Quality Assurance Analyst, METAL

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world's largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you're a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.

Background:

We aim to make our programs a model for the highest global standards and to cultivate power and lasting change not just for our clients but for all people affected by humanitarian crises. To achieve that vision, the IRC’s Technical Excellence (TE) group, located within the Crisis Response, Recovery and Development (CRRD) Department, provides technical assistance to IRC’s country program staff and shares what we learn to influence policy and practice.

IRC’s Technical Excellence team is comprised of seven teams which have deep expertise in their respective fields: Education, Economic Wellbeing, Governance, Health, Violence Prevention and Response, MEAL, and Grants & Operations.

Measurement, Evaluation, Technology, Accountability, and Learning at the IRC

The METAL Unit is responsible for supporting CRRD to have a culture of strong data and evidence use through stewardship of the Data & Performance Ecosystem, and for coordinating successful piloting and uptake of innovative technology solutions. The METAL Unit provides specialized support across four pillars to strengthen program effectiveness, improve decision-making, and enhance organizational learning.

This is a hybrid position open to candidates based in New York, US, Kenya and UK. Other Limited IRC Locations may also be considered. Successful candidates will be hired on a local employment contract and according to local salary scale.

Job Overview

The METAL Quality Assurance Analyst will be part of the METAL team which is responsible for delivering products that support day-to-day implementation of CRRD Programs as well as the collection, management, visualization of KPIs relevant to higher-level decision-making.

The QA Analyst is a team member responsible for developing, testing, implementing, and supporting CRRD’s data toolkits, for which the tech stack includes CommCare, Microsoft Power BI, and Microsoft SQL server Azure-based data warehouse.

The Data Toolkits are essential for CRRD’s data collection, management and analysis so it is critical for the success of the team that the QA Analyst have strong skills related to testing data transformation and visualization.

Working in partnership with staff at various levels and locations, the QA Analyst will perform a key role in testing, assuring quality, and improving Data Toolkits with a successful rollout. Should demonstrate a solid focus on responsive application design and an understanding of the diverse subject areas involved in developing user-centric and impactful applications.

Position key attributes are multi-tasking, detail orientation, fast learning, and self-organizing. The candidate is required to not only test the technology products, but also to identify, create, and implement complex use case scenarios; take a lead in efforts to find requirement/specification gaps and work very closely with business teams/analysts to seek answers. Find a balance between keeping high-quality standards without overly exerting on the release timeline. Build a good working relationship between development and product management teams. Be able to turn around testing and regression testing within timelines without compromising on quality.

This role reports to the Product Manager. Program Technology. The QA Analyst will work closely with METAL Developers. They will have a technical line to the Senior Manager, Quality Assurance and maintain regular contact with the QA team to ensure that METAL is following the best practices of the wider organization.

Major Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Translate functional requirements and specifications into detailed test plans, encompassing functional, system, integration, performance, regression, and user acceptance testing. The individual in this role will implement Agile Software Testing with Scrum principles.
• Work with the project management team closely to ensure that testing processes are implemented and followed by all core team members.
• Maintain high quality of applications developed in CommCare/Microsoft PowerApps meet user needs.
• Perform in-depth data testing of PowerBI dashboards and underlying data pipelines, including data verification across systems, data migration testing, data validation testing, and A/B testing, to ensure the accuracy, integrity, and quality of visualized data and the overall user experience.
• Review products to match design specifications, with an eye to user experience issues such as fonts, colors, and screen size breakpoints with responsive design.
• Verify multiplatform capabilities, cross-browser testing (Chrome, IE, Firefox, Edge, Safari), and mobile testing (iPad, iPhone, android phone, tablet) for build products.
• Ensure all testing is planned, implemented, and delivered per the latest industry standards, and to our quality expectations while meeting ambitious timelines.
• Fully own the assigned project’s testing stream – Perform requirement analysis and proactively find requirements gaps; discover and write test cases in Jira; create and maintain regression test case documents; sign off for release; do release smoke test.
• Identify application defects, seek resolution, process gaps, and make recommendations to improve the functionality and usability of the application.
• Call for the test case review meetings with the core team.
• Clearly communicate the testing timeline for each testing phase. Help the team set a realistic release timeline such that a testing effort is not overlooked or overly simplified.
• Ensure all identified risks from testing are raised and mitigated appropriately.

Key Working Relationships

• Position Reports to: Product Manager, Program Technology
• Direct Reports: None
• Management in Partnership: Senior Manager, Quality Assurance

Key Internal Relationships:

• METAL Technology Development Lead
• METAL Developers

Desired Experience and Skills

• 3+ years of data application testing experience, with proven experience managing and executing the full testing lifecycle, including UAT testing support
• 2+ years of Quality Assurance experience testing data processes and products: ETL pipelines, dashboards/reports, etc
• 2+ years of working with CommCare or similar ODK based platforms or any low-code application as an application developer or quality analyst is highly desirable.
• Some Performance and Load Testing experience with open-source tools
• 1 year of automation experience
• Solid ability to lead a project by him/herself from all quality assurance, and quality control aspects.
• Experienced testing in low to no-code environments and processes such as mobile data collection and/or case management tools such as CommCare, Ona, Kobo or Microsoft PowerApps, PowerBI dashboards and Azure.
• Understanding and experience with T-SQL, Azure SQL Server, Data Factory, SSIS/other ETL tools, data modeling and data warehouse.
• Experience testing multilingual platforms along with multicurrency verification preferred.
• Manual functional testing, system testing, along with some automation, and performance testing
• Have great collaboration with all teams involved in the project with self-directed.
• Meticulous in maintaining excellent organization and prioritization skills
• Experience using Jira for bug and test management.
• Experience with full software development process with Agile methodology
• Experience with any open-source performance/stress testing tool e.g., JMeter
• Possess excellent oral and written communication skills
• Self-motivated and a problem solver
• Fast and independent learner
• Work with distributed teams
• Intercultural competence

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree or experience in computer science or information systems.
• CSQA, CSTE, or any certification software testing/ quality assurance

IRC is dedicated to reducing the gender gap in leadership roles and has implemented supportive measures like parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols, and other benefits to create an inclusive environment for women.

Applicants with varied career paths are welcomed, recognizing that employment gaps don't define potential. IRC values transferrable skills and is committed to investing in the growth and development of its team members.

The organization strives to offer competitive and equitable Compensation and Benefits programs to attract, motivate, and retain employees who adhere to the IRC Way Standards for Professional Conduct.

 Compensation: (USA: $68K - $74K / UK: GBP 34,653 GBP 41,150). Ranges are based on various factors including the labor market, job type, internal equity, and budget.  Exact offers are calibrated by work location, individual candidate experience and skills relative to the defined job requirements.

Professional Standards: All International Rescue Committee workers must adhere to the core values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. Our Standards are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Safeguarding, Conflicts of Interest, Fiscal Integrity, and Reporting Wrongdoing and Protection from Retaliation. IRC is committed to take all necessary preventive measures and create an environment where people feel safe, and to take all necessary actions and corrective measures when harm occurs. IRC builds teams of professionals who promote critical reflection, power sharing, debate, and objectivity to deliver the best possible services to our clients.

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