Summary
This position is with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Transformation Management Organization located in Washington, D.C. The purpose of this position is to serve as the Quality Assurance and Testing Lead; responsible for establishing, directing, implementing, monitoring, and improving enterprise quality assurance, testing, business validation, and organizational readiness activities supporting Department-wide modernization initiatives.
Responsibilities
Develop and administer Department-wide Quality Assurance and Testing Strategy supporting enterprise modernization initiatives.
Lead enterprise activities involving integrated testing across business processes, enterprise applications, infrastructure, customer services, shared services, cloud environments, data conversion, cybersecurity, and operational readiness.
Develop enterprise quality standards, testing policies, governance procedures, quality management frameworks, acceptance criteria, release readiness standards, and testing methodologies.
Direct activities such as Business Process Validation, Testing, End-to-End Testing, User Acceptance Testing, Operational Readiness Testing, Regression Testing, Performance Testing, Data Validation Testing, and Parallel Payroll Testing.
Evaluate modernization initiatives throughout the system development lifecycle to ensure business, technical, security, and operational requirements are satisfied before implementation.
Conduct quality assessments, root cause analyses, lessons learned reviews, independent quality reviews, and post-implementation evaluations.
Lead testing governance boards, release management reviews, executive quality briefings, and customer readiness assessments.
Develop innovative quality management techniques to improve modernization delivery and organizational performance.
Advise senior executives regarding enterprise quality performance, modernization readiness, and organizational risks.
Represent the chief technology officer during executive governance meetings, customer agency discussions, vendor reviews, and Federal modernization initiatives.
Qualifications
Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below: GS-14 Specialized Experience: Applicants must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 grade level in the federal service or equivalent experience in the private sector. Specialized experience is defined as: 1) leading enterprise testing and quality assurance efforts by managing user acceptance testing, business validation, operational readiness, release readiness, and defect tracking to ensure systems meet organizational standards; 2) developing integrated test strategies by defining quality metrics, managing defects, preparing go/no-go recommendations, and validating that solutions meet business and operational requirements; 3) coordinating testing activities across functional users, technical teams, data teams, cybersecurity, operations, contractors, and partner agencies to ensure effective end-to-end system validation; and 4) identifying quality and implementation risks, document findings, and provide recommendations to support informed decisions prior to deployment or release. Quality Ranking Factor (QRF) This position has a Quality Ranking Factor (QRF). Quality Ranking Factors are knowledge, skills and abilities/competencies that could be expected to significantly enhance performance in this position. Certifications in one or more of the following: International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB), Software Quality Analyst, Manager of Software Quality, Agile Testing, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Information Technology Infrastructure Library 4 (ISIL 4), Lean Six Sigma, Project Management Professional (PMP) or equivalent are strongly desired to support work accomplished in this position. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
Requirements
You must be a US Citizen or US National. Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt. Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check. Direct Deposit - Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution. Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit https://www.e-verify.gov/. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period unless previous federal service is creditable. During this time your employment will be evaluated, and we may consider: your performance and conduct, the needs and interests of the agency, whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government, and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.
Education
This position does not have an education qualifications requirement.