Lead QA Engineer

Your Opportunity

At Schwab, you're empowered to make an impact on your career. Here, innovative thought meets creative problem solving, helping us "challenge the status quo" and transform the finance industry together.

We believe in the importance of in-office collaboration and fully intend for the selected candidate for this role to work on site in the specified location(s).

This role supports Charles Schwab's Risk Management Technology modernization efforts by strengthening quality engineering across business-critical risk platforms. The position focuses on validating regulatory controls, risk workflows, approvals, precheck services, data movement, and release readiness across both legacy and modernized applications. The individual in this role will partner closely with product, engineering, and business teams to improve control integrity, increase release confidence, and help advance scalable quality practices across the platform lifecycle.

What you are good at

Deep expertise in quality engineering across risk technology platforms, with strong experience validating business-critical workflows, regulatory controls, data integrity, and end-to-end system behavior.

Strong hands-on background in test automation using Java, Selenium WebDriver, TestNG, Cucumber, Maven, and Jenkins, with the ability to build and scale maintainable automation frameworks.

Solid command of software delivery and quality lifecycles, including SDLC, STLC, Agile execution, release validation, defect governance, and production-readiness practices.

Proven ability to translate requirements, user stories, and technical designs into effective test strategies, traceability, coverage models, and reusable test assets.

Experience validating service-oriented and API-driven architectures, including REST and SOAP services, to ensure reliable integration across modernized application ecosystems.

Strong database and migration validation skills using SQL across Oracle, MySQL, SQL Server, and cloud-based environments, with focus on data reconciliation and downstream integrity.

Working knowledge of hybrid, keyword-driven, data-driven, and behavior-driven automation approaches that support modernization, repeatability, and long-term maintainability.

Strong quality governance discipline with experience managing defects, execution reporting, and release risk using tools such as Jira, HP ALM, and Quality Center.

Effective cross-functional collaboration with engineers, analysts, product partners, and business stakeholders to improve delivery quality across modernization initiatives.

Strong analytical thinking, risk-based prioritization, and communication skills, with the ability to operate effectively in complex, fast-moving enterprise delivery environments.

What you''ll do

Lead quality engineering efforts for risk technology applications supporting business-critical workflows, regulatory controls, and enterprise risk decisioning.

Design and execute functional, regression, integration, system, and end-to-end test strategies that strengthen release confidence across modernized platforms.

Build, enhance, and maintain scalable automation frameworks using Java, Selenium, TestNG, Cucumber, Maven, and Jenkins to improve coverage, speed, and repeatability.

Partner with product, engineering, and business teams to translate requirements into high-value test scenarios, acceptance criteria, and risk-based coverage.

Create and maintain test strategies, plans, cases, data sets, and traceability artifacts that support disciplined delivery across modernization programs.

Validate APIs, services, and integration points across distributed systems to ensure stable connectivity, accurate data exchange, and resilient application behavior.

Perform database and migration validation to confirm data accuracy, reconciliation, and control integrity across legacy and modernized data flows.

Drive defect triage, root-cause visibility, and execution reporting with clear communication of quality signals, release risk, and readiness status.

Support Agile delivery through sprint planning, execution tracking, release coordination, and close collaboration with cross-functional teams.

Ensure quality across user interfaces, backend services, and non-production environments while supporting production-aligned validation for critical releases.

Contribute to release validation and operational readiness by ensuring coverage of key workflows, control points, and failure scenarios before deployment.

Help advance the modernization framework by standardizing automation practices, improving regression efficiency, and strengthening quality engineering across the platform lifecycle.

What you have

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in software testing and quality engineering, including strong hands-on experience in both manual and automation testing.
• Experience supporting enterprise financial services, banking, or risk technology platforms with strong expectations for control integrity, stability, and release quality.
• Strong automation expertise using Java, Selenium WebDriver, TestNG, Cucumber, Maven, and Jenkins.
• Experience designing and executing functional, regression, integration, system, API, database, and end-to-end testing for complex enterprise applications.
• Strong understanding of SDLC, STLC, Agile delivery, defect lifecycle management, and release readiness practices.
• Experience developing test strategies, test plans, test cases, traceability artifacts, and reusable automation assets aligned to business and technical requirements.
• Hands-on experience testing REST and SOAP services using tools such as Postman, SoapUI, Rest Assured, or comparable API testing tools.
• Strong SQL and database validation skills with experience testing data integrity, migration outcomes, and backend processing across Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, or cloud-based environments.
• Experience using Jira, HP ALM, or Quality Center for defect tracking, execution management, and quality reporting.
• Ability to partner effectively with product, engineering, business analysts, and QA teams to support risk-based testing, issue resolution, and release confidence.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting Charles Schwab or similar risk management platforms, including workflows tied to issuer limits, concentration limits, approvals, counterparty exposure, or regulatory reporting.
• Experience validating modernization initiatives involving legacy-to-modern platform transitions, redesigned data models, or migration of risk-related workflows.
• Knowledge of risk controls, approval workflows, exception processing, and business-rule validation within regulated enterprise environments.
• Experience with hybrid, keyword-driven, data-driven, or behavior-driven automation frameworks that improve scalability and reuse.
• Experience validating precheck services, service orchestration, or API-driven integrations across distributed systems.
• Strong understanding of release governance, operational readiness, and production-aligned validation for critical business applications.
• Ability to identify quality gaps early, communicate release risk clearly, and drive pragmatic improvements to automation and regression efficiency.
• Experience mentoring QA engineers or coordinating testing assignments across multiple modules, workstreams, or sprint deliverables.

In addition to the base pay range, this role is also eligible for bonus or incentive opportunities.