Test Lead – Quality Assurance

Awarded a Healthiest Employer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona aims to fulfill its mission to inspire health and make it easy. AZ Blue offers a variety of health insurance products and services to meet the diverse needs of individuals, families, and small and large businesses as well as providing information and tools to help individuals make better health decisions.

We are hiring for a future start date of 1/1/25.

This position is hybrid within the state of AZ only.  This hybrid work opportunity requires residency, and work to be performed, within the State of Arizona.

PURPOSE OF THE JOB

Responsible for leading QA resources through all phases of the Software Development Life Cycle to include Agile and Waterfall. The Test Lead will assist in the planning, organizing, and managing the implementation of Customer Service Application, Vendor Managed and Legacy releases and major projects. 

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Required Work Experience

• 1 year of experience with business requirement design and elicitation
• 3 years of experience leading test resources
• 3 years of experience in computer technology and/or information systems
• 3 years of experience in data management and reporting

Required Education

• High-School Diploma

Required Licenses

• N/A

Required Certifications

• N/A

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

Preferred Work Experience

• 5 years of experience in computer technology and/or information systems
• 7 years of experience in data management and reporting
• 3 years of experience working in healthcare-related systems as a QA specialist
• 5 years of lead or supervisory experience

Preferred Education

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Systems, Business, or related field

Preferred Licenses

• N/A

Preferred Certifications

• N/A

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Manage efforts necessary to identify and define Business Requirements/Functional Specifications/User Stories in Customer Service, Vendor Managed and Legacy Applications and surrounding / interfacing systems.  This requires working with management and staff in multiple departments.
• Ensure bi-directional traceability from Requirements to Test Cases to Test Results/ Defects
• Requirement Management – review of product integration, verification and validation of business requirements using defined business tools.  This includes decision analysis and resolution to identify the solution that not only meets the business need but also minimizes risk and impacts to budget.
• Attend and back up, when needed, at Leadership meetings. 
• Report testing status to Testing CoE leadership team
• Obtain agreement from appropriate department management regarding the usability of enhancements.  This requires the test lead to become familiar with all functionality delivered within a release, and to be able to explain it to our business customers.
• Provide day-to-day oversight to the Functional Testing team
• Support Functional test planning, design, preparation, and execution activities
• Implement a Risk Based Testing approach for test planning and execution
• Collaborate with Governance & Standards Lead to develop reusable templates for documenting test plan, test objectives, test scripts, defects, and test summary
• Coordinate and oversee regression and system integration testing to support release implementations using defined testing methodologies.
• Responsible for coordination and oversight in the release hand offs to Business Customer for user acceptance testing and support.
• Mentor and coach direct reports team members to identify needed skill sets and growth opportunities in order to enhance support for our business customers.
• Lead Testing CoE defect management process, report status and collaborate with stakeholders to resolve defects
• Identify and mitigate/escalate risks and issues related to Functional testing
• Facilitate functional and technical SME review sessions to analyze test coverage and identify missed scenarios
• Validate readiness against entry/exit criteria for in-scope test phases and conduct formal hand off meetings between test phases
• Coordinate with other Enterprise teams to acquire/provision de-identified test data required to support planned testing
• Coordinate with Release/Change/Environment Management teams to setup testing environments to enable the planned testing
• Support Automation team to identify automation opportunities, automate regression test bed and expand automation usage
• Collaborate with Program Manager – Execution to assist in capacity planning and effort estimation
• Track upstream dependencies and take mitigation action as appropriate
• Optimize testing processes based on lessons learned through projects
• Communicate to our business customers and the team of high level goals as well as current issues, accomplishments, and plans.
• Serve as a subject matter expert for our customers and vendors.  Engage in conversation as requested with external contacts regarding the Customer Service Application systems.
• Work on and coordinate special projects as requested by management.
• Provide support and back-up to the senior leadership.
• Work with management to establish goals and provide input and feedback for performance evaluations of all team members. 
• Develop and mentor team by providing opportunities for growth.  This is accomplished through delegation, training (internal and external), and assignment to various project teams in addition to timely feedback.
• Communicate openly with team on a regular basis.
• The position requires a full-time work schedule and does not support work from home.  Full-time is defined as working at least 40 hours per week, plus any overtime as requested or needed to perform job responsibilities.
• Perform all other duties as assigned.

