inspection and adaptation

• Participates in the evaluation, testing, and recommendation of new software packages including testing tools and user interface (UI) scripting languages
• Assists in the implementation and training of Senate developed applications as required
• Provides support and maintenance for legislative and business applications as required
• Participates in client-focused discussion and requirements gathering when necessary
• Performs all other duties, as requested by the Application Development Manager

• Three years of relevant experience testing software applications
• Experience with requirement gathering and analysis is preferred
• Knowledge of different software development methodologies including scrum is preferred
• Experience with Azure DevOps, test automation tools and related scripting is a plus
• Experience with manual and exploratory testing and writing test scripts
• Experience working with bug tracking software/packages
• Bachelor’s degree or other combinations of education and experience will be evaluated on an individual basis
• Any Quality related certifications (ASTQB, ISTQB) preferred

• Experience in problem solving and analytical engagement
• Experience designing, scripting, and implementing testing environments
• Knowledge of good coding practice; ability to code preferred
• Knowledge of how to develop relevant tests for responsive design
• Knowledge of how to develop relevant tests for ADA compliance
• Ability to recognize, gather, assemble, correlate, and analyze facts and use them to draw conclusions, define problems, and devise solutions or suggest alternatives
• Ability to communicate well with others, both orally and in writing
• Ability to prioritize multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment, and work within time frames that may be rigid, or subject to change on short notice
• Ability to follow directions, work independently, and work as part of a group
• Ability to keep abreast?of the latest trends and their effect on the project team, product, users and the organization
• Ability to work outside of prescribed work hours when necessary
• Ability to maintain confidential information
• Ability to work in a professional and nonpartisan manner while maintaining good working relationships with legislators and other elected officials, staff, vendors and other agencies

This job description is not intended as a comprehensive list of all of the duties required of this position. Additional duties may be assigned from time to time, and the listed duties are subject to change at any time, with or without notice.

STATUS: Full-time, with a standard benefits package
SALARIED: $78,000 - $95,000
GOVERNING CAUCUS: Nonpartisan

This is a non-civil service, at-will position.

Interested applicants, please submit a cover letter and resume. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

The Michigan Senate considers applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, height, weight, disability, marital status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation or any other legally protected status. If you are a person with a qualified disability, you may request any needed reasonable accommodation to participate in the application, testing, and/or interview process by contacting the Senate ADA Coordinator at 517-373-1675.