Manager - Quality Assurance & Engineering

Church Mutual Insurance Company, S.I.; Merrill (WI); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Church Mutual Insurance Company, S.I. is seeking an IT Quality Assurance & Engineering Manager to lead the quality engineering strategy, testing practices, automation frameworks, and governance across IT.

You will guide a team of QA analysts, test automation engineers, and quality professionals ensuring reliability, performance, security, and business readiness of technology solutions enterprise-wide. The role partners with Development, Product, Enterprise Architecture, Infrastructure,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related field.
• 7+ years of quality assurance, software testing, or quality engineering experience.
• 3+ years of leadership experience managing QA, testing, or engineering teams.
• Experience establishing enterprise testing standards and governance processes.
• Strong understanding of Agile, DevOps, and modern software delivery practices.
• Experience implementing and scaling test automation frameworks.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and leadership skills.
• Experience within the Property & Casualty insurance industry preferred.
• Experience supporting policy administration, claims, billing, digital, or customer-facing insurance platforms preferred.
• Experience with Guidewire PolicyCenter, BillingCenter, or ClaimCenter testing practices preferred.
• Experience supporting cloud-based technology platforms and digital transformations preferred.
• Knowledge of regulatory and compliance considerations within the insurance industry preferred.
• Relevant certifications are preferred, such as ISTQB Certified Tester, Certified Agile Tester, Certified Scrum Master, SAFe Agilist, Certified Quality Engineer (ASQ).

Responsibilities

• Establish and maintain the enterprise Quality Engineering strategy, vision, and roadmap.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of quality assurance analysts and test engineers.
• Build a culture of quality, continuous improvement, accountability, and operational excellence.
• Define quality objectives and KPIs across IT delivery teams.
• Drive adoption of modern testing methodologies, automation practices, and quality engineering principles.
• Develop and maintain enterprise testing frameworks, methodologies, standards, and best practices.
• Establish testing policies and quality gates for projects, enhancements, and production releases.
• Define entry, exit, and acceptance criteria across the software development lifecycle.
• Ensure all technology teams follow established quality assurance and testing standards.
• Lead quality governance reviews for strategic projects and major technology initiatives.
• Develop testing templates, procedures, and quality documentation standards.
• Oversee planning and execution of functional, integration, regression, UAT, performance, security, accessibility, and release validation testing.
• Ensure test coverage and traceability from requirements to delivery.
• Monitor and improve defect prevention, detection, and remediation practices.
• Establish enterprise automation strategies and testing frameworks.
• Drive adoption of automated testing across applications, APIs, integrations, and digital platforms.
• Develop standards for test automation tools, frameworks, and reporting.
• Partner with development teams to integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines.
• Increase automation coverage while improving release quality and speed.
• Collaborate with DevOps to embed quality controls into deployment pipelines.
• Define and track quality metrics and trends.
• Lead post-implementation reviews and root cause analysis activities.
• Evaluate and manage quality engineering tools and platforms.
• Lead vendor selection and implementation related to testing and quality management.
• Manage relationships with third-party testing partners and consulting organizations.
• Ensure tools support enterprise quality objectives and technology strategies.
• Ensure testing activities support regulatory, compliance, and audit requirements.
• Partner with Cybersecurity and Risk Management to validate controls.
• Support audits by providing testing documentation and evidence.
• Develop testing approaches for business continuity and disaster recovery validation.

Skills

Quality assurance

Software testing

Quality engineering

Leadership

Agile

DevOps

Test automation

Communication

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related field

Tools

Guidewire PolicyCenter

Guidewire BillingCenter

Guidewire ClaimCenter

Job description

What You’ll Be Doing

The IT Quality Assurance & Engineering Manager is responsible for establishing and leading the quality engineering strategy, testing practices, automation frameworks, and quality governance processes across the IT organization. This role leads a team of quality assurance analysts, test automation engineers, and quality engineering professionals responsible for ensuring the reliability, performance, security, and business readiness of technology solutions delivered throughout the enterprise.

