Quality assurance engineers are often thought of as bug hunters, testing technology to make sure it doesn’t glitch. At PNC, they are so much more.
As a QA engineering director, Sheela Raju says her teams are focused on people, processes and technology, and no component is more important than the other.
Prior to working at PNC, she did QA engineer consulting. After she joined PNC, her career grew and she flourished. Raju has been at the helm of QA testing for high-stakes periods of transition, spearheading QA testing for major systems conversions during two significant bank acquisitions.
One factor she feels contributed to that growth was her willingness to continuously volunteer for projects that were out of scope from her traditional role, helping her grow her skills and expose her to new challenges. She believes QA engineers should maintain out-of-the-box thinking and be willing to stretch themselves. Her skills evolved so that she could become a quality advocate, process designer, risk manager, customer experience protector and partner in development as a QA engineer.
“You gain visibility into the entire product lifecycle. While other teams operate in a particular component of the application, a QA engineer maintains a ‘360-degree view,’” she said.
Paul Smock, a QA engineering manager who has been at PNC for 44 years, agrees. In his experience, an ideal QA engineer candidate is experienced in testing as well as technology. It’s the perfect pairing, but not a combination you commonly find. At PNC, he says you can come with a tech background, and we can teach you how to create that testing mindset.
“Developers don’t tend to think like a tester. To find somebody who is a combination who can use tech, do automation, but then also think like a tester — what a customer might do wrong, what pushes a limit, the ways in which things could be broken — is very important,” Smock said.
He started at PNC years ago, sorting checks for check processing, and had the opportunity to navigate across a variety of roles, elevating from a supervisor to a manager. He was managing budgets when he discovered QA engineering and has stuck with it, as he found the work both interesting and challenging.
Hemamalini Balasundaram, a QA engineering manager who has been at PNC for 11 years, encourages anyone interested in her tradecraft to explore both computer science and engineering.
In her role, the focus is to support technology teams, so they can ultimately deliver software solutions. She balances collaboration, delivery, automation and governance, with the goal of achieving confidence that the teams deliver stable, reliable software.
She says the key to her success is ensuring quality is a consideration during the entire software development lifecycle. To do so, QA engineers partner with developers and collaborate and communicate effectively with them about key challenges and opportunities. That way, quality is never an afterthought.
“Testing at PNC involves end-to-end integration. We don’t simply test individual components. Rather, we validate how the systems interact from upstream to downstream applications. We do this to ensure data flows correctly and the business process functions as expected,” Balasundaram said.
These three leaders have each held QA engineering roles for more than a decade at PNC. And they all credit the supportive culture as the element that has allowed them to grow as QA engineers and as leaders.
Balasundaram said as the tech constantly evolves, PNC proactively incorporates modern engineering practices and is actively seeking ways to introduce more automation and leverage artificial intelligence. So, the growth for the company and its QA engineers is continuous.
“Our work has a real impact. Applications are used by our customers every day and it is a critical tool in their financial life. It’s much more than testing. It allows us to have design discussions, risk decisions, and our work is both challenging and rewarding,” she said.
She also credits PNC’s strong leadership for her long tenure. She said she was always treated respectfully, right from the beginning. Raju said she has been able to achieve a work-life balance at PNC she may not have been able to find elsewhere.
All this boils down to what Smock says is PNC’s commitment to its core values. Not all places walk the walk the way PNC does.
“We have had good management who have had the foresight to change what needed to be changed and keep those things that are important. It helps you to be more focused,” Smock said.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do QA engineers do at PNC?
QA engineers at PNC focus on people, processes and technology to ensure quality is built into the entire software development lifecycle. They perform end-to-end integration testing across upstream and downstream systems, partner closely with developers, participate in design and risk discussions, and maintain a “360-degree view” of the product lifecycle.
How does PNC support QA engineer growth?
PNC supports growth through a culture rooted in respect, strong leadership and opportunities to stretch beyond traditional role boundaries. Leaders highlight volunteering for out-of-scope projects, navigating different roles and adopting modern engineering practices as key drivers of continuous career development.
What tools or practices do QA teams use at PNC?
QA teams use automation and modern engineering practices, and PNC is actively introducing more automation and leveraging artificial intelligence. Testing emphasizes end-to-end integration rather than isolated component testing to ensure systems interact correctly and business processes function as expected.
What qualities does PNC look for in QA engineer candidates?
PNC values candidates who combine technical skills with a testing mindset — including the ability to think like a customer, anticipate edge cases and identify how systems might break. While experience in both technology and testing is ideal, leaders note that candidates with a strong technical background can be taught to develop the testing mindset.