REQUIRED COMPETENCIES

Required Job Skills

• High skill in use of office equipment, including copiers, fax machines, scanner and telephones
• High PC proficiency
• Proficient in spreadsheet, database and word processing software
• Knowledge of HIPAA and standard code sets and their appropriate use
• Ability to read files, file formats, workflows, and data flows
• Able to run SQL, or similar, queries 

Required Professional Competencies

• Foundational understanding of testing processes within Agile delivery models
• Work with all levels of management and functional areas in BCBSAZ and understand the potential implications of system changes to those areas
• Customer service skills to deal with sensitive and difficult customer situations
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with a problem-solving mindset
• Demonstrated ability to design and execute Functional testing within various health plan domains (reports, commissions, claims, financials, customer service, operational reports, providers, products and benefits, etc.)
• Proficient in End-to-End operational flows across various health plan domains (reports, commissions, claims, financials, customer service, operational reports, providers, products and benefits, etc.)
• Deep understanding of testing methodology, terminology, estimation models, templates etc.
• Deep understanding of the Software Development Life-Cycle and associated processes
• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain Requirements Traceability Matrix
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with Build teams to resolve defects
• Demonstrated ability to identify test automation opportunities
• Demonstrated ability to make effective use of Test Data
• Demonstrated ability to apply Risk Based Testing approach
• Demonstrated ability to effectively leverage testing tools in Test Management
• Demonstrated ability to capture key testing metrics, create accurate status reports, and drive transparency into test execution status
• Demonstrated ability to identify and mitigate Risks and Issues related to Testing
• Proficient in estimating effort and allocating work across the team
• Strong understanding of information systems, business processes and the key drivers and measures for success
• Strong analytical and decision making skills
• Ability to prepare written proposals and deliver presentations.
• Maintain confidentiality and privacy
• Strong project management skills

Required Leadership Experience and Competencies

• Demonstrated ability to lead large testing teams, including vendor teams
• Proficient in representing test status to leadership teams
• Provide leadership, promote teamwork, meet objectives and exercise independent judgment
• Experience leading and implementing projects and working collaboratively with other departments and levels of administration
• Strong organizational and management skills

PREFERRED COMPETENCIES

Preferred Job Skills

• Advanced skill in use of office equipment, including copiers, fax machines, scanner and telephones
• Advanced PC proficiency
• Advanced proficiency in spreadsheet, database and word processing software
• Expert knowledge of operating systems, i.e. Windows and systems networking and communication techniques

Preferred Professional Competencies

• Demonstrate flexibility, anticipate customer needs and communicate in a manner consistent with business strategy
• Advanced tactical planning and decision making skills
• Able to cope with multiple priorities and high customer expectations and bridge the demands between internal and external customers
• Advanced understanding of information systems, business processes and key drivers and measures for success
• Advanced analytical and diagnostic skills dealing with issues that are not readily defined, lack known precedent or appear contradictory
• Develop solutions by applying accepted processes or new approaches to leverage technology
• Advanced understanding of HIPAA transactions and privacy requirements
• Presentation and public speaking abilities
• Development and application of budgeting concepts, processes and procedures
• Advanced project management skills
• Interpret medical, legal and technical data, including state and federal regulations and their effect on operations
• Conceptualize new business architecture and infrastructure

Preferred Leadership Experience and Competencies

• Identify resources and training needs while fostering opportunities for staff growth
• Promote and support the overall quality principles and company quality program
• Empower associates at all levels and encourage innovation and risk taking
• Develop an enthusiastic and positive work environment
• Negotiation and influencing skills with the ability to create win/win situations
• Resource management skills
• Skills, experience and leadership abilities to serve as designated back-up for various IT leaders
• Educate and mentor staff on leadership techniques, staff consulting, work management, etc.

Our Commitment

AZ Blue does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status or any other protected group.

Thank you for your interest in Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona.  For more information on our company, see azblue.com.  If interested in this position, please apply.