WHO WE ARE
The Digital Center of Excellence (DCOE) is the organization within Hallmark Technology that is responsible for:
- Building a world-class, consumer-focused caring platform that enables Hallmark’s lines of business (LOB) across the enterprise (Crayola, Crown Media, Hallmark Global) to accelerate their direct-to-consumer product strategies
- Developing a Cloud-first, multi-tenant digital platform that provides capabilities and services, such as a unified Hallmark Profile, Product Recommendations, Global Payment services, etc.
- Building, securing and operating digital consumer products for Hallmark’s LOBs
- Scaling development capabilities to build for Hallmark’s future
As a member of the DCOE group you’ll partner with high functioning, high energy teams of cross-functional disciplines that bring products like Hallmark.com and our Hallmark Gold Crown Omnichannel network to life for our consumers. With a consumer-first focus this group delivers impactful digital solutions that have a direct impact on consumer brand engagement and retention in the digital space, which results in revenue growth and brand relevance.
WHAT YOUR ROLE ENTAILS AND HOW YOU’LL CONTRIBUTE
The Software QA Manager will lead the Quality Assurance team for hallmark.com that works closely with Developers, Product and Delivery Mangers to create and launch product features that delight our consumers. The product focus is on Hallmark.com and the Omnichannel consumer shopping experience. They oversee a team of QA Engineers working across multiple agile scrum teams, performing both automation & manual/exploratory testing and help enable them to perform their day to day functions efficiently, participate in scrum ceremonies, assess QA needs across all agile scrum teams and adjust allocations to support a smooth delivery. The QA Manager is responsible for defining & driving the overarching QA strategy, goals and leading the team to towards QA KPIs for hallmark.com. They apply thought leadership to identify initiatives to improve speed and efficiency of Quality Assurance, continuously improving & evolving the QA ecosystem for Hallmark.
Essential Duties:
- Lead and monitor the day-to-day activities of QA Engineers and track detailed staff resource requirements and schedules for executing the required test cases. Guide the QA Engineers on their challenges and help removing technical impediments.
- Work with the Delivery and Product managers across multiple functional areas to help manage the execution of tests, monitor test results, ensure that all test issues are resolved, prepare and analyze test status reports as required and assist with production issues.
- Identify risks and backup/mitigation plans for the relevant testing strategies and create visibility to TechOps, Delivery and Product teams in a timely manner.
- Conduct test plan/case reviews to ensure comprehensive test coverage, report on test execution progress and results for every sprint release.
- Define the processes & standards for acceptance criteria, test planning, test case management & different needs of testing, revisit as needed, constantly improving them for efficiency to suit the agile needs of digital product development and delivery.
- Build the knowledge of various applications and third party systems & vendors supporting hallmark.com across the several different functional areas of the product and enable QA Engineers to build a subject matter expertise to own QA for specific areas of the site. Ensure the QA documentation is maintained and kept up to date for the same.
- Lead and mentor the QA Engineers with the required technical guidance at appropriate checkpoints, identify and arrange training on industry best practices & strategic next steps for the team, to ensure the overall team is stable and productive.
- Identify and implement continuous improvements in processes and standards for the QA team.
- Define and establish quality metrics to provide a metrics driven quality assurance and in collaboration with partners & stakeholders. Create a list of milestones and checkpoints against these metrics to measure and monitor progress periodically to meet consumer and business needs.
- Lead and drive the automation initiatives to establish and progressively improve test automation setup including both regression and in-sprint automation to align with the agile delivery practices. Promote QA productivity through automation, tools, and other best practices.
- Create a device sampling strategy, reviewing it on a cadence/on-demand to keep it up to date with market demands and business goals.
- Ensure End-to-End testing and load testing is performed as required, coordinating with key stakeholders.
- QA lab governance working with internal partners on inventory & software management of the test devices.
- Create documentations supporting the processes & methodologies, send metrics-based reports on progress, plans, problems etc., to senior management and other involved stakeholders proactively, seek and implement the feedback in as efficient a way as possible.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor’s Degree or 4 years’ professional experience
- At least 2 years of professional experience leading Software QA or Software Development teams
- At least 8 years of software QA experience in web application/ecommerce/website/software testing
- At least 3 years of experience in agile/scrum methodologies
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Local or willing to relocate to the Kansas City, MO area.
