Back to Home

Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Verification Quality Analyst

💰 $65,000 - $95,000

Quality AssuranceData & AnalyticsTechnologyEngineering

🎯 Role Definition

As a Verification Quality Analyst at our organization, you will be the guardian of quality. Your primary mission is to design and execute sophisticated verification strategies to validate our products, data pipelines, and software systems against stringent standards. You will meticulously hunt for discrepancies, bugs, and inconsistencies, performing deep-dive root cause analysis to drive continuous improvement. This role is critical to maintaining customer trust and ensuring our products deliver flawless performance and reliable data. You are not just a tester; you are a quality advocate who collaborates across teams to build excellence into our development lifecycle from the ground up.


📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Junior QA Tester / Associate Analyst
  • Data Entry Specialist / Data Steward
  • Technical Support Analyst / Application Support Specialist

Advancement To:

  • Senior Verification Quality Analyst / QA Lead
  • Test Automation Engineer
  • Quality Assurance Manager

Lateral Moves:

  • Business Analyst
  • Data Analyst

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Design, develop, and meticulously document comprehensive test plans, test cases, and verification scripts to ensure full coverage of functional and non-functional requirements.
  • Execute manual and automated test suites to identify, isolate, and track defects, anomalies, and performance bottlenecks within complex software applications and data systems.
  • Conduct thorough data validation and integrity checks by writing and executing complex SQL queries to compare source and target data systems, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and consistency.
  • Perform rigorous root cause analysis on identified defects and production issues, collaborating with development teams to understand the underlying causes and prevent future occurrences.
  • Manage and maintain the defect lifecycle using tracking systems like Jira, ensuring all issues are clearly documented, prioritized, and driven to resolution.
  • Develop and maintain a repository of quality-related documentation, including test strategies, final test reports, and process improvement recommendations for various stakeholders.
  • Participate actively in requirement analysis and design review meetings to provide timely and meaningful feedback on testability and potential quality risks.
  • Validate and verify that new features and enhancements meet acceptance criteria and business requirements before they are released to production environments.
  • Create and manage realistic, high-quality test data sets required for various testing scenarios, including performance, security, and regression testing.
  • Conduct end-to-end system verification, simulating user workflows and data flows to validate the entire process chain across multiple integrated systems.
  • Report on testing progress, quality metrics, and risk assessments to project managers and leadership, providing clear visibility into the quality status of projects.
  • Champion and enforce quality assurance best practices and standards throughout the entire software development lifecycle (SDLC), from conception to deployment.
  • Perform API testing using tools like Postman or ReadyAPI to verify endpoint functionality, data formats (JSON/XML), and error handling.
  • Evaluate system performance, scalability, and reliability under load, identifying and documenting any degradation or failure points.
  • Lead and coordinate User Acceptance Testing (UAT) sessions, guiding business users through test scenarios and consolidating their feedback for the development team.
  • Conduct regression testing to ensure that new code changes or bug fixes have not adversely impacted existing functionalities.
  • Analyze and deconstruct complex business logic and technical specifications to build intelligent and efficient verification approaches.
  • Stay current with emerging quality assurance trends, new testing tools, and verification methodologies to continuously enhance our quality processes.
  • Mentor junior analysts and team members on testing techniques, tools, and best practices to foster a culture of quality within the team.
  • Validate data transformations and ETL processes, ensuring data is accurately processed and loaded according to business rules and technical requirements.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis to investigate potential quality issues or support business inquiries.
  • Contribute to the organization's data governance and data quality strategy by identifying and defining quality rules and metrics.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs and quality expectations into actionable engineering and testing requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and retrospective ceremonies within an Agile/Scrum development environment.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • SQL Proficiency: Advanced ability to write complex queries for data extraction, manipulation, and validation across relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, SQL Server).
  • Test Management Tools: Hands-on experience with tools like Jira, Xray, Zephyr, or TestRail for test case management and defect tracking.
  • API Testing Tools: Proficiency with Postman, Insomnia, or similar tools for testing RESTful and SOAP APIs.
  • Scripting & Automation: Basic to intermediate knowledge of a scripting language (e.g., Python, JavaScript) for test automation and data generation.
  • Data Analysis: Strong skills in using tools like Microsoft Excel (Advanced functions, PivotTables) for data comparison and analysis.
  • SDLC Methodologies: Deep understanding of Agile (Scrum, Kanban) and Waterfall software development lifecycles.

Soft Skills

  • Meticulous Attention to Detail: An exceptional ability to spot minute inconsistencies and a commitment to precision and accuracy.
  • Analytical & Problem-Solving Mindset: The capacity to systematically investigate complex problems, identify root causes, and propose effective solutions.
  • Excellent Communication: Strong verbal and written communication skills to clearly articulate defects, report on quality status, and collaborate with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Collaboration & Teamwork: A proven ability to work effectively within cross-functional teams, including developers, product managers, and business analysts.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience in a relevant field.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related technical discipline.
  • Certifications such as ISTQB, CSTE, or CASQ are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Information Technology / Systems
  • Statistics & Data Science
  • Engineering

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3-5 years of direct experience in a quality assurance, data verification, or software testing role.

Preferred:

  • Experience working in an Agile/Scrum environment is highly preferred.
  • Demonstrable experience testing data-intensive applications, data warehouses, or ETL pipelines.
  • Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and their data services is a strong advantage.