IT Quality Assurance Manager

Public Trust: NACI (T1)

Requisition Type: Regular

Your Impact

Own your opportunity to be on the frontlines of health innovation. Deliver for America’s health agency missions and enhance lives for hundreds of millions every day.

Job Description

Position Summary

The Portfolio Test Lead – VA Programs provides strategic and hands-on leadership for testing across multiple contracts within the GDIT Veterans Affairs (VA) portfolio. This role leads testing activities in a matrixed capacity (no large direct-report organization) across 4–10 concurrent projects, each with independent needs and test teams ranging from 2–15 testers.

The Portfolio Test Lead tailors test strategies to each project, drives common testing best practices, and ensures effective test execution. The individual will work closely with GDIT and VA leadership to define testing strategies, communicate risks and results, and ensure testing supports VA mission and business objectives, including accessibility (508/WCAG 2.1 AA), performance at production-representative scale, and legacy-to-modern system parity.

Key Responsibilities

• Portfolio Test Leadership – Provide overall test leadership across multiple VA contracts and 4–10 active projects with test teams of 2–15 people per project (employees, subcontractors, and VA resources in a matrixed environment). 
• Testing Strategy & Tailoring – Develop and tailor project-specific test strategies covering functional, regression, integration, performance, security, and UAT testing. 
• Accessibility Compliance (508/WCAG) – Ensure testing strategies and execution incorporate Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 AA requirements, including test planning, tooling, and defect triage for accessibility issues. 
• Performance at Scale – Define performance and load-testing approaches using production-representative data volumes and realistic usage patterns, not small or artificial test datasets. 
• Legacy-to-Modern Parity Testing – Drive test approaches that validate behavioral and data parity between legacy and modernized systems, including side-by-side comparisons, migration validation, and regression coverage of critical workflows. 
• Enterprise Integration Testing – Lead integration test planning and execution across VA enterprise services (e.g., SSO, MPI, eFolder, API gateways, and other shared services), ensuring end-to-end interoperability and resiliency. 
• Standardization & Best Practices – Define and maintain portfolio-level test standards, templates, and processes, and coach project teams in applying them while allowing for project-specific tailoring. 
• Hands-On Test Leadership – Remain actively hands-on where needed (e.g., review/author complex test scenarios, validate performance scripts, review accessibility findings, troubleshoot integration issues). 
• Automation & DevSecOps – Promote pragmatic test automation and continuous testing within CI/CD pipelines, prioritizing high-value regression, integration, and API test suites. 
• Quality Metrics & Reporting – Define, track, and report key test and quality metrics (coverage, defect trends, escape rates, performance benchmarks, accessibility compliance) to GDIT and VA leadership. 
• Stakeholder & Executive Engagement – Brief GDIT and VA leadership on testing strategies, risks, and outcomes; provide clear recommendations and options when quality/risk trade-offs are required. 
• Risk Management – Identify portfolio-level quality and testing risks early and drive mitigation strategies across projects (e.g., additional test cycles, targeted performance testing, enhanced integration tests). 
• Matrixed Team Leadership – Coordinate and influence test leads and engineers across projects (often without direct line authority), aligning priorities and resolving cross-team issues. 
• Continuous Improvement – Lead retrospectives, root cause analysis, and lessons learned activities; roll out improvements across the portfolio (e.g., shared test suites, reusable scripts, integration test harnesses). 
• Collaboration with Delivery Teams – Work closely with program managers, architects, developers, and operations teams to integrate testing into delivery plans and ensure testability of features and integrations.

First 90 Days – Expected Outcomes

1. Portfolio Test Assessment & Roadmap

• Complete an assessment of current testing practices across all active VA projects (including accessibility, performance, integration, and parity testing). 
• Deliver a concise portfolio testing roadmap with 3–5 prioritized improvements and agreed target outcomes with GDIT and VA leadership.

2. Standardized Test Strategy Framework

• Establish and socialize a standard test strategy/template that explicitly covers 508/WCAG 2.1 AA, performance at production-representative scale, enterprise integration, and legacy-to-modern parity. 
• Ensure at least two projects have migrated to or adopted this framework for upcoming releases.

3. Initial Quality Metrics & Reporting Cadence

• Define a baseline set of quality and testing metrics and implement a regular reporting cadence (e.g., monthly/bi-weekly) to GDIT portfolio leadership and key VA stakeholders. 
• Deliver at least one executive-level testing and quality briefing with clear insights and recommended actions.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related field; or equivalent experience. 
• 8+ years of experience in software testing/quality assurance, including hands-on test design and execution. 
• 3+ years leading testing across multiple projects or programs, preferably in a matrixed environment. 
• Demonstrated experience in: 

• • Tailoring test strategies for different project sizes and methodologies (Agile, SAFe, Waterfall, hybrid). 
  • Performance testing using production-representative data volumes and realistic usage patterns. 
  • Integration testing across complex enterprise environments (e.g., SSO, MPI, content/document services, API gateways). 
  • Supporting or leading legacy-to-modern parity testing or large-scale modernization efforts.

• Working knowledge of Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards and how they are validated in testing. 
• Experience with test management and defect tracking tools (e.g., Jira, Azure DevOps, ALM, qTest). 
• Strong leadership and communication skills, including experience briefing senior leadership and communicating trade-offs and risks. 
• U.S. Citizenship [and ability to obtain required VA/public trust or other clearance, as applicable].

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or other federal health IT programs. 
• Familiarity with VA systems and enterprise services (e.g., MPI, eFolder, VA SSO/identity services, VA API gateways). 
• Experience with DevSecOps and CI/CD tooling (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps pipelines) and test automation frameworks (e.g., Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, REST API tools). 
• Relevant certifications such as ISTQB, CSTE, SAFe, PMP, or Agile-related certifications.

Key Competencies

• Strategic thinking and ability to operate at portfolio level while remaining hands-on. 
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills. 
• Ability to manage complexity across multiple concurrent projects and stakeholders. 
• Clear, concise written and verbal communication, including executive-ready reporting. 
• Skilled in influencing without direct authority in a matrixed environment. 
• Customer and mission-focused mindset aligned to VA outcomes.

Work Requirements

Years of Experience

10 + years of related experience

* may vary based on technical training, certification(s), or degree

Certification

Travel Required

10-25%