Description
The System QA Lead is accountable for system level quality, integrated testing orchestration, and readiness evidence across the Agile Release Train (ART). This role ensures deployment and release decisions are driven by explicit, risk-based validation and visible evidence, not late-stage testing or assumptions. The System QA Lead coordinates cross team testing activities while teams remain accountable for the quality and fixes of their own components. Candidates must reside within commuting distance of the designated office in Atlanta or Birmingham and be willing to be present at the office Monday-Thursday. The candidate may telecommute on Fridays.
Responsibilities
System Level Quality Ownership
- Own system level quality outcomes for the ART, ensuring the integrated solution is validated end to end.
- Ensure system level testing validates integration and readiness and does not compensate for missing team level verification.
- Provide a single point of accountability for ART level quality visibility and decision support.
Scenario Governance & Must Pass Coverage
- Own and maintain the ART must pass scenario catalog, ensuring scenarios reflect business intent, deployment scope, and risk.
- Curate, prioritize, and evolve scenarios based on escaped defects, deployment outcomes, and PI learning.
- Ensure scenarios are executed consistently and results are recorded as readiness evidence.
System & Regression Test Orchestration
- Orchestrate system integration testing, end to end business scenario execution, and ART level regression in integrated environments (primarily QA).
- Coordinate trigger-based regression execution (build, QA deploy, prerelease), ensuring failures are routed to owning teams for remediation.
- Ensure regression coverage is layered, risk based, and scalable, not monolithic.
Readiness Evidence & Deployment Support
- Own deployment, release, and feature flag readiness reporting, consolidating evidence for Sprint 2 and Sprint 4 deployments.
- Ensure readiness decisions are based on explicit evidence, including:
- Regression outcomes
- Must pass scenario execution
- Feature flag ON/OFF validation
- Documented risks and waivers
- Support GO / GO with risk / NO GO decision forums with clear quality signals.
Defect Triage & Risk Visibility
- Coordinate system level defect triage, ensuring ownership, prioritization, and visibility of cross-team issues.
- Track and surface systemic quality risks and integration issues to ART leadership.
- Ensure explicit risk acceptance is documented when defects or gaps are waived.
Environment & Test Data Oversight
- Track QA and UA environment stability and test data readiness as ART level risks or impediments.
- Reinforce correct environment usage:
- QA as the primary integrated environment for functional confidence
- UA for selective business validation
- UA1, Batlab, and Production for deploy/ops verification only
- Partner with DevOps and teams to resolve environment and data issues impacting system validation.
Continuous Improvement & Inspect & Adapt
- Consolidate quality inputs for Inspect & Adapt, including escaped defects, regression effectiveness, scenario coverage gaps, and environment issues.
- Drive ART level quality improvements with named owners and funded capacity each PI.
- Ensure learning results in measurable, planned change rather than ad hoc fixes.
- Collaboration & Enablement
- Partner closely with:
- System Automation Tester on suite health, automation standards, and expansion
- Product Management and Business Owners on outcome validation and risk acceptance
- RTE on quality visibility, capacity funding, and escalation of systemic risks
- Provide guidance and coaching on system level quality expectations and evidence standards.
Success Measures
- Deployment and release decisions are supported by clear, trusted readiness evidence.
- Must pass scenarios accurately reflect business critical flows and are consistently executed.
- System level defects and risks are visible early and owned by the correct teams.
- Quality improvement actions are planned, funded, and completed each PI.
Education & Experience
Bachelor’s degree preferred; 5+ years QA experience in a lead capacity.
Knowledge/Skills/Attributes
- Knowledge of Tricentis Tosca Fundamentals preferred
- Strong analysis skills with ability to identify and document test plans, defects, and results
- Meticulous attention to detail
- Excellent root cause analysis skills & problem-solving skills
- Acts with initiative, speed, and decisiveness
- Effectively organizes tasks, manages multiple priorities/details, and meets tight deadlines
- Learns quickly
- Strong oral and written communication skills
- Builds productive relationships with a focus on cooperation & teamwork
- Communicate effectively and timely with customers, management, and team members
- Display ability to work independently of direct supervision
- Understanding of Agile processes
- Build effective relationships with peers, management, and customers
- Be a student of the business, taking care to understand the challenges & goals of our company
- Exhibit Our Values
Southern Company Values
- Safety – We put safety first in everything we do.
- Integrity – We act ethically and do the right thing.
- Respect – We treat others with dignity and respect.
- Excellence – We strive for high performance and continuous improvement.
- Inclusion – We value different perspectives and work together as One Southern Company.
About Southern Company
Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is a leading energy provider serving 9 million customers across the Southeast and beyond through its family of companies. Providing clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy with excellent service is our mission. The company has electric operating companies in three states, natural gas distribution companies in four states, a competitive generation company, a leading distributed energy solutions provider with national capabilities, a fiber optics network and telecommunications services. Through an industry-leading commitment to innovation, resilience and sustainability, we are taking action to meet customers' and communities' needs while advancing our goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Our uncompromising values ensure we put the needs of those we serve at the center of everything we do and are the key to our sustained success. We are transforming energy into economic, environmental and social progress for tomorrow. Our corporate culture has been recognized by a variety of organizations, earning the company awards and recognitions that reflect Our Values and dedication to service. To learn more, visit www.southerncompany.com.
Southern Company invests in the well-being of its employees and their families through a comprehensive total rewards strategy that includes competitive base salary, annual incentive awards for eligible employees and health, welfare and retirement benefits designed to support physical, financial, and emotional/social well-being. This position may also be eligible for additional compensation, such as an incentive program, with the amount of any bonus/awards subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable incentive plan(s). A summary of the benefits offered for this position can be found here https://seo.nlx.org/southernco/pdf/SOCO-Benefits.pdf. Additional and specific details about total compensation and benefits will also be provided during the hiring process.
Top Skills
What We Do
Southern Company Services, Inc., headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, is the shared services division of Southern Company.
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