Engineering Manager – Software Test Automation

NYC Innovation Center / Enterprise Architecture – Asset Management

J Harlan Group is currently conducting a search for a Engineering Manager – Software Test Automation at a prominent Asset Manager in their NYC Technology Development Center (TDC) – Enterprise Architecture team.

The Engineering Manager for Software Test Automation is a highly experienced testing engineer responsible for driving the modernization of the software testing practices across the firm’s enterprise architecture, moving the organization away from manual testing practices and establishing in their place automated testing techniques that are fully integrated into the firm’s software development lifecycle (SDLC). The incumbent will set testing strategy, define a testing engineer role for the firm, build coaching practices, and oversee the build out of the firm’s testing services and tools. The incumbent will also act as a resident expert and ambassador for testing modernization and software quality throughout the firm’s Global Technology organization.

They will expect you to be agile / to lead / to think outside the box. In return, they’ll give you challenging work that has an impact / Opportunities to learn and grow / and a collaborative culture that encourages every member of our team to bring their point of view to the table—because that’s how we help our clients succeed.

Principal Responsibilities:

• Establish a software quality strategy for firm’s enterprise architecture, one that enables the elimination of manual testing in favor of highly automated testing that’s fully integrated into the software development lifecycle (SDLC). Strategy should enable engineers and business users to fully participate in the testing process.

• Design and communicate the software quality services necessary to support the testing strategy.

• Oversee the selection and implementation of tools necessary to support these services.

• Set the strategy for decommissioning of legacy testing processes, tools and platforms and oversee its execution.

• Build out and manage a small team of testing engineers responsible for coaching and/or embedding in development teams across the organization. Test engineers are responsible for writing unit tests with members of the dev team, conduct white box/black box testing, develop tooling that facilitates modern testing practices, and acting as a gatekeeper for software’s acceptance into production.

The ideal candidate would have a background:

Technical Experience:

• Solid Java development or .Net Core experience

• Deep experience and understanding of automated testing types, tools and techniques (e.g., Unit, Functional, Load; JUnit, NUnit, Cucumber, Selenium, ReadyAPI, SoapUI, Jasmine, Karma, Enzyme, etc.)

• Expert regarding continuous integration tools and processes (Jenkins, Bamboo, etc.), agile delivery (Rally, Jira) and test-driven (TDD) or business-driven (BDD) development

• Significant experience with cloud native architectures for containerized micro services

• Well-versed with a variety of programming styles (e.g. OO, functional) and software design patterns

• Significant experience with RDBMS development (e.g. SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL)

• Strong understanding of modern front-end frameworks such as AngularJS, Backbone, React, etc.

• Deep experience and understanding of cloud computing platforms such as AWS, React, etc. is a strong plus

• Significant experience with code versioning and management, including Git

• Strong understanding of SDLC methodologies

• Adaptable and able to learn technology and business quickly

• Excellent written and oral communication skills

• Ability to lead teams independently

Core Attributes:

• High achiever who combines ambition with humility and is happy to let their performance do the talking

• Craftsman-like approach to building software; takes pride in high quality software engineering and advocates and instills these values in others

• Focused on delivering value to the business with relentless efforts to ensure and improve quality

• A proponent of strong, collaborative, quality software engineering techniques and methods: DevOps, agile development, continuous integration and automated testing approaches

Preferred Domain Experience and Soft Skills:

• Experience working in a dynamic, fast-paced, Agile team environment

• A solid understanding of financial markets and instruments

• Experience of front office software development with an Asset Manager, Hedge fund or Investment Bank

• Strong interpersonal skills; able to establish and maintain a close working relationship with business partner and leaders of varying levels

• Confident communicator; able to argue a point concisely and deal positively with conflicting views

• Enthusiasm for learning & results oriented

Required Education:

• Strong academic record and a BA/BS degree with high mathematical and computing content (e.g. Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Engineering or Physics)

An individual who loves solving deep and complex technical and business problems and wants to have an outsized impact with the services/ products they deliver. An individual with a passion for application development, high level of intellectual curiosity, a commitment to excellence and an unparalleled drive to deliver world-class services.

About the Client:

The firm is a publicly owned global asset management firm with $800 billion dollars of AUM. The firm offers funds, advisory services, account management, and retirement plans and services for individuals, institutions, and financial intermediaries.

The talent and dedication of their people is critical to their success. They offer an opportunity for developing one’s professional career while working with individuals trained in a variety of disciplines in a collegial and dynamic environment. They offer a broad range of competitive benefits on a global basis.

They seek candidates who are high-energy self-starters who want to join an investment management firm on the leading edge of the global markets. The management team needs individuals of the highest professional caliber who are leaders, problem solvers, analytic, detail-oriented, and entrepreneurial. Everyone at the firm works side-by-side with the firm’s senior management in a highly collaborative and charged environment.

Successful candidates are:

• Analytic and relentless in pursuit of the right answer

• Strong communicators who excel at rapid synthesis

• Able to demonstrate sound business judgment

• Able to digest complexity while maintaining an understanding of the “big picture” of business needs

• Team players who are energized by a collaborative enterprise

The firm’s employees maintain the highest professional and ethical standards. The firm has earned a reputation for honesty, fair dealing, and transparency in a competitive industry. They believe that these standards are the foundation for superior investment performance and are critical to delivering performance to clients