Position Title: Senior Quality Engineer
Location: All
Role Description:
Insurance has not kept up with the changing world.
Kin’s goal is to revolutionize home insurance, catering to the ever-evolving landscape. While other insurance companies struggle to adapt to the rapidly changing world, Kin is designed for the future and ready to confront any obstacles, all while assisting our clients in doing the same.
Kin is excited to announce that we have been selected as one of BuiltIn Chicago’s top mid-sized companies to work for in both 2021 and 2022, as well as Forbes’ best startup employers in North America for 2021.
At our core, our employees are the driving force behind our success, and we are seeking innovative and motivated individuals like yourself to join us in our mission.
Your Role
In the position of a Staff Quality Engineer (QE), you hold a crucial responsibility in guaranteeing the excellence and effectiveness of our products and procedures. As a highly experienced professional in quality engineering, you make significant contributions to our approach to test automation and serve as a guiding figure for quality within our company.
Alongside individual technical contributions, you also provide technical guidance that aligns with business objectives, leading efforts to improve business results.
Your duties also involve actively working with cross-functional teams, guiding the company towards optimal solutions, and collaborating with engineering leadership and product teams to design comprehensive solutions.
A Typical day may Consist of:
- Working with teams from different departments to improve tools and processes, incorporating efficiencies into workflows.
- Evaluating and researching testing practices and tools, keeping the team updated on relevant developments and strategies.
- Taking the lead in developing and enhancing test automation strategies.
- Providing technical guidance based on business input, driving initiatives to improve business operations.
- Fulfilling commitments and proactively communicating any changes in plans with suggested solutions.
- Actively mentoring team members to increase productivity.
- Guiding others in comprehending technologies and tools used in various product areas, recommending new tools and technologies.
- Participating in implementing deployment and CI/CD strategies, being a reliable team member for delivering products, businesses, and features.
- Proactively addressing architecture gaps, issues with production stability, and conducting root cause analyses.
- Engaging closely with engineering leadership and product teams, gaining understanding and sharing knowledge of team domains.
- Facilitating discussions within the team, ensuring all members have the opportunity to contribute and are listened to objectively.
- Recognizing differing perspectives and actively participating in finding solutions, promoting consensus among peers.
- Collaborating on the strategic and technical direction for major initiatives and architecture, taking into account the needs of the business and major business projects.
Skills Needed
- Demonstrated comprehension of the Agile software development lifecycle
- Effective abilities in leadership and communication
- Proficiency in creating test designs, plans, and strategies
- Extensive background in quality engineering practices and a thorough understanding of CI/CD quality criteria, APIs, and performance testing
- Familiarity with Git, Jira, and other tools for source code management and project tracking
- Familiarity with deployment processes, CI/CD tools, distributed version control systems, and managing database migrations
Additionally, if you are able to:
- Develop automated tests in Ruby using RSPEC and Capybara
- Create and manage unit tests and automated test suites
- Strategize, execute analysis, design, testing, and/or integration for automation to ensure the quality of critical end-to-end business processes.
Benefits
- Our company offers a variety of benefits such as Medical, Dental, Vision, Disability, and Life Insurance.
- We have a flexible policy for Paid Time Off.
- Remote work is also available.
- In addition to a competitive salary, we provide a generous equity package.
- We have a 401K plan with a matching contribution from the company.
- Parents can take advantage of our parental leave policy.
- Employees are encouraged to continue their education and professional development.
- Join our high-growth Insurtech company and witness the impact of your work firsthand.
Kin Overview
Our technology is revolutionizing the user experience and improving efficiency in an industry that has remained stagnant for over a century. By eliminating inefficiencies that result in billions of dollars wasted by consumers, we are creating a more personalized coverage for homeowners. We strongly believe that insurance was always meant to be a digital product, and we are making that a reality.
Our one-of-a-kind approach sets us apart in the industry, and the individuals at Kin play a crucial role in our success. We are a group of innovative thinkers, cooperative team players, skilled creators, and ambitious visionaries who are dedicated to making a positive impact in the lives of our clients and within our field. Kin is more than a mere label; it embodies our values and how we treat one another. This is just one of the numerous reasons why we have been acknowledged as an exceptional workplace by reputable sources such as Built In, Forbes, and Fast Company.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Statement
Kin takes great pride in being an employer that upholds Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action principles. Rather than merely tolerating diversity, we value it, support it, and commemorate it. Discrimination based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other legally protected characteristics is not practiced at our company.
Kin welcomes applications from individuals of all backgrounds, communities, and industries. We are dedicated to building a team that is comprised of a variety of skills, experiences, and abilities.
FAQs
What does a Staff Quality Engineer do?
A Staff Quality Engineer helps ensure high quality standards for a company’s digital products and services. You’ll design test plans, build automation frameworks, and work closely with engineers to enhance user experience. It’s a role that combines technical skills with a passion for great design and user experience.
What qualifications do I need?
Typically a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering or a related field is required. You should have 3-5 years of experience in software testing and quality assurance. Strong technical skills, especially in automation tools like Selenium, Appium and JMeter are a must. You’ll also need to be detail-oriented, with a user-focused mindset. Continuous learning is important in this role as technologies and standards are always evolving.
What’s the day-to-day like?
No two days are exactly alike! You’ll review product designs and requirements, determine key areas to test, and build test plans. A lot of time is spent hands-on testing the product, documenting any issues, and working with engineers to resolve them. You’ll also build automated tests to speed up the quality feedback loop. Team collaboration is a big part of the role, through meetings, reviews, and pairing with colleagues.
What career growth opportunities are there?
There are several career paths for a Staff Quality Engineer. You could pursue Senior or Lead Quality Engineer roles with more responsibility. You might explore specializing in areas like Security, Accessibility or Compliance testing. Some Quality Engineers move into Management roles overseeing a team of testers. You could also transition to a Developer role, using your in-depth product knowledge. Continuous learning will open up more and more opportunities over time.