Lead Quality Engineer

FHLBank Chicago; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 108,000 - 181,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive PTO

Retirement plan (401k and Pension)

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Lifestyle Spending Account

Job summary

Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago seeks a Lead Quality Engineer to push an automation-first, engineering-led quality model across agile teams. You will design, implement, and govern test plans, automation frameworks, and quality gates, partnering with product, security, and operations to ensure built-in quality.

You will mentor SDETs, lead test data and environment strategies, and promote modern QA practices including AI-assisted testing and DevSecOps integration.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field.
• 10+ years in Quality Engineering or SDET roles.
• Experience designing and leading automated testing
• Hands-on coding with OO languages
• Strong knowledge of CI/CD and DevSecOps practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Quality Engineering strategy across multiple agile teams.
• Design, develop, and maintain scalable test plans and automation frameworks.
• Mentor junior QA engineers and SDETs, driving best practices.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Security, and Operations for quality ownership.

Skills

SDET

Quality engineering

Team leadership

Test automation

CI/CD

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related

Tools

Selenium

Playwright

API testing

Azure DevOps

Job description

At the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, employees come first - that’s why we offer a highly competitive compensation and bonus package, and access to a comprehensive benefits program designed to meet the needs of our employees.

• Collaborative, in-office operating model

• Retirement program (401k and Pension)

• Medical, dental and vision insurance

• Lifestyle Spending Account

• Competitive PTO plan

11 paid holidays per year

What you’ll do

OurLead Quality Engineeris responsible foradvancing the Bank’s quality engineering capabilities by shifting from traditional test execution toward an automation-first, engineering-led quality modeldriving built-in qualityend to end. This role combines hands-on technical deliverylikean experienced SDET withteam leadership,qualitygovernanceandmentoring across agile delivery teams.The role designs, develops, and maintainsEnd to EndTestPlans, scalable automated test frameworks; integrates continuous testing into CI/CD pipelines; and partners with developers, product owners, business analysts, security, architecture, operations, and risk stakeholders to ensure quality is built into every phase of the SDLC.

The position helps enable the Bank’s modern engineering transformation through test automation,Performance testing, test environment, testdataandDevSecOpspractices. EnablesAI-assisted delivery, secure pipeline controls, DORA-aligned metrics, and quality ownership across product teams.This role is expected to be both hands-onmanual, automationand supervisory: directly contributing toTest plans,automation frameworks, test strategy, code review, CI/CD quality gates, and technical problem-solving, while also coaching Quality Engineers / SDETs, influencing standards, and helping product teams adopt modern quality practices.

How you’ll make an impact:

• Elevate Summit quality and release confidence by designing and executing robust manual and automated test strategies for Summit and its complex integrations—ensuring stable, scalable, and defect-resistant releases.

• Accelerate delivery through automation and data excellence by strengthening Selenium/Playwright and API automation frameworks while implementing reliable test data creation, masking, and refresh strategies across multi-org Summit environments. In addition to using industry standard test automation tools, the candidate will be expected to learn and use the Test Management System (TMS), a Summit proprietary test automation tool.

• Reduce production risk and defects by validating accounting data, payment flows, end-to-end workflows, integrations, and data integrity using SQL and API testing, while proactively identifying issues early in the Agile lifecycle.

• Strengthen QA maturity and team capability by mentoring junior QA engineers, driving best practices in quality engineering, and continuously improving QA processes, standards, and reporting through Azure DevOps.

What you can expect:

• Lead the Quality Engineering strategycross-teamand end to end,Test Managementfor all test engineering approaches(Functional, Regression, SIT, E2E, UAT ,Perfornance/Load, Test Data, Test Environment),test automation architecture,Exploratoryand continuous testing practices across agile product teams, ensuring quality is built into every stage of the SDLC.

• Architect,Design, develop, and maintain scalableTest plans andautomated test frameworks and reusable quality engineering solutions supporting functional, API, integration, end-to-end, performance, and non-functional testing.

• Define and implement quality engineering strategiesand best practicesacross agile teams, includingsystem architecture review,test pyramid alignment, risk-based automation, test data strategy, environment readiness, traceability, and release quality criteria.

• Partner with Product, Engineering, Architecture, Security, Infrastructure, and Operations teams to drive shared ownership of quality, defect prevention,testability, non-functional requirementsand production readiness.

• Build, Integrateand maintain automated tests using strong coding practices,quality gates,reusable libraries, page/object models, service-level test patterns, test data utilities, and CI/CD-ready execution modelsto enable rapid, reliable, and secure software delivery.Support DevSecOps transformation by embedding security and quality controls into the SDLC.

• Collaborate with developers, architects, product owners, business analysts, security, infrastructure, operations, and risk/compliance stakeholders to validate requirements, acceptance criteria, design quality, and production readiness.

• Review user stories, acceptance criteria, architecture designs, API contracts, data flows, and technical specifications to identifytest scenarios.risks, improve testability, and prevent defects earlier in the lifecycle.

• Establish, Measure/Monitor and communicate quality metrics such as automation coverage, escaped defects, defect trends, test effectiveness, pipeline quality gate results, deployment readiness, and DORA-aligned delivery outcomes.

• Review user stories, acceptance criteria, architecture designs, API contracts, data flows, and technical specifications to identify risks, improve testability, and prevent defects earlier in the lifecycle.Lead root-cause analysis and continuous improvement initiatives, driving systemic solutions that reduce risk, improve reliability, and strengthen engineering outcomes.

• Support audit readiness and regulatory expectations by ensuring quality processes produce traceable evidence, controlled approvals, policy-aligned gates, and measurable risk reduction.

