Senior QA Analyst

POSITION SUMMARY: The Senior Quality Assurance Analyst is responsible for ensuring that the application software that IT places into production meets the quality standards of the IT department. This person is also responsible for providing input into the overall direction of the IT department.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: The following are the usual, basic and essential functions of the position. However, this job description does not preclude the performance of other duties by the incumbent. These functions are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required:

• Experience evaluating use cases/software requirements to create test plans, test cases, execute test cases, document results and report bugs. 
• Ability to organize results of testing and provide reports to management.
• Ability to work with various groups including project management, developers, and customers to understand goals of projects and testing needs. 
• Experienced in waterfall and agile software development and test methodologies. 
• Intermediate to advanced experience with SQL
• Ability to work independently and ability to lead projects.
• Provide recommendations on Quality Assurance methodology and Test environment improvements; uses knowledge and experience in solving complex problems.
• Perform complex and varied Quality Assurance activities using appropriate test tools, common routines, and best practices.
• Identify and thoroughly analyze defects, issues, risks, and action items along with identifying the business requirements & the system requirements as part of the project team.
• Provide status reports to Manager on development projects.
• Familiarity with client/server and n-tier system architectures and object-oriented development.
• Serves as a mentor to QA testers and QA analysts by training, assisting with complex testing scenarios and issues Guides less experienced team members
• Creates and maintains test matrices, test plans and testing status reports to validate and verify that all system changes conform to established system standards and business requirements.
• Executes automated regression suite.
• Creates Test Closure reports.

REQUIRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: 

• Four-year college degree, preferably in CS, engineering or other technical field, or equivalent experience
• Minimum five years of hands-on experience as a software quality assurance analyst.
• Familiarity with Microsoft-based products and technologies
• Working knowledge of MS SQL

PREFERRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

• Experience testing Guidewire products (PolicyCenter, BillingCenter or ClaimCenter)
• Familiarity with agile methodology.
• Property and casualty insurance.
• Any IT certification

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:

• Able to critically think through defects, issues risks, and action items and determines appropriate course of action
• Good communication and interpersonal skills.
• Self-reliant and motivated self-starter.
• Project and task oriented with a focus on details.
• Knowledge of defect tracking software and how to write a proper defect report
• Good understanding of quality assurance methodologies in a high-tech environment