Senior Tester

Senior Tester

Location: McLean, VA/Plano, TX
Duration: 5-6 months


Description:
Must Have Qualifications:
Must have experience setting up testing and automation.
Heavy experience with data modeling and a strong understanding of logical data modeling.
Advanced Excel skills using complex worksheets.
Hands on development with Java or Python, automation testing, AI/ML fluency, and SQL.


Nice to have:
Industry knowledge and data used in the mortgage industry.


Client is seeking an experienced contractor to support an enterprise data modeling transformation initiative.
The contractor will perform an independent review of the current process and technology ecosystem supporting data modeling, execute structured manual testing of critical workflows, and develop a practical, phased plan to automate testing and quality gates. This role will partner with data modelers, data engineers, platform teams, and data governance stakeholders to improve quality, consistency, and release readiness of data modeling artifacts and related metadata.
Can understand business requirements
Write and execute test cases manually or using automation
Analyze results of tests, defects tracking and management, report status and recommendations for modifications to test plan and/or schedule.
Familiar with agile methodology
Experience with: -All phases of testing-system testing, SIT and UAT -Hewlett Packard's ALM (Quality Center) version 11.0 testing tools -Microsoft Visio -Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) -SQL


Key Responsibilities
Process & Technology Review
Assess end-to-end data modeling lifecycle processes (intake, design, review/approval, governance, versioning, publication, change
management, and release).
Evaluate tooling and integrations (data modeling tools, metadata/catalog, version control, CI/CD, ticketing/work management).
Identify gaps, risks, bottlenecks, and control weaknesses; document findings and prioritized recommendations.
Review alignment to enterprise standards (naming conventions, modeling patterns, domain boundaries, stewardship, metadata/lineage expectations).


Manual Testing :
Create and execute manual test plans and test cases for key workflows, including:
Model creation/updates (conceptual/logical/physical as applicable) -
Standards validation (naming, datatypes, keys, relationships, referential integrity)
Model to-DDL generation and deployment readiness checks
Versioning/branching/merging and promotion processes
Metadata publishing and verification (catalog/glossary/lineage where applicable)
Security and role-based access controls within tools
Document test evidence, defects, and remediation recommendations; support triage and retesting.


Test Strategy & Automation Roadmap
Define a fit-for-purpose testing strategy for data modeling transformation outcomes (quality, governance, velocity, auditability).
Identify automation candidates and define what should be automated vs. remain manual.
Recommend an automation approach and integration points, potentially including:
Automated standards checks (rule-based validation / linting) - Model diffing and regression checks across versions
CI/CD quality gates for model changes (PR checks, approvals, artifact packaging)
Automated verification of model-to-implementation consistency (where feasible)
Automated metadata publishing completeness checks
Deliver a phased roadmap with dependencies, effort estimates, and measurable success criteria; optionally deliver a proof of concept if in scope.


Required Qualifications
7+ years of experience in data engineering, data architecture, data modeling, QA, or related roles with a strong testing focus.
Demonstrated experience testing data/metadata/modeling workflows (beyond application UI testing).
Strong knowledge of data modeling concepts: entities/relationships, keys, normalization, dimensional vs. relational patterns, naming/standards.
Proven ability to develop test plans, write test cases, and execute structured manual testing with clear documentation.
Strong analytical and communication skills; able to produce actionable assessment and roadmap deliverables.


Preferred Qualifications
Experience with enterprise data modeling tools (e.g., ER/Studio, ERwin, SAP PowerDesigner, Sparx EA, or similar).
Familiarity with metadata/catalog/governance platforms (e.g., Collibra, Alation, Informatica, Microsoft Purview).
Experience with CI/CD and automation tooling (e.g., GitHub/GitLab, Azure DevOps, Jenkins) and scripting (Python preferred).
Experience implementing automated quality checks (rules engines, schema validation, model diffing).
Familiarity with common enterprise data platforms (e.g., Snowflake, Databricks, SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL) and DDL deployment patterns.


Key Competencies
Process analysis and continuous improvement
Manual testing discipline and defect management
Test strategy development and automation planning
Data governance and standards enforcement
Stakeholder management across architecture, engineering, governance, and delivery teams


Deliverables (Expected Outputs)
Current-state process and technology assessment with prioritized recommendations.
Manual test plan, test cases, execution results, and defect log.
Future-state testing strategy and test automation roadmap (phased).
Recommended KPIs/controls (e.g., standards compliance rate, defect leakage, cycle time, automation coverage).
Optional: proof-of-concept automation scripts/pipeline examples (if agreed in scope).


Call notes:
Must-Have Skills
8+ years of Automation Testing experience.
Data Modeler / Data Modeling experience is required.
Experience testing data, metadata, and data modeling workflows.
Hands-on automation framework development using Java and/or Python.
Experience with Cucumber framework.
Strong SQL and JSON validation skills.
Experience testing applications used for building and managing data models.
Database experience with Snowflake and PostgreSQL.


Preferred Skills
Data Modeling tools exposure (e.g., ER Studio, Erwin, Visio, etc.).
Mortgage domain experience.
AI/ML exposure.