What You’ll Be Doing

The IT Quality Assurance & Engineering Manager is responsible for establishing and leading the quality engineering strategy, testing practices, automation frameworks, and quality governance processes across the IT organization. This role leads a team of quality assurance analysts, test automation engineers, and quality engineering professionals responsible for ensuring the reliability, performance, security, and business readiness of technology solutions delivered throughout the enterprise. The manager serves as the organization’s quality leader, developing testing standards, quality metrics, automation strategies, and best practices that enable consistent, scalable, and efficient software delivery. This position partners closely with Development Managers, Product Owners, Enterprise Architecture, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, and business stakeholders to embed quality throughout the software development lifecycle.

Primary Job Responsibilities

Quality Engineering Leadership

• Establish and maintain the enterprise Quality Engineering strategy, vision, and roadmap.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of quality assurance analysts and test engineers.
• Build a culture of quality, continuous improvement, accountability, and operational excellence.
• Define quality objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs) across IT delivery teams.
• Drive adoption of modern testing methodologies, automation practices, and quality engineering principles.

Quality Framework & Governance

• Develop and maintain enterprise testing frameworks, methodologies, standards, and best practices.
• Establish testing policies and quality gates for projects, enhancements, and production releases.
• Define entry, exit, and acceptance criteria across the software development lifecycle.
• Ensure all technology teams follow established quality assurance and testing standards.
• Lead quality governance reviews for strategic projects and major technology initiatives.
• Develop and maintain templates, procedures, and quality documentation standards.

Test Strategy & Execution

• Oversee planning and execution of:
• Functional testing
• Integration testing
• Regression testing
• User acceptance testing
• Performance testing
• Security testing
• Accessibility testing
• Release validation testing
• Ensure appropriate test coverage and traceability from business requirements through solution delivery.
• Monitor and improve defect prevention, detection, and remediation practices.

Test Automation & Engineering

• Establish enterprise automation strategies and testing frameworks.
• Drive adoption of automated testing across applications, APIs, integrations, and digital platforms.
• Develop standards for test automation tools, frameworks, and reporting.
• Partner with development teams to integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines.
• Increase automation coverage while improving release quality and speed.

DevOps & Continuous Improvement

• Collaborate with DevOps teams to embed quality controls into deployment pipelines.
• Define and track quality metrics including:
• Defect leakage
• Test coverage
• Automation coverage
• Production incidents
• Release quality
• Mean time to resolution
• Analyze trends and recommend process improvements.
• Lead post-implementation reviews and root cause analysis activities.

Vendor & Tool Management

• Evaluate and manage quality engineering tools and platforms.
• Lead vendor selection and implementation efforts related to testing and quality management.
• Manage relationships with third-party testing partners and consulting organizations.
• Ensure tools support enterprise quality objectives and technology strategies.

Risk, Compliance & Audit Support

• Ensure testing activities support regulatory, compliance, and audit requirements.
• Partner with Cybersecurity and Risk Management teams to validate appropriate controls.
• Support internal and external audits by providing testing documentation and evidence.
• Develop testing approaches for business continuity and disaster recovery validation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related field.
• 7+ years of quality assurance, software testing, or quality engineering experience.
• 3+ years of leadership experience managing QA, testing, or engineering teams.
• Experience establishing enterprise testing standards and governance processes.
• Strong understanding of Agile, DevOps, and modern software delivery practices.
• Experience implementing and scaling test automation frameworks.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and leadership skills.
• Experience within the Property & Casualty insurance industry preferred.
• Experience supporting policy administration, claims, billing, digital, or customer-facing insurance platforms preferred.
• Experience with Guidewire PolicyCenter, BillingCenter, or ClaimCenter testing practices preferred.
• Experience supporting cloud-based technology platforms and digital transformations preferred.
• Knowledge of regulatory and compliance considerations within the insurance industry preferred.
• Relevant certifications are preferred, such as:
• ISTQB Certified Tester
• Certified Agile Tester
• Certified Scrum Master
• SAFe Agilist
• Certified Quality Engineer (ASQ)

Work Environment

• Professional office environment. Regularly uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines.
• Regularly required to communicate; sit; stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle or feel; and reach with hands and arms.

Church Mutual is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

Exact compensation will vary based on consideration of a variety of factors including education, skills, experience, and location.