About the OpportunityAs a
Principal Software Test Engineer in Ellucian's Professional Services organization, you will serve as a trusted quality engineering advisor for strategic customer implementations. You will partner directly with higher education institutions and cross functional delivery teams to define testing strategies, establish quality governance, and guide successful SaaS transformations.
This is a highly customer facing role that combines technical depth with consulting expertise. You will help customers identify quality risks, develop pragmatic testing approaches, and implement modern quality engineering practices while providing hands on leadership where appropriate. Rather than managing people, you will influence programs through technical leadership, strategic guidance, and collaboration.
Where You Will Make an ImpactCustomer Strategy & Consulting- Partner with customer stakeholders to develop comprehensive test strategies aligned with business objectives, implementation scope, and deployment timelines.
- Lead test planning workshops, quality assessments, and readiness reviews throughout the project lifecycle.
- Advise customers on quality engineering best practices, risk based testing approaches, and modernization of their testing capabilities.
- Build trusted relationships with executive sponsors, project leadership, and customer SMEs by providing strategic quality guidance and measurable recommendations.
Quality Leadership- Define testing approaches across functional, integration, end to end, regression, performance, security, and user acceptance testing.
- Establish quality gates, release readiness criteria, entry and exit criteria, and defect management processes for complex implementation programs.
- Identify delivery risks early and recommend mitigation strategies that improve project outcomes.
- Develop reusable testing methodologies, templates, and governance standards that can be leveraged across multiple customer engagements.
Technical Excellence- Provide technical leadership for automation frameworks using Playwright, Selenium, Postman, REST Assured, and related technologies.
- Guide project teams in implementing automation within CI/CD pipelines to improve delivery quality and efficiency.
- Evaluate automation opportunities and recommend practical solutions that maximize long term value.
- Support performance, API, and security testing strategies using modern quality engineering tools and practices.
Collaboration & Enablement- Partner with project managers, solution architects, developers, business analysts, and DevOps teams to embed quality throughout delivery.
- Mentor delivery teams on modern testing techniques, automation practices, and quality engineering principles.
- Present quality metrics, testing progress, and release readiness to both technical and executive audiences.
- Contribute to the evolution of Ellucian's Professional Services quality methodology, accelerators, and delivery standards.
What You Will Bring- 7 or more years of experience in software quality engineering, testing, or quality consulting, with significant experience supporting enterprise implementations.
- Demonstrated experience developing test strategies and quality plans for complex software delivery programs.
- Strong understanding of functional, integration, end to end, performance, security, and user acceptance testing methodologies.
- Hands-on expertise with two or more of the following: Playwright, Selenium, Postman, REST Assured, JMeter, K6, Gatling, OWASP ZAP, and experience using enterprise test management platforms such as SpiraTest or Azure DevOps Test Plans.
- Experience integrating automated testing into CI/CD pipelines using Git based development practices.
- Proven ability to communicate effectively with executives, project leaders, technical teams, and customer stakeholders.
- Consulting or Professional Services experience with enterprise SaaS implementations is strongly preferred.
- Experience within higher education or another complex enterprise industry is a plus.
- Strong analytical, facilitation, and presentation skills with the ability to influence decisions across cross functional teams.
- Passion for improving customer outcomes through modern quality engineering practices and strategic technical leadership.
What makes #Ellucianlife- Comprehensive health coverage: medical, dental, and vision
- Flexible time off
- Thrive Flex Lifestyle Account (LSA) that allows you to contribute towards your health, financial or learning interests
- 401k w/ match & BrightPlan - to help you save for the future
- Parental Leave
- 5 charitable days to support the community that supports us
- Telemedicine
- Wellness
- Headspace Care (mental health)
- Wellbeats (virtual fitness classes)
- RethinkCare & Wellthy- caregiver support
- Diversity and inclusion programs which provide access to internal employee resource groups
- Employee referral bonuses to encourage the addition of great new people to the team
- We Foster a learning culture with:
- Education Assistance Program
- Professional development opportunities
- LinkedIn Learning
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