IT Quality Assurance - Senior/Specialist

State of Washington; Olympia (WA); Hybrid; USD 93,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

State of Washington, DCYF IT division, is seeking an IT Quality Assurance Senior/Specialist to lead QA activities across projects in Olympia, WA. The role focuses on designing testing strategies, crafting acceptance criteria, and building both manual and automated scripts to ensure high-quality software delivery.

The ideal candidate has extensive experience in testing and QA leadership, with a strong background in automated testing, performance testing, usability, and accessibility.

Qualifications

• Ten years of testing experience in a software development environment.
• Or a bachelor's degree and seven years of testing experience in a software development environment.
• AND: action to learn and grow; action to meet the needs of others.

Responsibilities

• Manage test activities on assigned project teams.
• Leads, mentors, and coaches lower-level testers by reviewing their work and solving problems.
• Represent QA in agile team meetings to refine acceptance criteria.
• Research requirements to design test plans for each release.
• Create system and business test cases, system test scripts, and data.
• Conduct usability testing to verify UI standards and ADA compliance.
• Oversee test resources and environments; coordinate test activities.
• Develop, maintain and execute manual and automated test scripts.
• Conduct User Acceptance Testing with complex dependency data.
• Develop performance and stress tests using automated tools.
• Oversee 5 IT QA Journey positions in day-to-day testing.
• Track test results using the incident tracking application.

Skills

QA Testing

Automation Testing

Leadership

Agile

Test Planning

Performance Testing

Security Testing

Education

Bachelor's degree in software testing or related field

Job description

Our vision is to ensure that “Washington state’s children and youth grow up safe and healthy—thriving physically, emotionally and educationally, nurtured by family and community."

Job Title: IT Quality Assurance- Senior/Specialist

Location: Olympia, WA, Thurston County (Flexible/Hybrid)

Closes: October 20th, 2026

Salary: $92,760.00 - $124,752.00 Annually

IT plays an important role in helping DCYF support children, youth, and families by providing the technology and systems staff need to deliver effective services. From supporting social workers and Juvenile Rehabilitation facilities to developing innovative solutions, DCYF IT helps staff work more efficiently and improve outcomes for children and families across Washington.

The Opportunity:

This position leads Quality Assurance (QA) Test activities for assigned projects and plays a critical role in the DCYF IT software development process. It is responsible for designing and executing comprehensive testing strategies, including defining test approaches, developing acceptance criteria, creating and managing test data, and building both manual and automated test scripts. The role independently evaluates software solutions and development processes to ensure they meet business objectives, while identifying defects, risks, and opportunities for improvement. It also involves analyzing performance and security, maintaining test artifacts, and leveraging advanced tools and methods to support high-quality, reliable system delivery.

Some of what you will get to do:

• Manage test activities on assigned project teams.
• Leads, mentors, and coaches lower-level testers by assigning and reviewing their work, providing advanced support in complex problem-solving.
• Represent QA in agile team meetings and design sessions to collaborate with development staff on test approach and to refine acceptance criteria.
• Research system requirements, user stories, topic papers, technical documents, and design documents to design test plans for each release.
• Create system and business relevant test cases, system test scripts & dependency data.
• Conduct usability testing to verify software meets UI standards and complies with ADA requirements.
• Oversee test resources, maintain shared test environments, and coordinate test activities.
• Develop, maintain and execute manual and automated test scripts, run system batches and coordinate testing with interface partners.
• Conduct User Acceptance Testing by setting up complex dependency data and validating potential incidents.
• Develop and conduct performance and stress tests using automated testing tools.
• Oversee 5 IT QA Journey positions in performing day-to-day QA testing activities.
• Track test results, document outcomes using the incident tracking application.

Required Qualifications:

Ten years of testing experience in a software development environment such as: writing manual and automated test scripts, executing test scripts, smoke test, system test, performance test, regression test, user-acceptance test.

OR

A bachelor's degree and 7 years of testing experience in a software development environment such as: writing manual and automated test scripts, executing test scripts, smoke test, system test, performance test, regression test, user-acceptance test.

AND

• The ability to take action to learn and grow.
• The ability to take action to meet the needs of others.

Additional Qualifications:

• Five years of experience in leading QA test projects such as; coding automated test scripts, design test automation platform, executing test scripts, generating test data, managing user acceptance test programs, troubleshooting test systems, running bug triage meetings, evaluating conformance to technical requirements. (may be gained concurrently with the experience above).

*Experience may be gained concurrently.

Preferred/Desirable Competency Statement

• Demonstrated ability to learn and apply emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, in a public sector environment
• Ability to evaluate automated or AI-generated outputs for accuracy, fairness, and appropriateness
• Understanding of data governance, privacy, and ethical considerations in technology use
• Commitment to continuous learning and adaptation to evolving technologies

The Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) is committed to Washington’s children and youth growing up safe, healthy, and thriving. We invite all candidates to join us in our mission to create a diverse and equitable workplace that reflects the communities we serve. If you are excited about this role but you believe that your education and/or experience might not align perfectly with every qualification in the job posting, we encourage you to apply anyway.

The Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, race, creed, color, national origin, honorably discharged veteran or military status, or the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability or the use of a trained service animal by a person with a disability.

This recruitment may be used to fill multiple vacancies.

DCYF participates in the federal E-Verify program. The selected candidate must provide proof of identity and authorization to work in the United States, consistent with E-Verify requirements, on their first day of employment.