Quality Analyst I
Technology is reinventing higher education and at OCAS we play a vital role in helping shape this evolving landscape. We deliver dependable technology systems and business services to support our industry partners and create new pathways for learners exploring and applying to Ontario’s public colleges.
Recently named a Waterloo Area Top Employer for the ninth consecutive year, we’re looking for innovators who can bring their expertise and passion to our growing team.
The Quality Analyst I is an enthusiastic, customer-focused, and technology minded tester that imitates our users and challenges our applications by exposing the ways they fail. They imagine, brainstorm, execute, and review testing plans based on our feature and product roadmaps. They also study the impacts of the ever-changing world of technology, such as new browsers and devices, cloud platforms, application development platforms, security risks, environment configurations, and more.
As a quality advocate, the Quality Analyst I tests features deployed to various test environments and are challenged to imagine ways that both related and seemingly unrelated requirements, features, or products might interact with each other to expose real-world problems faced by our users. A self-starter, they can also influence the direction of our team and our products using their developed written and oral communication skills. They regularly update the team, with some direction, on their responsibilities.
Why choose OCAS?
- We offer a hybrid work environment that gives you the flexibility to work in our Guelph office, remotely, or a combination of both
- Your team is an amazing group of individuals who are passionate about technology and are encouraged to explore new ways of working
- You’ll start off with 22 vacation days, as well as paid company breaks in the summer and during winter holidays
- We offer a corporate pension plan to help you prepare for your next stage of life
- We also offer generous benefits that include vision and dental care, extended health care, life insurance, and more.
- We understand the importance of lifelong learning, with a generous professional development allowance, as well as other initiatives to help you skill up
- We support several local charities and offer paid time-off to volunteer in your community
You share OCAS' core Quality values:
- Quality is an organizational mindset, not an individual one
- We can test anything, whether or not we have requirements for it: a prototype, a design, a flowchart, an idea, or even actual software
- All software systems inherently have bugs and problems to discover
- Passing test scenarios are encouraging; however, they don’t tell the entire story
- Automated check systems are only a piece of a successful test plan
In this role, you will:
- Assist with design and execution of smoke and exploratory test scenarios
- Report progress during the verification of products
- Collaborate with testers, developers, product managers, and other team members to understand the features and product improvements being implemented, and how to test them
- Identify and communicate problems, unexpected behaviours, and errors in applications
- Demonstrate a basic understanding of how websites, APIs, and other software products are built
- Remain current on the latest consumer, technology, and regulatory trends outside of OCAS’ control (e.g., new browser features, new OS platforms, cloud infrastructure configurations, accessibility regulations, OWASP top security risks), and explore how they might affect our products
- Participate in project planning activities (such as Sprint Planning, Grooming, Triage, Stand up)
You should have:
- A post-secondary degree or diploma, or 3+ years working in the SDLC, or 5+ years working in a customer service role
- Has a basic understanding of how software is built/hosted/deployed, and can communicate these concepts as it relates to their tasks
- Interest in software application development and/or testing
- A resume that clearly describes the interesting and unique ways they have improved product or process quality, or supported customers and improved customer experience (not necessarily software products, processes, or experiences) in the past
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with an ability to communicate observed software behavior and its impact to the current project’s success, as well as to persuade and influence team members when identifying new ways of implementing features and ways of working
- Understanding of various testing strategies and methodologies
- Ability to work independently and possess initiative to meet multiple deadlines with minimal supervision
- Attention to detail and ability to provide accurate, sound, and viable recommendations to decision-makers
Other desirable experience:
- Familiarity with various components of web applications such as integrations, performance, security, and reliability
- Experience with the analysis and evaluation of data reports
- Various testing strategies and methodologies, especially session-based exploratory testing
- Knowledge of AODA and WCAG guidelines
- Experience creating mind maps or using other brainstorming tools and methods
- Software delivery and test methodologies, including Scrum
- Test scripting experience in Selenium WebDriver, Protractor, Appium, or other similar frameworks
- Understanding of data visualization software such as Power BI or Tableau
- Any of C#, Java, or JavaScript
- Familiarity with Microsoft Azure DevOps / VSTS / VSO / TFS, JIRA, or another similar SDLC tool
Salary: $68,000 - $78,000
Position Reports to: Team Lead, Quality
OCAS is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We welcome and encourage applications from diverse candidates, including people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process. While we thank all respondents for their interest, only those candidates being invited to interview for this position will be contacted.
