Quality Assurance & Compliance Lead

Quality Assurance & Compliance Lead

The Quality Assurance & Compliance Lead supports the Case Management Modernization (CMM) Program for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO) by overseeing all aspects of quality assurance (QA), testing governance, and compliance verification across Agile and DevSecOps teams. This role ensures that CMM application components meet stringent federal standards for quality, performance, and security. The QA & Compliance Lead establishes consistent quality frameworks, enforces traceability, and validates adherence to program-level policies, regulations, and modernization objectives.

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Key Responsibilities:

· Lead the quality assurance strategy and governance framework for the CMM Dev modernization effort.

· Define and maintain test management standards, methodologies, and metrics aligned with Agile and SAFe delivery models.

· Oversee functional, integration, regression, performance, and security testing activities across all CMM applications.

· Ensure compliance with federal standards including Section 508 accessibility, FedRAMP security, and NIST controls.

· Coordinate with Product Owners, Developers, and Automation Test Engineers to validate acceptance criteria and test coverage.

· Establish and maintain traceability matrices linking requirements to test cases, defects, and validation artifacts.

· Support independent verification and validation (IV&V) processes and compliance audits.

· Review and approve test plans, results, and release readiness documents prior to production deployment.

· Define and track QA metrics (defect density, test pass rates, mean time to resolution) to drive continuous improvement.

· Promote shift-left testing, early defect detection, and alignment of QA practices with DevSecOps pipelines.

· Provide oversight for quality-related documentation, ensuring audit readiness and adherence to SOW deliverables.

Deliverable Alignment & Performance Outcomes:

• Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP): Defines standards, processes, and tools used for QA and compliance activities to ensure adherence to contract requirements.
• Traceability and Test Artifacts: Test cases, defect reports, and validation matrices aligned to requirements.
• Compliance Reports: Verification of Section 508, FedRAMP, FISMA, and NIST adherence for releases.
• Metrics Dashboards: Quality KPIs including test coverage, defect trends, and release readiness status.
• Performance Outcomes:
• Maintain ≥95% defect closure rate within each sprint or release.
• Achieve ≥98% compliance alignment across all system deliverables.
• Demonstrate ≤5% variance in test execution coverage across releases.
• Zero audit findings related to documentation or compliance artifacts.

Required Skills & Experience:

• 10+ years of experience in software testing and QA governance, with 5+ years in a lead or managerial capacity.
• Proven ability to implement QA frameworks supporting large-scale Agile or SAFe development programs.
• Deep understanding of federal compliance standards (FedRAMP, FISMA, NIST, Section 508).
• Experience defining test strategies for cloud-native and containerized applications on AWS or Azure.
• Familiarity with DevSecOps pipelines and continuous testing tools.
• Strong analytical and documentation skills with experience supporting IV&V and audit activities.
• Excellent leadership and stakeholder engagement capabilities.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience leading QA in federal cloud modernization or enterprise application transformation projects.
• Knowledge of performance and load testing methodologies (e.g., JMeter, LoadRunner).
• Familiarity with AI-driven testing and predictive analytics for quality optimization.
• Experience in Agile test management using Jira, TestRail, or Zephyr.
• Understanding of FinOps and Cloud Governance compliance reporting.

Certifications:

• Certified Software Quality Analyst (CSQA) or ISTQB Advanced Test Manager – preferred.
• SAFe Agile Product Quality or SAFe Practitioner – preferred.
• AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner or AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – beneficial.
• ITIL 4 Foundation or CMMI-DEV – a plus.

Tools & Technologies:

• Test management: Jira, Zephyr, TestRail, qTest.
• Automation and CI/CD: Selenium, Playwright, Jenkins, GitLab, SonarQube.
• Performance and monitoring: JMeter, LoadRunner, New Relic, Datadog.
• Compliance and documentation: Confluence, SharePoint, ServiceNow.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• 10+ years of general experience in information systems
• 8+ years of specialized experience
• Minimum Education: MA/MS
• Experience may be considered in lieu of degree as follows: HS (16+ years), AA/AS (14+ years), BA/BS (12+ years), Doctorate Degree/Ph.D. (9+ years)

COMMUNICATION & ORGANIZATIONAL

• Excellent presentation and communication (oral and written) skills.
• Consultant mindset with the ability to work with high level customer stakeholders and build excellent customer relationship.
• Experience identifying and applying industry tools, solutions, methods best practices, and emerging technologies.
• Strong analytical skills and problem-solving skills with the ability to formulate and communicate recommendations for improvement.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively, independently, and as part of a team.