About ProxyLink
At ProxyLink, we specialize in building meaningful connections between exceptional talent and leading employers across Canada. As a trusted recruitment partner, our mission is to create impactful career matches by combining innovative hiring strategies with a personalized, people-first approach. We’re driven by the belief that investing in people today builds a stronger workforce for tomorrow.
Position Overview
ProxyLink is seeking a senior-level Systems Testing / QA Specialist with extensive experience in enterprise IT environments and complex systems. The successful candidate will provide expertise in test strategy, planning, execution, automation, performance testing, defect management, data validation, accessibility testing, and user acceptance testing.
The QA Specialist will work closely with project managers, IT leads, testing leads, developers, business analysts, and other technical and functional team members throughout the Software
Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
The ideal candidate will have 10+ years of software testing experience, strong technical knowledge of databases and cloud technologies, hands-on experience with automated testing, and extensive experience with AODA accessibility testing and compliance.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide advice and recommendations on testing strategies, test plans, testing tools, resources, and testing approaches.
- Plan, organize, and execute testing activities for large and complex systems across both GUI and non-GUI environments.
- Develop comprehensive test strategies, test plans, test scenarios, test cases, test scripts, test data, and test reports.
- Execute functional, integration, system, regression, acceptance, and non-functional testing.
- Perform systems integration testing and specialized testing, including stress, load, and performance testing.
- Support and participate in User Acceptance Testing (UAT) activities.
- Validate that systems perform as expected under various conditions, workloads, data volumes, and business scenarios.
- Identify, document, prioritize, and track software defects using tools such as JIRA, Azure DevOps, ALM, Bugzilla, TestRail, or Zephyr.
- Work closely with developers and technical teams to reproduce, troubleshoot, and resolve defects.
- Develop, maintain, and execute automated test scripts using tools such as Selenium, OpenText UFT/Micro Focus, TestComplete, Cypress, or Postman.
- Integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines.
- Develop and execute performance, stress, and load-testing scripts using tools such as JMeter, LoadRunner, or similar.
- Analyze performance results, identify bottlenecks, and assess system scalability.
- Conduct API testing and backend validation.
- Develop and execute SQL queries to validate application data and perform database testing.
- Validate data integrity, accuracy, consistency, migration, and transformation across systems and databases.
- Develop and manage robust test-data strategies, including realistic test data generation and test-environment management.
- Ensure appropriate handling of test data in accordance with privacy and security requirements.
- Conduct basic security testing and collaborate with security specialists on advanced security and penetration testing.
- Perform accessibility testing and ensure compliance with Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) requirements and related standards.
- Collaborate with developers, business analysts, project managers, and stakeholders to clarify requirements and ensure comprehensive test coverage.
- Participate in Agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives.
- Maintain detailed documentation of test execution, defects, test coverage, quality metrics, and results.
- Provide input into user manuals, release documentation, and release notes.
- Ensure testing activities comply with applicable QA standards, industry practices, regulatory requirements, and public-sector quality assurance practices.
- Participate throughout all applicable phases of the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
Required Qualifications & Experience
Core QA & Testing Experience
- 10+ years of experience in software testing within enterprise-level IT environments and large-scale systems.
- Extensive hands-on experience with both manual and automated testing.
- Strong experience planning, organizing, and implementing testing activities for complex systems.
- Extensive experience developing and maintaining test strategies, test plans, test cases, test scripts, test data, and test reports.
- Strong experience with functional, integration, system, regression, UAT, performance, load, stress, and non-functional testing.
- Demonstrated experience with end-to-end testing of complex enterprise systems.
- Deep understanding of Agile, Scrum, and Waterfall methodologies.
- Comprehensive understanding of the Software Development Life Cycle and Software Testing Life Cycle.
Test Automation
- Hands-on experience with automated testing tools and frameworks.
- Experience with Selenium and/or Postman.
- Experience with OpenText UFT/Micro Focus, TestComplete, Cypress, or similar tools is an asset.
- Experience developing and maintaining automated test scripts.
- Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD environments.
- Knowledge of scripting/programming languages such as Python, JavaScript, or Bash.
Performance Testing
- Experience developing and executing performance, load, and stress test scripts.
- Experience with JMeter, LoadRunner, or similar performance-testing tools.
- Ability to analyze performance results, identify bottlenecks, and assess system scalability.
Database & Data Testing
- Strong understanding of databases, including SQL and Oracle.
- Demonstrated ability to write SQL queries for data validation and backend testing.
- Experience validating data integrity, accuracy, consistency, and completeness.
- Experience with data migration and transformation testing.
- Experience developing and managing effective test-data strategies and test environments.
Accessibility
- Extensive experience with AODA testing and compliance.
- Knowledge and understanding of accessibility standards, regulations, and testing practices applicable to Ontario environments.
- Ability to incorporate accessibility requirements into test strategies, test cases, and execution activities.
Cloud & DevOps
- Knowledge of cloud technologies, including Microsoft Azure and/or AWS.
- Knowledge of CI/CD pipelines and tools such as:
- Jenkins
- Git
- GitLab
- Understanding of version control systems and their role in software testing and automation.
Defect & Test Management
Experience with one or more of the following:
- JIRA
- Azure DevOps
- ALM
- Bugzilla
- TestRail
- Zephyr
- Similar test and defect management tools
General Skills
- Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
- Strong systematic approach to troubleshooting and root-cause analysis.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills.
- Ability to work effectively with both functional and technical teams.
- Ability to work within large, multidisciplinary project teams.
- Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
- Ability to manage multiple testing activities and priorities.
- Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and deliver quality results.
- Ability to work effectively under pressure and within aggressive timelines.
- Adaptability in changing project and technical environments.
- Strong teamwork skills and a demonstrated commitment to achieving project objectives.
Public Sector Experience
- Experience working in public-sector IT environments is highly desirable.
- Knowledge and experience with OPS quality assurance standards and practices is an asset.
- Experience working in environments with formal governance, compliance, accessibility, privacy, and security requirements is preferred.
Desirable Skills
- Knowledge and experience with at least one programming language.
- Experience with information retrieval packages.
- Knowledge of testing methodologies in object-oriented environments.
- Knowledge of Information Management principles, policies, concepts, and practices.
- Experience planning and organizing testing efforts for both large and small systems.
- Experience coding automated test scripts and developing automated test suites.
- Experience testing Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) applications.
- Experience with CASE tools and data-query tools to support test-case development.
- Experience with security testing and collaboration with cybersecurity teams.
Must-Have Requirements
Candidates must demonstrate:
- 10+ years of software testing experience in enterprise-level IT environments and large-scale systems.
- Hands-on experience with manual and automated testing tools and frameworks.
- Deep understanding of Agile, Scrum, and Waterfall testing methodologies.
- Extensive experience with AODA testing and compliance.
- Experience with test automation tools such as Selenium and/or Postman, including API testing.
- Experience with performance testing tools such as JMeter, LoadRunner, or similar.
- Strong understanding of databases such as SQL and Oracle.
- Knowledge of cloud technologies such as Azure and/or AWS.
- Experience creating and maintaining test strategies, test cases, test scripts, and test reports.
- Proven expertise in end-to-end testing of complex systems, ensuring coverage of functional and non-functional requirements.
- Knowledge of QA compliance standards and security-testing best practices.