- Expertise in Test Planning & QA Strategy and ability to lead QA teams.
- Project leadership experience in QA strongly preferred; advanced Degree in QA or Certifications (ISTQB, MCSD, CSQE, CSQA, etc.) is a plus.
- Experience creating a QA ecosystem including setting up goals, tools and metrics, automation etc.
- Deep understanding of Software QA methodologies, tools and processes (like white box, black box, and automation methodologies) and effective QA strategies in an agile shop.
- Knowledge of different kinds of testing and where/how they fit into the overall product life cycle.
- 2+ years of experience in automation testing of enterprise software systems or websites. Experience with tools like Eggplant is a plus.
- Experience working in an onshore-offshore model.
- Experience in developing test strategies, and managing all aspects of software testing and defect management.
- Good understanding of one or more Estimation methodologies, Knowledge of Quality processes, Test Execution Analysis and Reporting.
- Ability to determine, review and validate estimates of effort and impacts for a variety of QA solutions.
- Strong leadership skills with the proven ability to motivate, organize, and inspire the team. Proven track record of attracting, hiring, motivating and develop the best quality-minded individuals
- Exceptional communication skills to work in a fast-paced agile shop, with an emphasis on active listening, asking clarifying questions with a collaborative culture.
- Excellent documentation skills with the proven ability to detail and convey findings in a concise manner.
- Highly organized, self-motivated especially with a proven ability to balance multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously in a fast-paced environment.
- Strong organizational and time management skills, ability to work autonomously, and ability to think tactically as well as strategically.
- Comfortable working in a constantly evolving and dynamic environment and driving top issues to resolution
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
- The salary range for this job is between $120,000 and $165,000. Salary will take into consideration several factors including location.
Now’s your chance to embrace a future with Hallmark-just follow the instructions below to apply.
You must show how you meet the basic qualifications in a resume or document you upload, or by completing the work experience and education application fields. Accepted file types are DOCX and PDF.
In compliance with the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, Hallmark Cards, Inc. and its subsidiary companies will hire only individuals lawfully authorized to work in the United States. Hallmark does not generally provide sponsorship for employment.
Employment by Hallmark is contingent upon the signing of the Employment Agreement, signing of an agreement to arbitrate in connection with the Hallmark Dispute Resolution Program, completing Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification, passing the urinalysis drug screen, education verification and satisfactory reference and background checks.
Hallmark is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, pregnancy, national origin, physical or mental disability, genetics, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, or any other legally-protected status. Principals only please.
HALLMARK – Because Connecting With Each Other Has Never Been More Important
For more than a century, Hallmark has been bringing people together and improving the relationships that matter most. That’s why millions of people all over the world connect with the Hallmark brand. It has always been a mission so much bigger than any one of us who work here.
Today, we need empathetic learners, strategic thinkers, and enthusiastic visionaries with diverse experiences and skills to help us create the rest of Hallmark’s second century as we shift to a more digitally savvy, unified approach that combines the best of brick-and-mortar retail with the efficiency of dot-com spaces. Help us imagine what our next hundred years could look like!
When you join Hallmark, we will go out of our way to make you feel like part of the team. In the day-to-day, we’ll make the best use of the skills and talents you already have. We’ll also give you leadership opportunities and show you multiple potential pathways to future success.
Our culture of care for our consumers and for one another shows in the way we embrace different backgrounds, identities, and working styles, deliberately seeking out ways to be more inclusive both internally among our work groups and externally through the things we make and sell to our retail partners and consumers. We believe that a broadly inclusive, equitable approach is also our best path to future success. We’re seeking out those who can bring a fresh perspective to our business and would love your input as someone new to our team! We can only change and grow when we intentionally include new perspectives-like yours.
Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities
The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)
test-planning Agile Cloud-first automation Communication load-testing Digital Platforms Software Developer Organizational skills Test documentation Test cases Quality Assurance (QA) Continuous improvement time-management Bug management End-to-end testing web-testing Technical documentation creation automated testing exploratory-testing Acceptance criteria Training Delivery Manager Strategic Thinking eggplant white-box-testing Software testing regression Scrum Leadership black-box-testing Revenue optimization