Software Engineer I or II, Quality Assurance

Overview

At ACT Your Work Makes a Difference

Education has power – a power that changes lives forever. It creates opportunities that lift up individuals, their families, and sparks societal change that echoes through generations to come. From our grassroots we have fought the good fight for inclusivity in education, and we remain devoted to helping anyone who struggles to access that power. This is what matters to us and we must do better -- we’ve never been more sure of our purpose.

ACT Education Corp. team members are part of an organization dedicated to an important mission:  Helping people achieve education and workplace success.  Advancing the mission internally, by helping team members achieve education and workplace success of their own, is core to our values. ACT values a diverse workplace and is committed to fostering an inclusive environment in which every team member has equal opportunity to grow.

We want our team members to have the well-being and confidence they need to do their best work, in an environment where both they and the company thrive.  To support this, our total rewards include company paid life insurance, medical, dental, vision, flexible spending accounts, 401(k) with company contributions, paid holidays, paid time off, and so much more.  You can find a comprehensive list of our benefits here.  

The Quality Assurance Software Engineer I or II for the Data Analytics and Reporting team is responsible for ensuring that team commitments are met and meet automated quality standards.  The job includes development in Python, working with automated testing frameworks, test plan development and experience integrating with Bitbucket for source control and Jenkins for builds.  This role engages extensively in the Agile process used to ensure product quality, robustness, scalability and consistency. 

We are filling one position and the finalist will be hired at the salary and level commensurate with their qualifications.  We anticipate offering a market competitive annual salary in the range of $70,000 to $95,000.  ACT manages salaries within the range based on relevant factors including, skills, experience, and internal equity.  The position is not incentive eligible.

Location:  This is a remote position

A Day in the Life:

Level I work-related activities include:

• Develop, automate and execute test plans to meet and increase automated testing coverage in our pipelines. 
• Monitor product reliability, consistency, and performance
• Actively participate in design/architectural discussions, user story grooming, sprint demos, and team Scrum meetings.

Level II includes prior level activities plus:

• Independently develop, automate and execute test plans to meet and increase automated testing coverage in our pipelines. 
• Independently collaborate with Scrum team to support all testing activities
• Proactively own all testing activities related to Scrum team execution
• Actively participate in design/architectural discussions, user story grooming, sprint demos, and daily Scrums to help establish a Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) approach
• Recommend product, infrastructure, or design changes to ensure quality and performance standards

Role Progression:

At the end of 1 Month, you will:

• Have your development and testing environments set up (hardware, software, tools).
• Have learned about existing projects, codebase, and the current testing processes via KT sessions.
• Be familiar with the team's QA standards, documentation, and test frameworks.
• Have shadowed team members to understand the testing processes, tools.
• Performed simple tasks such as writing and executing test cases.
• Begin performing manual testing on smaller modules or components.

At the end of 3 Months, you will:

• Take ownership of smaller, well-defined testing tasks (manual/automation/performance testing).
• Continue learning about best practices for test case creation, execution, and bug reporting.
• Begin performing full module testing (both manual and automated).
• Write, execute, and review test cases for new features and bug fixes.
• Shadow and document smaller and previously solved INC resolutions with the help of the team members/existing KT articles.
• Collaborate with developers and other teams to reproduce and resolve issues when necessary.
• Understand all the tools and technologies that the team uses (AWS, RedLine13, JMeter etc.).

At the end of 6 Months, you will:

• Write automated testing for UI and backend using Python and execute test plans for stories with minimal support from other team members.
• Conduct performance testing to ensure system efficiency and scalability.
• Independently write comprehensive test cases to cover various scenarios and edge cases.
• Consistently complete assigned tasks and stories independently, ensuring quality and meeting deadlines.
• Contribute to the creation/updating confluence pages when needed for others to use.
• Develop a solid understanding of the applications owned by the team, including their functionalities.
• Actively collaborate both within the QA team and with other teams to ensure seamless integration of testing into the development.

Requirements for Level I:

• Minimum of one year of IT experience coding in Python
• Minimum of one year of experience coding in object-oriented languages with knowledge of Java
• Minimum of one year SQL query experience for data analysis/profiling
• Understanding of RESTful API's

Requirements for Level II:

• Minimum of three years of progressive IT experience that includes coding in Python and Java
• Minimum of two years SQL query experience for data analysis/profiling
• Experience developing applications utilizing REST API web services, Apache Nifi or Kafka preferred
• Strong knowledge of version control such as Git / Bitbucket and Jenkins for builds

Requirements for both levels:

• Proficiency in Python
• Understanding of automated testing frameworks
• SQL database experience (MySQL or Oracle)
• Demonstrated ability to learn new technologies quickly and effectively
• Ability to work as part of a Scrum team
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Results-oriented and able to work across the organization
• Comfortable working in a rapidly transforming organization
• Skills and knowledge required for success in this position attained through experience and education (Bachelor’s Degree in computer science, mathematics, statistics, information systems, or related field of study), or a combination of both

Preferred Qualifications:

• Familiarity with testing frameworks such as Selenium WebDriver, PyTest or OpenMAQS
• Familiarity of REST API/JSON automation using tools like Postman
• Familiarity with or strong understanding of AWS Services
• Familiarity or experience with NoSQL Databases
• Knowledge of version control such as Git/Bitbucket
• Knowledge of or strong understanding of project tacking software like Jira
• Knowledge of production monitoring solutions such as DataDog
• Experience working in an Agile development environment

About ACT

When ACT was founded in 1959, it disrupted the assessment industry with a new approach to helping students better understand their readiness so they could take steps to improve it.  By leveraging our expertise and authority in assessment and research, we will again disrupt the industry—helping more people learn, better measure their progress, and improve their navigation through life’s transitions. 

More than ever before, ACT is fulfilling its mission of helping people achieve education and workplace success. We’re doing it by pushing the boundaries of learning innovation through the work of our people, who we call team members because we’re all in this together.

We know transformation does not come without challenge. That’s why ACT invests in a variety of experiences for team members to strengthen their connections, explore ideas, learn from customers, and celebrate success.

Learn more about working at ACT at act.org!

ACT is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. ACT values diversity in people and ideas and participates in E-verify. ACT's online position announcements are intended only to provide general descriptions of employment opportunities; none of the information provided for any position should be interpreted as a commitment by ACT to specific terms and conditions for employment.

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