Lead Quality Assurance Engineer, Director

Quality Assurance Engineering Lead

A Quality Assurance Engineering (QE) Lead possesses expertise in transforming traditional QA processes into a QE model, leveraging AI for test case authoring and automation, and integrating testing within the DevOps pipeline to drive continuous improvement and engineering excellence. Supports the organization's vision to cultivate a culture of quality, shifting testing left within the entire software development lifecycle and delivers consistent and value-added solutions aligned with business needs/goals. Promotes continuous learning and staying ahead of industry trends in quality engineering and AI and mentors a high-performing team to deliver scalable, reliable testing solutions.

Major Accountabilities:

Quality Engineering Responsibilities:

• Lead the transformation of our existing QA function into a mature, engineering-focused, high-impact Quality Engineering practice that emphasizes defect prevention over detection.
• Leverage AI/ML techniques for test case authoring, automation, execution optimization, defect prediction, and predictive quality insights.
• Optimize advanced test automation frameworks and work with DevOps to integrate testing seamlessly into CI/CD pipelines to enable rapid, continuous deployment.
• Partner with Business teams/analysts, project managers, development teams, and QA to define comprehensive testing strategies and ensure complete coverage.
• Facilitate cross-functional meetings and workstreams to align on business needs and ensure the delivery of high-quality solutions.
• Develop and maintain robust automated test scripts across various types of testing, including functional, integration, regression, performance, and API testing.
• Lead defect triage activities, facilitating cross-functional collaboration with business stakeholders, implementation partners (both internal and external), and development teams to drive timely resolution and closure of defects.
• Develop QA artifacts - test plans, requirement traceability matrices, and test acceptance reports - and manage the approval workflow among relevant stakeholders.
• Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) for the QE function and regularly report on quality metrics, using data driven insights to guide continuous improvement efforts.

Lead Responsibilities:

• Lead a team of employees/consultants
• Work with onsite and offshore team members to delegate, prioritize and manage testing tasks and deliverables
• Mentor and guide team members on modern quality engineering practices and discover training needs.
• Monitor team performance and report on metrics
• Ensure that the team is consistently delivering quality solutions to the highest standards
• Verify that the team is adhering to our commitment of principles and practices
• Understand and communicate process methodologies used in the bank
• Provide guidance in planning and executing assigned tasks
• Communicate timely, content relevant information to stakeholders including escalation of key issues and risks

Education/Experience/Skills/Knowledge:

Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Accounting, Finance, or a related field, or equivalent work experience, is required Experience: Minimum of 7 years of software quality assurance/quality engineering experience in agile development environments in a large, regulated financial services (preferably banking) environment is required

Minimum of 3 years in a lead role

Skills & Knowledge:

• Working knowledge of Financial domain and Capital Markets with Front Office/Back Office operational is highly desirable
• Working knowledge of Workday GL, HCM and Payroll is nice to have
• Proven track record of driving QE transformations and implementing AI in testing.
• Proficiency with automation tool stack: UiPath, Selenium, Playwright, FitNesse, or equivalent automation skills that proves ability to design, test, and debug automation code.
• Strong understanding of DevOps principles, CI/CD pipelines, and tools.
• Knowledge of TDD (Test Driven Development) and BDD (Behavior Driven Development)
• Working knowledge of complex SQL and experience with ETL processes.
• Strong knowledge of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) concepts and proficiency in at least one programming language (eg: Python, Java, Java Script)
• Knowledge of robotic process automation (RPA) concepts
• Experience with industry standard testing and defect management tools (e.g. XRAY, ALM, JIRA, Confluence)
• Deep understanding of Agile principles and practices, including Scrum and Kanban
• Knowledge of the Scaled Agile Framework and experience working within an ART is preferred
• Excellent troubleshooting skills to identify root cause of complex issues required
• Strong time management skills and ability to juggle priorities with a history of meeting commitments
• Critical thinker with strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to perform on high visibility initiatives and prove a direct positive impact on customer experience
• Ability to communicate effectively and build trusted relationships with team members, business partners, and technical partners.
• Ability to lead, mentor and collaborate with teams to achieve results.

SALARY RANGE: $170K - $195K

The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco is committed to the principles of equal opportunity in employment (e.g., employees, applicants) and in contracting (e.g., suppliers, vendors) regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, genetic information, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a parent, or any other characteristic protected by law. We are committed to cultivating a workplace free of unlawful discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, and are dedicated to fostering vibrant communities by serving as a reliable source of liquidity and resources for affordable housing and economic development.

Salary ranges reflect the base salary that the Bank reasonably expects to pay for a given role and is not inclusive of annual incentive award opportunities, retirement benefits or the value of other health and welfare or other ancillary benefits. We consider many factors when determining base salaries such as individual background and experience, the competitive environment, education, particular skill set(s), and industry and institutional knowledge.

The Bank is committed to offering all team members challenging and engaging work with market competitive pay, retirement, and benefit offerings. In support of this commitment, the Bank routinely engages in market competitive benchmarking surveys and analysis to ensure our team members continue to be paid fairly and competitively.