The Role
The Quality Assurance Lead will ensure product quality through automation testing, UX validation, and data accuracy, while collaborating with various teams.
Summary Generated by Built In
We are looking for a Quality Assurance Lead who blends technical rigor with deep product instincts and an eye for smooth, delightful end-user experiences. This role is for someone who loves building scalable automated test systems and enjoys digging into the product experience to ensure every interaction—from the UI polish to the underlying data accuracy—is intuitive, secure, and reliable. You will collaborate closely with a small, cohesive team, including software engineers, data engineers, designers, and product managers, to build a robust platform that supports our mission to provide actionable insights for non-degree credentials.
As a Quality Assurance Lead at CredLens, you will own quality across the entire product lifecycle. This role requires a blend of automation mastery, data literacy, and a passion for user experience. You will be responsible for three core pillars of quality:
1. Automation Architecture & Delivery: Design, implement, and maintain scalable automated test frameworks and pipelines for web apps and APIs. You will integrate these checks into the CI/CD pipeline, guaranteeing a reliable state for continuous deployment.
2. Product & UX Integrity: Serve as the primary quality advocate, partnering with Design and Product to translate specs into clear, testable acceptance criteria. You will validate user flows end-to-end, actively identifying and flagging UX friction, usability gaps, and visual/copy inconsistencies.
3. Core Data Quality: Help maintain the high standards of reliability and trustworthiness required for our national data platform by closely partnering with Data Engineering and Data Science. You will audit that data flows correctly from the backend through to the platform, rigorously verifying the logic and accuracy of the calculations, dashboard visualizations, and data exports.
About CredLens
CredLens is a national data trust focused on delivering verified outcomes insights for non-degree credentials. We help a range of organizations, such as credential issuers, funders, and policymakers, address the critical data gaps that prevent them from fully marketing and scaling their impact. We are a mission-driven non-profit that operates like a fast-paced startup with aggressive goals and targets. Our work is based on the fundamental belief that every individual deserves the opportunity to make informed decisions about their career, and that better data illuminates paths and changes lives.
Key Responsibilities:
Testing & Automation
- Design and execute test plans for web apps, APIs, and data pipelines used to capture education outcomes.
- Perform thorough functional testing, with a strong emphasis on security, accessibility, and user experience.
- Design, implement, and maintain scalable automated test suites.
- Integrate automated tests into the CI/CD pipeline with the support of the DevOps team.
- Create and manage consistent test environments.
- Actively participate in the software development lifecycle from the initial stages, including requirements gathering and design discussions, to provide early QA feedback.
Product/UX Quality Lens
- Partner closely with product managers to understand user needs and ensure testing aligns with product goals.
- Partner closely with designers to turn design specifications into clear, testable acceptance criteria.
- Validate user flows end-to-end and flag UX friction, usability gaps, and visual/copy inconsistencies.
- Identify, document, and track software defects, working collaboratively with the development team to resolve them.
- Own regression testing, conducting thorough checks while designing, implementing, and maintaining an automated regression suite and strategy.
- Maintain documentation related to QA processes.
The Person: Qualifications and Experience
- Education: We care most about how you think, how you collaborate, and how you ensure quality — not just the tools you’ve used. Relevant certifications/credentials are highly valued, including in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, but not mandatory.
What We Are Looking For
- Experience in QA, Test Engineering, or other quality ownership roles (startup experience is a plus).
- Experience designing and implementing automated test frameworks (web, API, or data pipelines) or a willingness to develop coding proficiency.
- Strong product intuition and user-centric mindset with the ability to balance technical quality with intuitive, frictionless product experiences.
- Strong cross-functional collaboration skills, with the ability to communicate clearly and influence outcomes across Product, Engineering, Design, and Data partners.
- Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical issues, document clear and reproducible bug reports, precisely define acceptance criteria for features, and maintain process documentation.
- Exceptional organizational skills, with a proven ability to create structure, manage competing priorities, and maintain meticulous attention to detail.
- Strong problem-solving capabilities, with a track record of identifying root causes and mitigating risk proactively.
- Comfort working with data to validate accuracy, investigate inconsistencies, and pressure-test logic across dashboards.
- Thrive in a small team where ownership and initiative matter.
