Quality Assurance Engineer

Quality Assurance EngineerSTAR Autism Support has an opening for Quality Assurance Engineer!STAR Autism Support (SAS) is a family-founded educational consulting company based in Portland, OR. SAS provides curriculum materials, workshops and training to school and agency staff who work with students with autism and other developmental disabilities. Our unique and practical approach provides school districts with curriculum resources and a continuum of professional development activities to address the educational needs of student's early childhood through post-secondary throughout the country and internationally. At SAS our goal is to cultivate a supportive, positive and welcoming work environment where all staff can successfully thrive. We value and celebrate equity, diversity, and inclusion. Our vision of equity includes a continuous commitment to becoming an antiracist, multicultural organization. We strive to provide all employees with a culture of curiosity and continued learning.Position Summary/ObjectiveStar Autism Support builds curriculum, training, and software for educators teaching students with autism and developmental disabilities. Our software gets used in classrooms by teachers and paraprofessionals who have a few minutes between activities. A confusing screen or a slow data page costs them time with a student.This is our first dedicated QA hire. You will build our automated test coverage from the ground up, run usability and performance testing, and set the quality practices the product development team works to. That means choosing tooling and standards yourself, and working embedded with the team rather than as a gate at the end.Essential Functions and ResponsibilitiesFunctional testing and automationBuild and own automated regression suites for our web apps and APIs, wired into CI.Decide what belongs in unit, integration, contract, and end-to-end tests, and push coverage to the cheapest layer that catches the problem.Write test code other engineers can read and extend. Fix or delete flaky tests rather than retrying them.Run exploratory and risk-based manual testing where automation is not the right tool.Own release verification: smoke suites, environment checks, and a clear go/no-go call.User testingPlan and run usability testing with educators and internal subject-matter experts, from task scripts through to findings.Work with product and design on UAT, including feedback cycles with pilot districts and classrooms.Own accessibility testing against WCAG 2.2 AA and Section 508, using automated scanners plus manual screen-reader and keyboard-only passes. This matters more here than at most companies.Turn findings into prioritized issues rather than a list of observations.Performance testingBuild load, stress, soak, and spike tests, with attention to back-to-school traffic peaks.Set performance baselines and SLOs and track them so regressions show up before customers find them.Help diagnose bottlenecks: slow queries, N+1 patterns, payload bloat, front-end render cost.Report results leadership can act on: response times at percentile, error rates under load, remaining headroom.Best practices and enablementDocument and maintain testing standards, test data strategy, bug reporting conventions, and definition of done.Coach engineers to test their own work. The goal is a team that ships quality, not a QA bottleneck.Report quality metrics: escaped defects, coverage of critical paths, suite reliability.Contribute to release process, code review, and CI/CD design from a quality angle.Keep FERPA and COPPA considerations in view where they touch test data.QualificationsRequired5+ years in software quality engineering or QA automation.Ownership of an automated test suite you built or substantially rebuilt, not just executed.Proficiency in at least one automation language (JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, Java, or C#).Experience with a modern end-to-end framework such as Playwright or Cypress.Hands-on API testing, including auth flows and data setup.Experience running performance or load tests with a code-based tool such as Gatling or k6.Experience planning and moderating user or usability testing sessions.Comfort with CI/CD pipelines and Git workflows.Strong writing. This role produces documentation people have to use.Ability to set your own priorities without an existing playbook.PreferredAccessibility testing against WCAG and Section 508, including screen readers.EdTech, K–12, healthcare, or another domain with real compliance and privacy constraints.Mobile and tablet testing. Much classroom use is on iPads and Chromebooks.Visual regression, contract testing, or synthetic monitoring in production.Cloud infrastructure and containerized test environments.Mentoring engineers on testing practice, or standing up a QA function previously.Interest in special education, applied behavior analysis, or accessibility.ToolsExamples of what we mean by each area. We are open to your recommendations on what we adopt.Area - ToolsWeb / UI automation - Playwright, CypressMobile automation - AppiumAPI testing - Postman, REST-assuredTest frameworks - Jest, PytestPerformance & load - Gatling, k6Accessibility - axe DevTools, NVDACross-browser & devices - BrowserStackVisual regression - PercyUser testing - UserTesting, MazeCI/CD - GitHub Actions, Azure DevOpsTest & defect management - Jira, TestRailObservability - Datadog, SentryWhat to Expect in the First Year30 days: An honest read on where quality breaks down today.90 days: Automated smoke and regression coverage in CI for our critical user journeys, plus an agreed test strategy.6 to 12 months: Regression coverage across core products, a performance baseline with recurring load tests, a usability testing cadence, and escaped defects trending down.Role DetailsDepartment: TechnologyReports to: Chief Technology OfficerLocation: Remote, United StatesType: Full-Time, ExemptCompensation: Annual Base Salary of $90,000 - $110,000Knowledge, Skills, and AbilitiesOrganizational KSA'sStrong verbal and written business communication skillsStrong interpersonal skills with the ability to collaborate effectivelyHas a growth mindset, is curious, and interested in ongoing learning and developmentAdaptable and easily able to pivot as neededStrong organizational skills and attention to detailSelf-motivated and proficient at working both independently and as part of a teamIntermediate Microsoft office skills and competence in a digital environmentAbility to streamline workflows by leveraging automation and AI tools to enhance efficiency and accuracyRole KSA'sAdvanced knowledge of software quality engineering and test automation.Skill in building maintainable test suites within CI/CD pipelines.Knowledge of functional, usability, accessibility, and performance testing.Ability to assess risk, diagnose issues, and prioritize findings.Ability to establish scalable quality standards, metrics, and release practices.Skill in collaborating across technical and nontechnical teams.Knowledge of privacy and data-