Job Description

APPLICANTS MUST BE PERMANENT IN THE COMPUTER SPECIALIST (SOFTWARE) CIVIL SERVICE TITLE,

The Department of Social Services (DSS) is comprised of the administrative units of the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) and the Department of Homeless Services (DHS). HRA is dedicated to fighting poverty and income inequality by providing New Yorkers in need with essential benefits such as Food Assistance and Emergency Rental Assistance. DHS is committed to preventing and addressing homelessness in New York City by employing a variety of innovative strategies to help families and individuals successfully exit shelter and return to self-sufficiency as quickly as possible.

Information Technology Services (ITS) /Quality Management is responsible for the enforcement of Software Development Lifecycle Quality Standards on all developed projects across DSS/HRA/DHS/ External Projects and Data Integration. Quality Management manages the testing methodology for the technology portfolio for all of the DSS/HRA/DHS/ External Projects/Data Integration Technology areas including Unisys Mainframe Systems, Open TI Services, Medicaid Recertification Tracking Systems, Welfare Management Systems, Mailing Systems, IBM Mainframe Systems, Payment Processing Systems, WLM Analysis, Data Warehousing Systems and ABAWD and Reasonable Accommodation Compliance Systems.

Information Technology Services (ITS) is recruiting to fill one (1) Computer Specialist (Software) I, to function as a Project Leader/QA Analyst, who will:

- Create, maintain test plans as per QC standards, test cases, defects in JIRA and/or other test
/SDLC management systems. Execute and track testing process using an SDLC tracking/
management system such as JIRA or Azure DevOps.

- Assist and/or execute manual functional testing where applicable and makes sure testing
process is within QC standards. Create, analyze/verify test data, log and assign defects to
development. Track and report defect status. Work with developers and support teams to
resolve defects and environment issues.

- Participate in application troubleshooting and resolving production issues which may include
but are not limited to proposing, preparing, and executing test scenarios to reproduce production
issues in non-production environments. Research problems and proposes designs, execute, and
document test cases to identify potential issues and to prevent application outages and production
issues.

- Maintain up-to-date documentation relating to the testing of applications and ensure that it is entered
into appropriate repositories and systems of record per standard QC process. Report test results to
management in timely manner.

- Assist the support team in activities related to application deployment where applicable Participate in
environment maintenance such as software or hardware upgrades and other activities when QA
services are required. Handle special projects and initiatives as assigned.

- Utilize the knowledge acquired from the continuous learning of IT technologies and products being
implemented by ITS and other agencies in the development of efficient test approaches. Participate
in helping others to learn and utilize these approaches.


Hours/Shift:

Normal Business Hours

Qualifications

(1) A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college, including or supplemented by twenty-four (24) semester credits in computer science or a related computer field and two (2) years of satisfactory full-time software experience in designing, programming, debugging, maintaining, implementing, and enhancing computer software applications, systems programming, systems analysis and design, data communication software, or database design and programming, including one year in a project leader capacity or as a major contributor on a complex project; or
(2) A four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent and six (6) years of full-time satisfactory software experience as described in “1" above, including one year in a project leader capacity or as a major contributor on a complex project; or
(3) A satisfactory combination of education and experience that is equivalent to (1) or (2) above. College education may be substituted for up to two years of the required experience in (2) above on the basis that sixty (60) semester credits from an accredited college is equated to one year of experience. A masters degree in computer science or a related computer field may be substituted for one year of the required experience in (1) or (2) above. However, all candidates must have a four year high school diploma or its educational equivalent, plus at least one (1) year of satisfactory full-time software experience in a project leader capacity or as a major contributor on a complex project.
NOTE: In order to have your experience accepted as Project Leader or Major Contributor experience, you must explain in detail how your experience qualifies you as a project leader or as a major contributor. Experience in computer operations, technical support, quality assurance (QA), hardware installation, help desk, or as an end user will not be accepted for meeting the minimum qualification
requirements.
Special Note
To be eligible for placement in Assignment Level IV, in addition to the Qualification Requirements stated above, individuals must have one year of satisfactory experience in a project leader capacity or as a major contributor on a complex project in data administration, database management systems, operating systems, data communications systems, capacity planning, and/or on-line applications programming.