Financial System Quality Assurance Testing Lead-PSA (Public Service Administrator)

Position Overview

COME JOIN A TRANSFORMATIVE TEAM, with a record of proven, positive impact to the State of Illinois.

The Illinois Office of the Comptroller is seeking applicants for the position of Financial System QA Testing Lead (Public Service Administrator).

The Comptroller is the chief fiscal control officer for the Illinois government, charged by the Constitution with maintaining the state’s central fiscal accounts and ordering payments into and out of the appropriate funds. The office processes more than 16 million transactions annually and serves as a “fiscal watchdog” to ensure that all state payments meet the requirements of the law. The Comptroller’s office provides meaningful and timely fiscal information to help state policymakers adopt effective policies. The office continually seeks new ways to improve how it serves the public. The Comptroller has updated and streamlined the Comptroller’s website and has led the process of updating the state’s payroll and accounting systems. Comptroller Mendoza is committed to running the Office of Comptroller as a financial watchdog for the interest of Illinois citizens and to installing the most modern and transparent systems to make the state’s financial information available to all. 

Major Function

Under direction from the State Accounting Systems Administration (SASA) Manager, the incumbent will lead and execute testing for large-scale projects that involve multiple stakeholders and work paths. The incumbent will provide structure for testing, coordinate with all testers, and communicate to leadership and external stakeholders on testing status. The PSA will provide counsel and advice to State Accounting leadership for procedures, policies, best practices, and other items to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of testing. May act as the communication liasion for the State Accounting System Administration, for all internal and external stakeholders, including meetings, emails, and other communications. The incumbent will provide leadership, mentorship, direction, and support for assigned projects to the SASA team, which may include regular Software as a Service (SaaS) updates (containers), internal defects, and enhancement testing. The incumbent will assist in the development and implementation of new and revised policies and procedures, lead procedure development that impacts the entire agency or stakeholders outside of Office of Comptroller (IOC), develop and tracking testing plans and schedules; create various reports, review and evaluate the progress of projects and update action items to ensure leadership initiatives are executed. The incumbent develops and/or updates training materials as well as conduct training on new testing and programs and conduct research. May perform assignments that are highly sensitive or confidential in nature.

Job Responsibilities

• Creates, researches, plans, executes, and tracks testing, including but not limited to, regression testing, backlog management, SaaS containerized testing model, quality standards, testing approach, and results documentation.
  • Executes manual and automated tests
  • Analyzes results
  • Report and manage testing of defects for all financial sytems testing, supporting state accounting financial and interfacing systems
  • Assists with prioritizing testing needs and identifies and recommends modifications to operational processes and procedures as they relate to financial systems testing

• Creates reports and testing logs, monitors action items and conducts follow-up with testing teams
  • Reviews and evaluates the progress of testing
  • Documents technical changes and overall processes and/or procedures

• Assists in developing and implementing new or revised policies and procedures as they relate to testing
  • Assists with developing supporting policies, methods, procedures and forms to implement changes as they relate to testing

• Collaborates with  testers and leadership establishing schedules, assignments and workflow
  • Monitors deadlines for testers

• Uses knowledge of software testing methodologies, tools, and process, to provide counsel, direction, and advice on testing initiatives, development and State Accounitng initiatives

• Develops and/or updates training materials and conducts classroom or computer-based training for testing
  • Reviews completed training evaluation surveys to gather information for revisions and/or updates to training materials for testing

• Performs other related duties as required or assigned which are reasonably within the scope of duties

Minimum Requirements

• Requires knowledge, skill and mental development equivalent to completion of four (4) years of college with coursework in Accounting, Finance, Accounting Information Systems, Management Information Systems, Computer Science, Information Technology or directly related fields to this position which may include Business or Public Administration

• Requires three (3) years of progressively responsible experience in a public or business organization with direct experience in system testing. 

Preferred Qualifications

• Prefers a minimum of two (2) years experience in testing leadership.

• Prefers a minimum of one (1) year experience in project mangement or technical writing.

• Prefers a minimum of 12 credit hours of coursework in accounting for candidates without an accouniting degree or Project Management certification.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Requires thorough knowledge of the principles of software testing methodologies, tools, and processes, accounting and/or public and business administration, principles and practices preferred.
• Requires ability to plan and prioritize complex testing plans and to manage them from conception to conclusion, including indentifying and resolving problems to ensure testing accuracy and timelines.
• Requires strong communication with people of all levels in an organization, both verbal and in writing.
• Requires extensive knowledge of public and business administration, principles and practices.
• Requires extensive knowledge of office programs and service objectives, activities and operational systems.
• Requires ability to develop and maintain satisfactory working relationships  with employees, legislatures, judicial and executive branch officials, other office representatives and the general public.
• Prefers thorough knowledge of laws, administrative rules, regulations, procedures and policies governing the Office of Comptroller and the interpretation, implementation and application of laws.
• Prefers experience in a DevOps software application, such as Azure DevOps.
• Requires ability to develop and manage an office program and analyze problems and adopt an effective course of action.
• Requires ability to exercise judgement and discretion in developing, implementing, and interpreting departmental policies and procedures.
• Requires working knowledgeof personal computers and software.
• May require extensive knowledge of staff utilization and employee motivation.
• Requires willingness to understand both legacy systems (mainframe) as well as more modern object-oriented technologies (web).

Benefits

This position is eligible to be a member of the State of Illinois Group Insurance program which includes health, dental, vision, and life insurance coverage options. Additionally, this position will annually accrue 12 paid sick days, a minimum of 12 paid vacation days, 4 paid personal days, and be afforded 14 paid state holidays, prorated based on start date. 

Equal Employment and Commitment to Diversity

The Illinois Office of Comptroller provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, sex or gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age, disability, genetic information, service in the military, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws and ordinances. Equal employment opportunity applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leave of absence, compensation, and training. The Illinois Office of Comptroller is committed to the fair and equal employment of individuals with disabilities under the ADA. It is the Illinois Office of Comptroller's policy to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the company. The Illinois Office of Comptroller prohibits any harassment of, or discriminatory treatment of, employees or applicants based on a disability or because an employee has requested reasonable accommodation. 

The Illinois Office of Comptroller is committed to creating and maintaining a workplace in which all employees have an opportunity to participate and contribute to the success of the agency and are valued for their skills, experience, and unique perspectives. This commitment is embodied in agency policy and organizational culture.