• Mentor, coach,provide supervisory support and technical leadership to Quality Engineers, SDETs, and other engineering team members while supporting talent development, performance, prioritization, and delivery execution.

• Champion& Promotemodern engineering capabilities including AI-assisted testing, GitHub Copilot adoption, reusable automation assets,human-in-the-loop quality controlsand enterprise quality engineering transformation initiatives.

What you’ll bring:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline; equivalent experience may be considered.

• 10+ years of experience in Quality Engineering,Test planning,Software Development Engineering in Test (SDET), Test Automation, Software Engineering,Test Managementend to endor related technology disciplines.

• 5+ years of experience mentoring, coaching, or supervisory oversight to Quality Engineers, SDETs, or software delivery teams.

• Experience designing, implementing, and maintaining enterprise-scale automated test frameworks and quality engineering solutionsfor API/Web/ERP/Mobile/CRM/Salesforce/SaaS/Summit/Data/EDW/Batch processes/Financial systems orSimilar.

• Strong hands-on programming experience using object-oriented languages such as C#, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, or equivalent.

• Experience with modern test automation frameworks including Playwright, Selenium, Appium, SpecFlow/Cucumber, API automation frameworks,BDDand service virtualization tools.

• Experience integrating automated testing and quality controls into CI/CD pipelines using platforms such as GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, Jenkins, or similar technologies.

• Strong experience testing APIs, web applications, cloud-native solutions, databases, and integrated enterprise platforms.

• Experience with performance/load test, test environment/data TDEM management, security, and non-functional testing practices.

• Experience with source control, code review, branching strategies, and modern engineering workflows using GitHub and/or Azure DevOps.

• Working knowledge of relational databases including PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, or similar technologies.

• Experience with cloud platforms such as AWSor comparable environments,microservices andEvent based architectures, domain model understanding.

• Familiarity with DevSecOps tooling and practices, including code quality, security scanning, software supply chain controls, and automated quality gates.

• Professional certifications such as ISTQB, CSTE, CSQA, Certified Agile Tester, AWS, Azure, or equivalent certifications are a plus.

• Experience within a banking, financial services, or other regulated industry is preferred.

• RequiredTechnical Experience:

• C#, TypeScript, Python(optional – Java Script/Python)

• Playwright, Selenium, Specflow

• API Automation & Testing-Postman, Swagger/OpenAPI

• GitHub, Azure DevOps, CI/CD Pipelines, GitHub Actions

• PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server

• AWS and/orcomparable cloud solutions & architectures

• Performance Testing-Artillery, Gatling, JMeter

• TestEnvironment/Data Management-Tonic.ai or equivalent

• Security Testing and DevSecOps Tooling

• GitHub Copilot and AI-assisted engineering tools

• Deep understanding of modern Quality Engineering, automation-first testing, continuous testing, shift-left practices, and defect prevention.Strategic Thinking beyondday to day test delivery.

• Ability to do hands-on coding, scripting, and automation framework design capabilities.

• Requires working knowledge of SDLC, Agile or Hybrid, DevOps, TDD, BDD, DevSecOps, CI/CD, and modern engineering delivery practices.

• Ability to embed automated quality checks, test coverage, release readiness controls, and quality gates into delivery pipelines.

• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, SQL/data validation, and root-cause analysis skills.

• Ability to communicate quality risks, technical issues, and delivery impacts clearly to both technical and business stakeholders.

• Strong collaboration skills across Product, Engineering, Architecture, Security, Operations, Risk, and Compliance teams.

• Ability to plan, prioritize, estimate, and execute work effectively in a fast-paced delivery environment.

• Knowledge of banking, financial services, audit, regulatory, and risk-control expectations is preferred.

• Demonstrated leadership, project management, mentoring, coaching, problem-solving and team enablement capabilities.

Expert/Advanced Competencies-

• Quality Engineering Practices

• Quality Engineering Strategy / KPIs / DORA

• E2E Test Planning and Test Planning

• Test Management in ADO

• Functional Testing, API Testing, System Integration Testing / SIT

• End-to-End Testing, UAT / Business Validation Support

• Test Automation of Functional, Regression, Integration, E2E

• Regression Test Automation Optimization & Integrated in pipelines

• Test Framework development & Maintenance / Harness Development

• Test Data Management, Test Environment Readiness & Validation, TDEM

• Ephemeral Test Environments / IaC, Cloud Fundamentals / Containers

• Service Mocking / Service Virtualization, SQL & Backend Data Validation

• CI/CD Pipeline Testing & Quality Gates

• Release Management / Deployment Readiness

• Performance, Load & Reliability Testing

• Software Monitoring / Event Management / Operational Validation

• Incident / Problem Management / RCA

• Defect Management, Defect Prevention & Detection

• Shift-Left / Shift-Right Testing

• Agile / Secure SDLC Practices

• DevOps / DevSecOps Practices, TDD / BDD

• Architecture & Technical Specifications Review

• Testability Analysis, Work Planning / Estimation / Prioritization

• Stakeholder Communication / Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Mentoring / Technical Guidance,Technical Leadership / Coaching

Intermediate Competencies-

• Software Development / Unit Testing Awareness

• Project Management / Requirements Management

• Security Testing and Analysis

• AI-Assisted Engineering and Testing

Salary Range:

$108,450.00 - $180,825.00

The above represents the expected salary range for this job requisition. Ultimately, in determining your pay, we may also consider your experience, and other job-related factors. In addition to the base salary, we offer a comprehensive benefits package which can be found here: https://hrportal.ehr.com/fhlbc