Quality Assurance Practice Lead

Quality Assurance Practice Lead
Internal Job Title: Annuity Business Systems - Quality Assurance Practice Lead
Location: League City, TX. - Marina Plaza | Work Arrangement: Onsite/office-based
Status: Full-Time, Salaried
Reports to: VP, Life Annuity Systems

We are seeking a Quality Assurance Practice Lead to own the software quality practice across American National's agile delivery teams. The Quality Assurance Practice Lead will set the standards that define when work is ready to build and ready to release, the test architecture that spans teams, and the IT and Business coordination that carries a feature through user acceptance.

This is a senior individual-contributor role. You will not manage a testing team. You will set the standards every team works to, coach the people who apply them, and own the measurement and governance that make quality visible. The operating model is explicit: IT owns environments, defect resolution, and technical support; the Business owns acceptance scenarios, the acceptance decision, and user signoff; Business and IT share ownership of test planning, coordination, and go-live readiness.

What You'll Do:

• Own and evolve the acceptance criteria standard and testability rubric and govern changes to it through an agreed review path.
• Partner with Product Managers, Product Owners, and Scrum Masters to raise story testability, coaching Given/When/Then acceptance criteria in refinement and keep testability embedded in the Definition of Done.
• Own test plan and suite architecture in Azure Test Plans, including requirement-based traceability from test case to user story.
• Own regression and smoke suite composition as a documented, risk-based decision, including the rationale for each test in the suite.
• Design test coverage for cross-team features and end-to-end business journeys that no single team owns.
• Own the UAT operating model and its RACI, and coach business acceptance testers to author their own scenarios rather than authoring on their behalf.
• Own release readiness assessment and ensure every feature has a named business owner accountable for signoff.
• Advise on where automated test gates belong in Azure Pipelines and what each gate asserts, sequence automation behind foundational fixes rather than ahead of them, and own gate governance: named approvers, required justification, restricted edit rights, and monthly bypass review.
• Own and extend AI-assisted quality tooling that audits acceptance criteria, scores testability, and drafts first-pass test scenarios from stories, under the principle that AI drafts and humans decide, with every generated artifact labeled and cleared by a named reviewer.
• Own the quality measurement plan and dashboards and report quality trends against baseline to IT and Business leadership on a predictable cadence.
• Chair the Testing Community of Practice, own its standards backlog, and coach embedded testers, developers, