City : Burnaby

Category : Information Technology

Industry : Insurance

Employer : Pacific Blue Cross

Pacific Blue Cross has been British Columbia's leading benefits provider for 80 years. We are an independent, not-for-profit society with strong roots in BC’s health care system. Together with our subsidiary BC Life, we provide health, dental, life, disability and travel coverage for approximately 1.5 million British Columbians through employee group plans and through individual plans for those who do not have coverage with their employers.

Job Summary

Under the broad managerial direction of the Assistant Manager and/or Manager, and as an active member of a self-organized work team, collaborates collectively in the planning, design, testing, execution and delivery stages of technology-driven products and services that meet the needs of the business and deliver value. Acts as subject matter expert during the testing stages of product/service delivery to ensure system functionality is consistent with defined business product/service requirements. Researches and evaluates new test tools and upgrades to determine their applicability to PBC’s testing environment. Maintains a resource library of test plans and scripts. To support the team, may consult with third party vendors, members and other teams from a Quality Assurance Analyst perspective as determined through team collaboration. Maintains required proficiency levels in technical skills and core competencies consistent with the established framework for the position and pursues continuing self-development associated with the rapid pace of change within the industry.

Job Duties

Self-Organized Team Member

• As an active member of a self-organized work team and through group cooperation, shared processes and team problem solving, collaborates collectively in the planning, design, testing, execution and delivery stages of technology-driven products and services that meet the needs of the business and deliver value by:
• defining and expanding on the design features, components and overall priorities communicated by business stakeholders;
• estimating size and complexity of the work, and as a group, assessing team capacity to complete the work, determining achievable goals for each stage and identifying out of scope activities;
• participating in team discussions and coming to consensus on who will complete the work, and identifying in-house resources including network, database, architecture, deployment, security, production or other subject matter experts necessary to support team success;
• collaborating regularly with all team members throughout all stages of the work to track team progress, problem solve roadblocks and interdependencies, and identify options for enhancing stakeholder value in upcoming stages of the work;
• committing to and delivering on individually assigned activities and tasks within established time frames, as determined by the team as a whole;
• preparing and delivering informal presentations to the team and/or key stakeholders on technical design elements, demonstrations of challenges encountered in any stages of design or delivery, options for team and stakeholder feedback and consideration, and any other aspects where team collaboration can contribute to the quality, timing or effectiveness of shared outcomes;
• liaising with stakeholders throughout all stages of the work to identify and facilitate the removal of barriers to successful team delivery; refers challenges outside of the team’s influence to resources external to the team‘s day to day operation
• applying technical, professional, organizational and industry quality standards to meet or exceed delivery goals throughout all stages of the work;participating in retrospectives and sharing in the evaluation of delivery outcomes at the conclusion of each stage of the work, recognizing and celebrating successes, developing action plans for incorporating past or current experiences and new learnings into future team initiatives, and pursuing opportunities for continuous improvement;
• transferring knowledge to team colleagues in specific areas of individual expertise to increase team efficiency and operation, capitalize on opportunities for growth and development, and increase team engagement;
• collectively assessing release and deployment status, and determining timing and activities required to deliver products into production.

Testing Services

• Provides testing expertise and acts as subject matter expert during the testing stages of product/service delivery to ensure system functionality is consistent with defined business product/service requirements by:
• consulting with other internal and external business stakeholders to define and understand business requirements and design features that will determine the scope of testing;
• defining overall test approach, strategy, test entry and exit criteria, and related metrics aligned with testing goals and priorities;
• tracking testing progress in relation to expected outcomes and providing regular status and metrics reports to the team;
• identifying pass/fail status and documenting test results including reconstruction of test failures, and making recommendations concerning the outcome of deficit failures to the team;
• identifying unexpected outcomes during testing by verifying system output, narrowing variances to testing or non-testing sources, and consulting with Software Developers and other technical team members on corrections and potential improvements to system or program design from a testing perspective;
• editing test scripts during execution where results differing from the predicted test outcomes occur, and conducting further investigation and analysis to determine the potential source of testing variances and resolve bugs, errors, configuration issues and interdependency flaws associated with the testing process;
• creating, selecting and loading test data and executing test plans and scripts;
• conducting system, functional, regression, automated and load testing;
• creating, designing and documenting manual and/or automated test plans and scripts to validate system functionality within a test environment;
• preparing time, resource allocation and scheduling estimates;
• overseeing strict adherence to internal controls throughout testing to maintain established audit trails
• Maintains a resource library of test plans and scripts for potential future application to similar or recurring test applications.

General Team and Department Support

• Through continuous learning initiatives, maintains up to date knowledge of testing strategies and tools, testing materials and design such as test automation, systems design concepts, tools, security requirements, operating systems, end-user business products/services specific to PBC’s user environment, general technology trends and other information related to the provision of testing services to users.
• Conducts ongoing review of technical materials related to changes in in-house products/services from a technology perspective. Conducts online research and participates in information exchanges with colleagues and technical contacts, including membership in testing-related technology resource groups.
• Participates in semi-annual disaster recovery exercises by conducting regression testing for specific business applications in consultation with Database Administrators and members of the disaster recovery team

Qualifications

• Minimum 4 years previous related experience in a testing/quality assurance position (or equivalent) including a minimum of 2 years experience in a medium to large sized organization, working on medium to large scale projects.

• Demonstrated critical thinking skills gained through the successful application of problem solving methods such as problem analysis, data analysis, data verification, logic and judgement

• Demonstrated understanding of:
  • All technical software design, business analysis and testing skills as defined in the technical skills framework for this position such statistical reporting and data analysis.
  • Experience with Tableau and PowerBI Dashboard is considered an asset
  • All team collaboration core competencies as defined in the core competency framework for this position
  • MS Office products (basic Word, Outlook and PowerPoint; advanced Excel including pivot tables)

• 2 year diploma in computer systems technology such as BCIT’s Computer Information Technology (CIT) with program options in Applied Software Design/Quality Assurance Testing, Technical Programming, Web and Mobile or Database (or equivalent program) which in addition to technology courses includes foundational courses in
  • SQL
  • Business Communication
  • MS Office products including Basic Word, Outlook and PowerPoint, and Advanced Excel
  • Extensive practical knowledge in importing data for use in report software, spreadsheets, graphs, and flow charts
  • Project Management

• Software testing courses equivalent to:
  • International Software Testing Qualifications Board Advanced Level, including certification in one or more core testing areas (Test Analyst, Technical Test Analyst and/or Test Manager) OR
  • Association of Software Testers Test Design Level (3 courses = 108 hours)

• Formal training leading to certification in Agile practitioner level skills and knowledge (eg SAFe Practitioner course (14 hours) or equivalent industry-recognized Agile course(s)

While we thank all candidates for their interest, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

We strive to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and employees feel empowered to freely participate and contribute regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ability, education level, parental status, or socioeconomic status. PBC is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from all qualified candidates.

To request an accommodation in completing this application, pre-employment testing, interviewing or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please direct your inquiries to careers@pac.bluecross.ca