What Sets Great Candidates Apart
- Experience in software development and familiarity with modern programming languages that support object-oriented design (e.g., JavaScript, Python, Ruby, Java, etc.)
- Proven experience in planning, executing, and documenting functional tests.
- Strong hands-on experience in designing and implementing test automation frameworks.
- Demonstrated ability to convert high-level requirements into clear, testable artifacts (e.g. acceptance criteria, detailed test plans, etc.) and produce thorough, precise, and actionable QA documentation (e.g. bug reports, etc.)
- Solid understanding of security testing principles and best practices and a desire to learn more.
- Experience working closely with product and design teams to validate UI/UX fidelity, accessibility, and user interaction quality.
- Working experience with accessibility testing standards (e.g., WCAG) and tools.
- Playwright
- CodePipelines
- Docker
- Postman
- Storybook
- Axe
Strong, recent experience in the following technologies:
Values Alignment
- A passion for education and technology, with a commitment to CredLens’ mission and values.
- Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build relationships with diverse stakeholders.
- Demonstrated alignment with CredLens operating principles (Integrity, Expertise with a Learning Mindset, Collaboration & Humility, Open, Honest, Direct, and Kind Communication, Diversity & Openness, and Joy in our Work) and a commitment to building a strong and healthy workplace culture.
Travel Requirements
Minimal travel but hybrid work model and expected to be in the DC office at least 2 days per week, typically Tuesday and Thursday.
Mission and Values Alignment:
Committed to providing equitable pathways to opportunity through PSET, particularly for individuals who have faced significant barriers. Demonstrated alignment with CredLens' guiding values, commitment to building a strong and healthy workplace culture, and working in a collaborative environment.
Strategy and Innovation Leadership:
Adept at operationalizing strategy and effectively communicating strategic endeavors within the organization and in external contexts, both verbally and in writing. Particular skill in designing annual plans, monitoring progress, and refining plans as needed. Adaptable with tolerance for ambiguity. Able to problem-solve and navigate varied viewpoints. Capacity to refine efforts based on evidence that change is needed. Ability to lead efforts to visualize and monitor change. Capability to see and support innovative ideas and opportunities across the organization, and to embed innovation within operational plans. Capabilities in taking the perspective of others and adapting an agenda and approach – toward a shared aim - accordingly.
Strategic Problem Solving:
Ability to effectively utilize a hypothesis-driven approach to problem solving, with effective quantitative and communication skills. Ability to take on broad-reaching and sometimes ambiguous questions while working collaboratively and cross-functionally with Strada team members across the organization.
Execution and Operations Leadership:
Ability to translate innovative, strategic ideas into tangible, actionable steps, as well as to effectively monitor progress and partner with others on identifying improvements during implementation to increase the likelihood of successful execution.
DEI Commitment:
Commitment and professional experience advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion within and organization, including incorporating stakeholder perspectives in the design, implementation, and evaluation of strategic efforts.
Relationship Building and Collaborative Capabilities:
Demonstrated ability to cultivate, grow, and manage positive, mutually beneficial relationships at all levels of an organization and with partners outside the organization. Strong communication, interpersonal and relationship management skills—including identifying and working through challenges—underscored by strong judgment and emotional intelligence. Proven collaborator, able to work with colleagues at all levels in the organization.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are central to CredLens' organizational vibrancy, employee experience, and mission. We strongly encourage applicants from people of color/the global majority, immigrant, bilingual, and bicultural individuals; people with disabilities, members of the LGBTQIA2S+ and gender nonconforming communities; and people with other diverse backgrounds and lived experiences. We believe every member on the team enriches our workplace by exposing us to a broad range of ways to understand and engage with the world, identify challenges, and discover, design, and deliver critical insights and solutions.
Top Skills
Axe
Codepipelines
Docker
Playwright
Postman
Storybook
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The Company
What We Do
Strada Education Network is a new kind of social impact organization dedicated to improving lives by forging clearer and
more purposeful pathways between education and employment. Our approach combines innovative research, thought
leadership, strategic philanthropy, mission-aligned investments, and a network of affiliate organizations. Together, we
work to better serve millions of individuals in the United States seeking to complete postsecondary education and training,
gain clear value from those experiences, and build meaningful careers. Learn more at stradaeducation.org.
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