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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for a Test Coordinator

💰 $65,000 - $95,000

Quality AssuranceInformation TechnologyProject Management

🎯 Role Definition

As a Test Coordinator, you will be the central hub for all quality assurance activities within our project teams. You will be responsible for planning, strategizing, and overseeing the entire testing process from start to finish. This involves creating detailed test plans, scheduling testing cycles, managing resources, and tracking defects to resolution. Your role is critical in guaranteeing that every product we release is robust, reliable, and meets the specified requirements. You will champion quality, drive process improvements, and provide clear, concise communication to all stakeholders, ensuring transparency and alignment across the board.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • QA Analyst / Software Tester
  • Junior Project Manager
  • Business Analyst with a technical focus

Advancement To:

  • Test Manager / QA Manager
  • Senior Project Manager
  • Release Manager

Lateral Moves:

  • Scrum Master
  • Product Owner

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop, document, and maintain comprehensive test plans and test strategies that align with project timelines and business objectives.
  • Coordinate all phases of testing, including system, integration, regression, performance, and User Acceptance Testing (UAT).
  • Act as the primary liaison and single point of contact for all testing-related communication between development, business analysis, and product management teams.
  • Create and manage detailed test schedules, resource allocation plans, and timelines to ensure the timely delivery of high-quality software.
  • Lead and facilitate defect triage meetings with cross-functional teams to discuss, prioritize, and assign bugs for resolution.
  • Define, track, and report on key quality assurance metrics, such as defect density, test execution progress, and test coverage.
  • Prepare and present clear, concise status reports on testing activities, progress, risks, and issues to project stakeholders and senior leadership.
  • Manage and maintain the test environments, ensuring they are properly configured, populated with appropriate data, and available for testing cycles.
  • Oversee the creation, review, and execution of manual and automated test cases, test scripts, and test data by the QA team.
  • Ensure all software releases meet defined quality standards, business requirements, and exit criteria before deployment to production.
  • Facilitate User Acceptance Testing (UAT) by preparing test scenarios, supporting business users, and consolidating their feedback and bug reports.
  • Collaborate closely with project managers to proactively identify, assess, and mitigate risks related to product quality and testing timelines.
  • Champion and enforce QA best practices, methodologies, and standards across the entire Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC).
  • Manage and organize all testing artifacts and documentation within our designated tools, such as JIRA, Confluence, and TestRail.
  • Evaluate and recommend new testing tools, technologies, and processes to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the quality assurance function.
  • Coordinate specialized testing efforts, such as performance and security testing, with dedicated teams or external vendors.
  • Provide mentorship, coaching, and guidance to junior testers and QA analysts, fostering a culture of quality and continuous improvement.
  • Review and analyze business requirements, user stories, and technical design documents to provide timely and meaningful feedback from a quality perspective.
  • Plan and coordinate post-release testing and production verification activities to ensure a smooth and successful deployment.
  • Communicate overall release readiness and provide a go/no-go recommendation based on test results and outstanding risk assessments.
  • Drive the test automation strategy by identifying suitable test cases for automation and collaborating with automation engineers on their implementation.
  • Ensure full traceability between requirements, test cases, and reported defects to maintain a clear audit trail and demonstrate test coverage.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis related to test outcomes and defect trends.
  • Contribute to the organization's overarching quality assurance strategy and improvement roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate high-level quality expectations and testing needs into actionable engineering requirements.
  • Participate actively in sprint planning, daily stand-ups, retrospectives, and other agile ceremonies within the project team.
  • Assist in creating training materials and conducting training sessions for business users on UAT processes and tools.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • High proficiency with test management software (e.g., TestRail, Zephyr, qTest, Azure DevOps).
  • Extensive experience with defect tracking and agile project management tools (e.g., JIRA, Asana, Trello).
  • Deep understanding of the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) and Software Testing Lifecycle (STLC).
  • Expertise in various testing methodologies, including Agile, Scrum, Kanban, and Waterfall.
  • Strong knowledge of different testing levels and types, such as functional, non-functional, regression, smoke, UAT, and integration testing.
  • Foundational understanding of test automation concepts and tools (e.g., Selenium, Cypress, Playwright) and the ability to identify automation candidates.
  • Competency in writing basic to intermediate SQL queries for data validation and test data setup.
  • Proven ability to read, interpret, and analyze technical specifications and business requirement documents.

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional organizational, planning, and time-management skills with a meticulous attention to detail.
  • Strong leadership and coordination capabilities to manage multiple testing activities and teams in parallel.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tailor reports for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
  • A highly analytical and-problem-solving mindset to identify risks, troubleshoot complex issues, and propose effective solutions.
  • Strong interpersonal, negotiation, and conflict resolution skills, particularly for moderating defect triage discussions.
  • Resilience and the ability to perform effectively under pressure and meet tight deadlines in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in a technical or business field, or equivalent practical industry experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's or Master's degree in a relevant field.
  • Certifications such as ISTQB Foundation Level or Certified Associate in Software Testing (CAST).

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Information Technology
  • Business Administration

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 3-5 years of hands-on experience in a quality assurance or software testing role.

Preferred:

  • 1-2+ years of experience in a Test Lead, QA Lead, or Test Coordinator capacity within an Agile development environment.
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