Quality Assurance Manager - Remote

Why Valvoline?

Careers for the Driven

• Valvoline World Headquarters is located in Lexington, KY, but we invite remote candidates to apply as well. Ideally, we would like candidates located in nearby markets (Cincinnati, Louisville, and Nashville), but we are open to other locations.

How You’ll Make an Impact

The Software Quality Assurance (QA) Manager will be responsible for creating, maintaining and driving a continuous improvement QA program and for overseeing quality control throughout the development of software at Valvoline. The IT QA Manager develops, manages, and executes all phases of quality assurance testing, including analysis of product requirements to produce test requirements, and development and execution of functional/system test plans in a multi-tiered environment. This role is responsible for the day-to-day supervision and direction of a team of QA Engineers in the planning and execution of various levels and types of automated and manual testing. This role is crucial to the success of Valvoline, as it will be held responsible for defining and delivering a vision and strategy to ensure our software products meet user expectations. In the role, you would be responsible for:

• Continuously learning, improving, and optimizing processes and ways of working. Analyzes problems and offers creative solutions to solve complex problems such as reacting to technical limitations for test automation, late delivery of QA builds, scope creep, emergency changes, shifting priorities etc. Be a forward thinking thought leader and influence the rest of the organization on latest tech, experience and design trends. Works with development team and DevSecOps to identify system deficiencies and escalate to appropriate teams for timely resolution of issues. Makes recommendations to the quality assurance tools and standards to ensure that up-to-date industry best practices are being followed.
• Delivering quality products by thoroughly testing throughout all phases of development life cycle (Regression, Functional, Integration, End to End testing) using a combination of testing methods. Leads the testing effort for assigned projects. Creates and performs complex test execution. Assists with QA testing as necessary. Builds and manages automation framework and performance tests.
• Leading the quality efforts on multiple projects and/or a large program that consists of multiple testing tracks and applications. Daily interactions with the Software Development and Product Management teams to understand the requirements, explore new product directions, plan the necessary testing requirements for new features and product extensions, and collaborate with product management on final acceptance testing criteria to ensure the business requirements and/or feature documents are clear, concise, traceable, and testable. Closely works with the Release Managers and DevSecOp teams to build CI/CD pipelines and to ensure the successful delivery of software deployment packages.
• Ensuring full test coverage for assigned deliverables. Facilitates functional testing, regression testing, UI testing, and unit testing for all new features in cross browser environments including mobile devices. Facilitates the non-functional testing that includes performance, stress and endurance test with application development and non-functional teams. Facilitates recurring and ad-hoc meetings with QA teams to help identify and manage testing bottlenecks, risks, and test dependencies. Communicates, prioritizes, and tracks test execution, defects, and issues appropriately and recommends corrective action whenever required. Guides QA engineers on effective Bug reporting.
• Other duties and responsibilities as determined by Valvoline from time to time in its sole discretion.
• Collaborating with the QA, development, and architecture teams to establish the process for clear and efficient operations and communications related to the overall QA process. Researches, defines, implements, and maintains best practice Quality Assurance processes including improved testing methods, practices, processes, tools, and test systems. Updates QA process documentation, communicates to stakeholders, and holds regular QA meetings to ensure stakeholders remain knowledgeable about procedures, schedules, and KPI’s.
• Defining test strategy, test development, test execution, tools, processes, and timelines for quality assurance of new and existing products and features. Defines standards, methods, and procedures for test automation.
• Building, leading and mentoring a team of QA Engineers to improve software quality and help drive features to production. Player/coach of individuals across multiple geographic locations. Allocates responsibilities and/or packages of work. Delegates responsibilities as appropriate. Provides leadership and facilitates problem resolution and coaching among Product Owners and developers.
• Designing, creating and building test plans, test cases, test scenarios, and test data for use during the testing phases of the software development lifecycle for new and existing software systems/products. Designs, creates and builds automation test scripts for all applications and help set the structure for broader automated testing by converting manual test preparation into automated test preparation. Develops and maintains a working knowledge of business processes supported by software systems/products. Conducts and participates in test case reviews, requirement reviews, design reviews, and change control activities. Assists in developing the Performance Testing Strategy and Performance Testing Plans. Enforces acceptance criteria practice with proper test estimation. Ensures that test plans and scenarios fully exercise every aspect of the product.
• Preparing reports and creating Quality metrics, dashboards by collecting, analyzing, and summarizing data. Improves software quality and processes to measure quality.

