Hackett Group - Functional Test Lead

Job Description : The QA Lead / QA Tester would lead the three-person QA team across the Product Development application portfolio with primary ownership a multi-tier enterprise platform built on Java/Spring services, a React single-page application, and a legacy Grails core. The role involves test execution, regression validation, data workflow testing, release-readiness coordination, and establishing QA standards, while coordinating test planning, release signoff, and defect triage across all three applications. Responsibilities : - Understand the values and vision of the organization. - Protect the Intellectual Property. - Adhere to all the policies and procedures. - Lead the QA team and coordinate test planning, release signoff, defect triage, and QA practices. - Define and enforce QA standards, test strategy, regression scope, and release-readiness criteria across the application portfolio. - Execute test plans, validate regression scope, support release-readiness checks, and perform production validation. - Validate complex business workflows involving data ingestion, validation, metric calculation, notifications, and user interaction. - Test RESTful APIs, backend services, database-driven workflows, scheduled jobs, and event-driven processing. - Perform test data setup, data validation, troubleshooting, and reconciliation using SQL. - Support UAT, defect triage, retesting, release signoff, and quality communication across product, development, and business stakeholders. - Validate modernization changes as the platform migrates away from legacy Grails/GSP, ActiveMQ/JMS, and Apache Storm components. - Use QA automation and AI-assisted tools where appropriate to accelerate test design, regression scripting, and test maintenance. - Mentor QA testers and support cross-training of QA resources across all three applications. Essential Skills : 1. Job : - 6-10 years of experience in QA, software testing, or quality engineering for enterprise web applications, with demonstrated QA leadership or team coordination experience. - Experience executing test plans, validating regression scope, supporting release-readiness checks, and performing production validation. - Strong ability to validate complex business workflows involving data ingestion, validation, metric calculation, notifications, and user interaction. - Experience testing RESTful APIs, backend services, database-driven workflows, scheduled jobs, and event-driven processing. - Strong SQL skills for test data setup, data validation, troubleshooting, and reconciliation. - Experience defining test strategy, test plans, test scope, and release-readiness criteria. - Ability to support UAT, defect triage, retesting, release signoff, and quality communication across stakeholders. 2. Personal : - Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage with all levels of employees and management. - Demonstrated leadership abilities in managing, mentoring, and guiding a QA team. - Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with attention to detail. - A proactive, ownership-driven approach to quality, release readiness, and process improvement. Preferred Skills : 1. Job : - Experience using QA automation or AI-assisted tools to accelerate test design, regression scripting, and test maintenance. - Experience with VersionOne, Jira, or equivalent Agile ticketing systems for test planning and defect tracking. - Familiarity with AWS-based platforms, messaging systems (SQS/SNS, JMS), and event-driven architectures. - Exposure to testing Java/Spring, React, and legacy Grails-based applications. Other Relevant Information : - Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field. - 6-10 years of experience in QA, software testing, or quality engineering, preferably for enterprise SaaS platforms. - Willingness to cross-train and provide QA coverage across multiple applications. .