QA Revolution

Test Environment Engineer Job Description

I have recently written a Test Environment Engineer job description and I thought I would share.

Responsibilities:

The Test Environment Engineer is responsible for acting as the gateway to production control for all IT projects. (S)he will validate code to be promoted, using QA principles, throughout the application life cycle. (S)he will also refresh, synchronize, and validate all IT testing and production environments. Responsibilities include:

  • Ensure only tested, approved and properly traceable changes to testing and production environments are accepted and recorded, from the point of receipt to implementation—always based on appropriate controlling documentation.
  • Take part in the Release Management process in collaboration with the Configuration Manager, Project Manager, and production control personnel.
  • Ensure coordination between applications and projects in case of shared production environment changes.
  • Maintain traceability of all current and historical changes to IT test and production environments for each project and application throughout its life cycle.
  • Act early on as a partner of the project manager, application architect and lead developer for matters of deployment planning. Take a lead role in go/No-go decision making, based on environmental planning best practices.
  • Provide recommendations to integrate quality assurance and production control procedures.
  • Produce and manage appropriate technical deliverables.
  • Understand multiple technologies to guarantee quality testing is performed on all appropriate application systems.
  • Escalate, communicate and document any issues arising from operational/production jobs.
  • Track and control environmental changes. Track the status of environmental change requests (e.g., code posts) to closure.      Determine the impact that the change will have on environmental support and related production schedules.
  • Collaborate and communicate with the Configuration Manager to ensure that new and updated systems are properly documented and incorporated into the Configuration Management process.
  • Oversee all IT development and QA environments to maintain the integrity of the systems. Ensure that all appropriate IT      environments are regularly synchronized and refreshed throughout the project and application lifecycles.

II. Know-How

  • Technical/Specialized:
  • Expert familiarity with mainframe and distributed IT environments.
  • Expert understanding of IT environmental control concepts and guidelines.
  • Ability to coordinate release strategies with Project Managers.
  • Strong knowledge of production control best practices and ability to implement new concepts and processes.
  • Broad familiarity with IT quality assurance and  testing principles.
  • Insurance knowledge and system knowledge to  accurately validate completion of testing.
  • B.  Managerial:
    • Comfortable enforcing quality guidelines to all levels of management.
    • Process thinker. This role will implement and improve multiple new processes.
    • Able to maintain a calm but focused sense of operational urgency.
    • Demonstrated ability to effectively prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment.
    • Strong project management and organizational skills.
    • Keen attention to details, quality and schedule commitments. 

    C.  Human Relations Skills:

    • Strong customer service focus.
    • Strong interpersonal skills.
    • Self-directed and performance driven.
    • Excellent oral and written communication skills. This role will regularly craft and explain complex deployment plans to IT leadership and diverse project teams.
    • Enthusiastic team player with a focus on how to make things work.

    III. Problem Solving:

    • Strong analytical, problem-solving, and conceptual skills. This role will be required to assess multiple technical processes and environments, and recommend solutions to IT leadership and project teams.

Experience and Education:

  • Four-year degree in computer science or business-related  major preferred.
  • Five or more years’ experience in a team IT environment with production control and/or QA-related responsibilities
  • Insurance-related experience preferred
  • Full understanding of the IT project and software development lifecycles
  • Experience implementing ITIL Release Management preferred
  • Demonstrated ability to meet commitments in a large IT project environment.
  • Basic understanding of configuration management concepts and disciplines.
  • Understanding of developing and networking concepts, several platforms, SOX guidelines and Disaster Recovery concepts.
  • Automated testing software knowledge preferred.

 

Ron Wilson