What You’ll Need

• Business understanding and ability to drive for results
• Ability to analyze requirements and advise on scope and options for continuous operational improvement
• Ability to advise on the available standards, methods, tools and applications relevant to area of expertise and can make appropriate choices from alternatives
• Must be willing to be available for evening and weekend work where escalations, projects or other management initiatives dictate
• Exposure to the full software development lifecycle experience from inception to deployment in an Agile-SCRUM environment
• Excellent project management skills, including ability to coordinate, negotiate, schedule and communicate with all levels of staff
• Understanding of QA tool development chains and environments
• Ability to build appropriate and effective business relationships
• Strong technical skills, both functional and non-functional, manual and automated, ideally in a continuous delivery environment
• Ability to actively seek out new knowledge for own personal development and the mentoring or coaching of others
• Ability to maintain an awareness of developments in the industry and take initiative to keep personal skills up to date
• Demonstrates creativity, innovation and ethical thinking in applying solutions for the benefit of the customer/stakeholder
• Experience with automation frameworks, continuous integration platforms, test management tools, and/or other QA services
• In-depth knowledge of testing concepts, phases and types of testing
• Ability to make decisions and take responsibility for work
• Experience in test automation, mobile testing, testing embedded systems and/or mobile consumer electronics devices
• Ability to influence internal colleagues and external vendors, customers, partners
• Highly motivated, energetic, thorough, detail-oriented and able to multi-task
• Experience with building and managing complex, manual test plans
• Ability to analyze, design, plan, execute and evaluate work to time, cost and quality targets
• Demonstrated ability to work on multiple/disparate projects at the same time and stay focused
• Strong leadership skills, including the ability to supervise, lead, coach, motivate and work through others to achieve desired results
• Excellent testing skills, with demonstrated knowledge of test automation, planning, scheduling, processes, and execution
• Ability to work under broad direction
• Demonstrated ability as a team player who encourages continuous improvement and innovation
• Experience writing and testing business requirements
• Understanding of retail specific quality assurance requirements and regulations
• Extensive experience developing and executing test scripts and test cases at the required level of detail for each project/feature request
• Ability to rapidly absorb new information and apply it effectively to develop new skills and to help define the standards which others will apply
• Ability to effectively resolve conflict
• Experience in creating metrics and ability to manage multiple testing projects
• Usage and experience with Azure DevOps, VSTS, Jira or similar tools to plan and maintain agile workflows and work
• Understanding of best practices for Quality Assurance business processes and metric management
• Significant experience in testing modern front-end applications
• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or Business Administration (or higher) in an IT related field or equivalent work experience
• Experience with standard QA and development tools
• Must be authorized to work in the U.S.
• Communicates fluently and effectively, orally and in writing, and can present complex information to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Ability to work well under pressure
• Ability to perform an extensive range and variety of complex technical and/or professional work activities
• Ability to efficiently manage a team of resources locally and offshore
• Expert analytical skills, attention to detail, troubleshooting skills and problem-solving skills
• Extensive experience covering all areas of the testing lifecycle
• Minimum 10 years of experience in applying information technology solutions in a manufacturing or retail industry

What Will Set You Apart

• 2+ year of experience in working with agile teams on continuous delivery of quality solutions
• 3+ years of experience as a Software Quality Assurance Manager overseeing complex activities or processes
• Experience with retail specific QA techniques and methodologies
• 7+ years of experience in Software QA and testing with hands-on knowledge of automated and manual testing
• Remote in ET or CT

Benefits That Drive Themselves

• Paid vacation and holidays*
• Adoption assistance*
• Employee discounts
• HSA and flexible spending accounts
• Employee Assistance Program
• Tuition reimbursement*
• Incentive opportunity*
• 401(k)
• Short and long-term disability insurance
• Life insurance
• Health insurance plans (medical, dental, vision)

• Terms and conditions apply, and benefits may differ depending on position.

Females and minorities encouraged to apply.

Valvoline provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Are you good at what you do? Join us.

The Company endeavors to make its recruitment process accessible to any and all users. Reasonable accommodations will be provided, upon request, to applicants with disabilities in order to facilitate equal opportunity throughout the recruitment and selection process. Please contact Human Resources at 1-800-Valvoline or email [email protected] to make a request for reasonable accommodation during any aspect of the recruitment and selection process. The contact information is for accommodation requests only; do not use this contact information to inquire about the status of applications.