Associate Director of Enterprise Systems & Quality Assurance bei Nea

If you would enjoy working in a dynamic environment and are looking for an opportunity to become part of a stellar team of professionals, we invite you to apply online today.

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Found in 1857, the National Education Association (NEA) is America’s oldest and largest organization committed to promoting, protecting and strengthening public education.  Headquartered in Washington, DC, NEA proudly claims approximately 3 million members devoted to the following mission: to advocate for education professionals and to unite our members and the nation to fulfill the promise of public education by preparing every student to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world.  Our vision is a great public school for every student.  We strive to improve the quality of teaching and student support services, to enhance student learning and well-being, to advocate for professional compensation, rights, and respect for all NEA members, and to help make schools safer and better places to learn.  NEA is also the largest labor union in the country, representing education professionals from pre-K to higher education, as well as other public employees.

Position Summary

The Associate Director of Enterprise Systems & Quality Assurance will report to the Director of Product Development in the Enterprise Data and Information Strategy (EDIS) Department.  This role will lead a diverse team of developers and quality assurance engineers to support over 10 custom applications built by NEA to support business and programmatic goals of the association. 

Responsibilities

The Associate Director of Enterprise Systems is responsible for the development, delivery, maintenance and support of over 10 custom applications built by the NEA to support business and programmatic goals of the association. Current stack includes applications developed in java, .net, Salesforce Service Cloud (LWC, Apex, Aurora), Mulesoft and SQL. This role will provide input and make decisions on how to modernize our development stack and how the team develops and tests applications. This role will support digital transformation initiatives as we move from legacy on-prem applications to modern cloud architecture.  This role will work with teams across the Center for Innovation and Technology (CIT) in product development, infrastructure, security and project management team, using Agile methodologies to deliver optimal solutions based on the business needs of the association. The ideal canidate will combine technical expertise with strong leadership skills to support our development teams through this critical transition and put in place DevSecOps methodologies.

• Software Development Leadership

  • Oversee the planning, development, and implementation of software solutions in alignment with the business and programmatic goals of the organization.

  • Ensure adherence to coding standards, architectural principles, and best practices in software engineering.

  • Collaborate with product management to translate business requirements into technical solutions.

  • Understand technical debt and make continuous improvements to address technical debt aligned with our technical goals and digital transformation initiatives

  • Oversee release management, providing efficiencies and improvements to current release process, including risk and change management

• Quality Assurance & Testing

  • Lead QA teams in implementing automated and manual testing methodologies to ensure software quality.

  • Define testing strategies, performance benchmarks, and validation processes.

  • Drive continuous improvements in test coverage, defect tracking, and resolution workflows.

• Agile & Development Methodologies

  • Support Agile Scrum processes, ensuring efficient sprint planning, execution, and retrospectives.

  • Work closely with cross-functional teams to refine workflows and accelerate development cycles.

• Team Management & Talent Development

  • Mentor and develop team members, promoting skill growth and career advancement.

  • Foster a collaborative and high-performance team culture.

  • Perform Annual Performance Review Process for Employees

  • Ensure team members are allocated properly to meet NEA and CIT goals

• Stakeholder Communication & Coordination

  • Work with cross-departmental teams to align development efforts with NEA strategic goals.

  • Communicate technical strategies, challenges, and solutions effectively across departments.

• Process Optimization & Continuous Improvement

  • Identify and implement process improvements in development and testing to enhance productivity and software quality.

  • Evaluate and integrate modern tools and technologies for software development and QA.

  • Design and implement comprehensive logging systems across all applications and platforms

  • Advocate for and implement industry-leading best practices in Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) to optimize development efficiency, enhance software quality, and accelerate delivery cycles

  • Support forward progression and standardization of CICD pipelines, automating testing (unit, regression, etc.), security scans and providing efficiencies across development teams

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field

• 10+ years of experience in software development and systems management, with at least 5 years of management experience

• Expertise in Agile development, automation testing, CI/CD pipelines, and DevSecOps principles.

• Proven experience with migration of legacy on-prem applications to cloud

• Hands-on development experience and technical proficiency

• Experience managing quality assurance engineers and processes

• Demonstrated ability to mentor developers across multiple platforms: Java , .NET , MuleSoft , SQL, Salesforce

• Proficiency with modern development tools and can promote DevSecOps

• Knowledge of data governance and compliance requirements

• Knowledge in testing suites such as Smartbear Test Complete, automated regression testing tools, performance testing

• Experience in logging, error handling and logging tools

• Excellent leadership and team management abilities

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills

• Problem-solving and analytical thinking

• Experience managing in a union environment

Preferred:

• Experience with AI-assisted development or leveraging AI to provide team efficiencies

• Experience using Atlassian Jira, Confluence and Bitbucket

• Knowledge of microservices architecture and API development

• Experience creating a robust testing suite using Postman, Smartbear or related tools

• Ability to manage resources and provide KPIs on development and testing statistics

OTHER REQUIREMENTS: Samples of work products and accomplishments may be required at the interview. Washington, DC Headquarters based job requiring in-office work, minimal of 2 days a week.  Must be able to work extended hours on evenings and weekends. Some travel is required (15-20 overnights per year).

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the following is provided:  The position involves skill in using a computer and/or laptop; oral and written communication skills; skills in proofreading and editing; use of clear and articulate speech; interpersonal relations skills; reasoning and problem-solving skills; ability to work in a fast-paced environment; ability to sit for long periods, stoop, bend, reach and carry light materials (up to 10 lbs.); and ability to travel by various methods of transportation, e.g., airplane, car.

NEA is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and encourages applications from all qualified candidates regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, or disability. Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal. To apply for this position or to search for other openings, please go to our jobs page at Careers at NEA (myworkdayjobs.com)  

NEA Participates in E-Verify. Read more here E-Verify Participation & Right to Work.

NEA complies with the DC Wage Transparency Act of 2023.