Quality Analyst Lead

Good Things are Happening at Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies! We provide Property & Casualty insurance products and services through a nationwide network of independent agents and wholesale brokers. Our companies are all rated A+ “Superior” by AM Best (the leading independent insurance rating organization) and ultimately owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway group – one of the financially strongest organizations in the world! Headquartered in Wilkes-Barre, PA, we employ over 1,000 individuals (and growing) and have offices across the country. Our vision is to be the leading small business insurance provider nationwide.

Founded upon an exceptional culture and led by a collaborative and inclusive management team, our company’s success is grounded in our core values: accountability, service, integrity, empowerment, and diversity. We are always in search of talented individuals to join our team and embark on an exciting career path!

BENEFITS

We are an equal opportunity employer that strives to maintain a work environment that is welcoming and enriching for all.   You’ll be surprised by all we have to offer!

• Competitive compensation
• Healthcare benefits package that begins on first day of employment
• 401K retirement plan with company match
• Enjoy generous paid time off to support your work-life balance plus 9 ½ paid holidays
• Up to 6 weeks of parental and bonding leave
• This position is Remote dependent on your proximity to a GUARD office or Hybrid work schedule (three days in the office, two days from home)
• Work/life balance schedule – no nights or weekends/closed for all major holidays
• Longevity awards (every 5 years of employment receive a generous monetary award to be used toward a vacation)
• Tuition reimbursement after six months of employment
• Numerous opportunities for continued training and career advancement
• And much more!

Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies is enhancing their Quality Assurance program and is seeking a QA Lead to join our team! We are looking to fill this hybrid position (3 days/week) in Parsippany NJ, Philadelphia PA, Conshohocken, PA Alpharetta, GA  or Wilkes-Barre PA.

Job Responsibilities

The QA Lead is a hands-on lead role responsible for driving quality assurance activities within one or more Agile value streams. The QA Lead will champion an automation-first approach by leading the design, implementation, and scaling of a new automated testing framework within their assigned value stream, while actively supporting manual testing efforts to ensure comprehensive quality coverage.  Under the direction of the QA Manager, the QA Lead ensures that both manual and automated testing efforts are planned, executed, and aligned with enterprise QA standards. Acting as the primary QA liaison across QA, Development, and Product teams, this role promotes in-sprint quality practices, drives defect management, and test automation efforts. The QA Lead is accountable for the daily coordination, execution, and continuous improvement of QA delivery within their value stream(s).  The QA Lead will also provide oversight and support of the QA analysts within their assigned value stream(s). 

Key Responsibilities

Team Coordination & Agile Support

• Lead and coordinate QA efforts for assigned value stream(s), ensuring alignment to sprint goals and test coverage expectations.
• Facilitate QA participation in Agile ceremonies including standups, sprint planning, backlog refinement, and retrospectives.
• Serve as the QA point of contact for Product Owners, BAs, and Developers within the team.

Planning & Execution Test

• Planning, creation, review, and execution of test cases (manual and automated) aligned with user story acceptance criteria.
• Ensure test case traceability and proper documentation in Azure DevOps (ADO).
• Support Functional, Regression, Exploratory and UAT activities prior to deployments.

Test Automation Enablement

• Serve as a hands-on contributor to test automation efforts, actively scripting, executing, and maintaining automated test cases.
• Guide the team toward in-sprint test automation through mentoring and collaboration with Automation Engineers.
• Monitor automated test script execution and results within CI/CD pipelines.
• Review automation coverage and lead efforts to improve automation reliability, maintainability, and reusability.

Defect Management

• Manage the full defect lifecycle: triage, prioritization, resolution verification, and closure.
• Collaborate with developers and analysts to facilitate efficient defect resolution.
• Monitor defect trends and escalate critical issues or recurring patterns to the QA Manager.

Team Coaching & QA Maturity

• Mentor QA Analysts on testing best practices, execution techniques, and use of tools.
• Conduct peer reviews of test artifacts (manual and automated).
• Support onboarding and continuous development of QA team members.

Process Adherence & Improvement

• Ensure adherence to established QA standards, templates, and workflows.
• Contribute to process improvement initiatives and QA guild activities.
• Provide feedback to the QA Manager on areas of improvement or tool/process gaps.

Tool Utilization & Reporting

• Ensure proper use of ADO for test case management, defect tracking, and test execution.
• Monitor QA metrics and report status to the QA Manager and team stakeholders as needed.
• Maintain QA documentation for audits, compliance, and knowledge sharing

• 3+ years of quality assurance experience leveraging automation testing, preferred experience implementing automation framework within an IT organization
• Strong proficiency with Azure DevOps (ADO) for test case management, test execution, and defect tracking.
• Demonstrated experience with Azure DevOps, Micro Focus Quality Center, qTest, or other Test Management tools
• Foundational understanding of test automation principles, with readiness to adopt tools as the automation program matures.
• Experience creating, organizing, and maintaining manual test cases aligned with user story requirements.
• Basic scripting or programming knowledge in Python, or similar, to support future in-sprint automation.
• Experience with CI/CD concepts and how automated testing fits into modern delivery pipelines.
• Experience with SQL and backend data validation.
• Ability to interpret and work with JSON, XML, and logs for issue triage.
• Understanding of Agile methodologies and QA’s role in iterative delivery.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with ability to troubleshoot issues across SDLC.
• Proven experience in automation testing, test-driven development, or API testing.
• Minimum two years of experience in manual testing.
• Experience in .NET, C# or Python.
• Excellent analytical and critical thinking skills.
• Highly collaborative with the ability to build relationship and comfortable taking initiative
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, or Business, Accounting, Math, Finance, Statistics, or Software Engineering is strongly preferred.
• Certification in ISTQB.
• Experience working with data retrieval methods to support test automation.
• Experience with continuous integration (CI).
• Preferred experience working in the Insurance Industry

Salary Range

$77,077-$135,000 USD with performance based bonus potential

The successful candidate is expected to work in one of our offices 3 days per week and also be available for travel as required.

The annual base salary range posted represents a broad range of salaries around the U.S. and is subject to many factors including but not limited to credentials, education, experience, geographic location, job responsibilities, performance, skills and/or training.