Quality Control Analyst

(Reference code: 0005J2) Status: Full Time, Employee Location: Northbrook, IL Job Category: Quality Assurance/Safety Career Level:Experienced (Non-Manager) Education Level: Bachelor's Degree Job Description: The Allstate Corporation is the nation’s largest publicly held personal lines insurer. A Fortune 100 company, with $156 billion in assets, Allstate sells 13 major lines of insurance, including auto, property, life and commercial. Allstate also offers retirement and investment products and banking services. Allstate is widely known through the “You’re In Good Hands With Allstate®” slogan. Allstate was founded in 1931 and became a publicly traded company in 1993.PQS Area OverviewThe Product Quality Services Division (PQS) provides a variety of services that allow Allstate Technology & Operations (ATO) to deliver projects on time with quality.  PQS provides resources, tools, and environments to partner with development teams to test software.PQS provides three-channel testing of small to large scale Discretionary, and Compliance projects.  PQS partners with Project Managers, the Business Owners, and the Application teams, to provide quality testing of projects to achieve business results.  PQS provides resources and testing tools to partner with other ATO teams to deliver Assembly, Product, Regression and Load Performance Testing.  PQS is comprised of several testing teams that perform testing for Agency, Customer Information Center (CIC), and Alliance.  Encompass Testing includes Encompass, Deerbrook and Northbrook Indemnity Company (NIC) brands. Description:The Quality Control Analyst is responsible for the testing of projects under general supervision of a Team Leader.  This includes developing and executing test plans, identifying and reporting defects and working with a project team to ensure successful testing prior to implementation.   Responsibilities:The following responsibilities require general supervision with an ability to perform these tasks independently: Develops test strategies, thorough test plans, test specifications, test cases and/or test scripts/automated procedures for each software release based on defined testing standards.  As a member of the project team, may also work closely with project business clients to identify requirements Conducts and participates in test plan inspections, documents issues and supports resolution of those issues  Executes test cases and validates to ensure business requirements, functional and navigational requirements are met Perform data analysis of automated or manual executed test cases to ensure data structure integrity and also carry out validation procedures to ensure that all system modifications meet end-user requirements and quality standards Responsible for defect identification, documentation, communication and following through to resolution according to business requirements As a member of the project team partners with the developers in verification and validation of defects in new and existing applications Responsible for the coordination/liaison of automated or manual testing to support project teams, project coordinators and may require interaction with business clients to ensure required specifications are met As a member of the project team, works directly with the Project coordinator to validate key business requirements and prepare reports on testing progress.  Effectively communicates testing status to project team Mentors peers on a project-by-project basis Responsible for multi-tasking and flexibility in a fast paced working environment. Performs workflow analysis.  Identifies, recommends and leads potential process improvementsCompetencies (Skills and Knowledge): Strong organizational skills Attention to detail Strong analytical skills with an aptitude for anticipating, finding problems Excellent verbal, written communication skills Ability to partner with others to work effectively across all boundaries Strong interpersonal skills (demonstrates the Critical Success Factors) Self-starter Ability to work in a high performance and fast pace environment Ability to master the understanding of the functional and business requirements of a software application Critical thinking essential for complete test combinations and developing a comprehensive test plan Experience working with the MS Office Tool SuiteExperience: Bachelor Degree and/or minimum of three years work related experience in the similar technical discipline Proven experience in quality control and testing methodologies Proven success as a Subject Matter Expert with knowledge in the business applications being tested Proven experience with Project Life Cycle Methodology Minimum of two years Insurance Business knowledge preferred Practical application experience preferred Proven experience in automated test tools knowledge preferred Certified Software Testing Engineer (CSTE) certification preferred Analytical ability to understand the logic of applications and how they interact preferred