Director, Information Technology - Testing CoE

USAA Life Insurance Company; San Antonio (TX); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

USAA Life Insurance Company is seeking a Director of Information Technology - Testing Center of Excellence. You will lead the strategy, implementation, and ongoing operations of a centralized testing capability supporting multiple technology organizations, driving quality engineering excellence and cost improvements.

The role requires collaboration with technology executives, delivery leaders, and business stakeholders to ensure testing services align with priorities and risk management

Responsibilities

• Lead the strategy, implementation, and ongoing operations of the Testing Center of Excellence across multiple technology orgs.
• Drive adoption of enterprise testing capabilities including test automation and quality engineering practices.
• Oversee third-party testing providers, ensuring SLAs, capacity, quality, and cost objectives.
• Establish and monitor KPIs to measure testing effectiveness and delivery performance.
• Partner with technology and business leaders to align testing with delivery priorities and risk management.
• Lead transition and ongoing optimization of testing services, managing risks and change.
• Build and oversee a team of employees and third parties for TCoE with recruiting and development activities.
• Establish documentation standards and QA methodologies for technology support functions.
• Identify and analyze end-to-end business processes and technology opportunities.
• Develop and oversee KPIs/KRIs and a multi-year plan to operationalize technology support strategy.
• Oversee departmental budgets and forecasts and availability management of technology solutions.

Job description

Why USAA?

At USAA, our mission is to empower our members to achieve financial security through highly competitive products, exceptional service and trusted advice. We seek to be the #1 choice for the military community and their families. Embrace a fulfilling career at USAA, where our core values - honesty, integrity, loyalty and service - define how we treat each other and our members. Be part of what truly makes us special and impactful. We are proud to support active-duty military spouses. USAA roles may offer remote or hybrid flexibility for active-duty military spouses consistent with applicable policy and business needs.

The Opportunity

As the Director of Information Technology - Testing Center of Excellence (TCoE), you will lead the strategy, implementation, and ongoing operations of a centralized testing capability supporting multiple technology organizations. You will be accountable for establishing consistent testing practices, driving quality engineering excellence, and delivering measurable improvements in testing efficiency, effectiveness, and cost. This role will lead the transformation of testing services through a combination of internal teams, third-party partners, automation/AI capabilities, and standardized processes. You will collaborate with technology executives, delivery leaders, and business stakeholders to ensure testing services are aligned with organizational priorities, delivery commitments, and risk management expectations. The ideal candidate brings a combination of enterprise testing leadership, operational execution, vendor management, and demonstrated experience driving organizational change. We offer a flexible work environment that requires an individual to be in the office 4 days per week. This position can be based in one of the following locations: San Antonio TX or Plano TX. Relocation assistance is not available for this position.

What you'll do:

• Lead the strategy, implementation, and ongoing operations of the Testing Center of Excellence, establishing standardized testing services, processes, governance, and performance expectations across multiple technology organizations.
• Drive adoption of enterprise testing capabilities, including test automation, quality engineering practices, and continuous improvement to enhance software quality, delivery efficiency, and speed to market.
• Oversee third-party testing service providers, ensuring contractual commitments, service-level agreements, resource capacity, quality standards, and financial objectives are achieved.
• Establish and monitor key performance indicators to measure testing effectiveness, automation adoption, defect management, service delivery performance, and operational efficiency.
• Partner with technology and business leaders to understand testing demand, align testing services with delivery priorities, manage dependencies, and ensure successful adoption of the centralized testing model.
• Lead the transition and ongoing optimization of testing services, proactively managing operational risks, organizational change, service continuity, and realization of expected business benefits.
• Builds and oversees a team of employees and third party for TCOE through ongoing execution of recruiting, development, retention, coaching and support, performance management, and managerial activities.
• Oversees efforts in establishing documentation standards and quality assurance methodologies for technology support functions and ensure adherence to standards across teams.
• Accountable for the identification, research, and analysis of end to end business, processes, and technology support opportunities.
• Develops and oversees metrics for technology support capabilities and/or processes (KPIs, KRIs, etc.).
• Creates a multi-year plan to operationalize a technology support strategy, with key milestones, deliverables, and realization targets.
• Oversees the creation and execution of departmental budgets and forecasts for applicable technology support function.
• Oversees the availability management of technology solutions / domains by applying strong change and incident management practices.
• Works across multiple functional areas and influences future business strategy to be able to best utilize available technology support functions as well as future ones.
• Stays abreast of industry trends and understands the direction of applicable technology support capabilities and ensures technology environment is agile enough to change quickly to support.
• Builds successful stakeholder relationships with other IT and business leaders by developing a clear understanding of business needs, acting as a trusted advisor, and ensuring cost-effective delivery of technology support services to meet those needs.
• Builds and oversees a team of employees for assigned functional area through ongoing execution of recruiting, development, retention, coaching and support, performance management, and managerial activities.
• Ensures risks associated with business activiti