Software Engineer, QA

Role Overview

Octave is seeking a Senior Quality Assurance (QA) Engineer embedded within an Agile delivery team to support global Public Safety web applications, including the HxGN OnCall suite. The role emphasizes building quality in throughout delivery (shift-left), owning quality outcomes for assigned features.

Responsibilities

• Partner daily with Developers, Product Owners, and Scrum Masters to ensure quality is built in during the delivery lifecycle.
• Work as an embedded QA on an Agile / SAFe team, owning quality outcomes for features/components.
• Collaborate early to refine user stories, acceptance criteria, and test scenarios.
• Apply shift-left practices using TDD and BDD principles.
• Design, execute, and maintain manual and automated tests across:
  • story/feature level
  • regression level
• Expand automated test coverage; Playwright experience is a strong plus.
• Perform functional, integration, regression, and exploratory testing throughout the sprint.
• Identify, document, and triage defects with clear reproduction steps, severity, and impact.
• Participate in Agile ceremonies: backlog refinement, sprint planning, stand-ups, reviews, retrospectives.
• Analyze logs/system behavior to support defect investigation and root cause analysis.
• Collaborate with other QA engineers to improve QA standards, tooling, and best practices.
• Use Azure DevOps for test management, defect tracking, and traceability.
• Document and report effectively in a Windows 11 environment using Microsoft Office tools.

Requirements

• 5+ years experience as a QA Engineer / Software Test Engineer embedded on Agile teams.
• Strong understanding of Agile and SAFe and QA’s role in iterative delivery.
• Solid QA methodology knowledge, test design techniques, and defect lifecycle management.
• Familiarity with TDD and BDD, including working with acceptance criteria.
• Ability to write clear, concise, and maintainable test cases and documentation.
• Ability to balance manual testing with increasing automation.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills.
• Self-motivated and accountable in a fast-paced collaborative environment.
• Willingness to learn new technologies and continuously improve.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in Public Safety, emergency response, or other mission-critical systems.
• Hands-on Playwright (or similar modern automation frameworks).
• Familiarity with browser developer tools and debugging techniques.
• Experience with Azure Cloud, Kubernetes, and PaaS/SaaS architectures.
• Working knowledge of SQL Server Management Studio and SQL scripting.

Location / Work Model

• Based in or preferred near Madison, WI (also indicates preference for Huntsville/Madison).
• Remote candidates may be considered based on qualifications.
• Requires participation in an in-person interview and completion of mandatory in-person training.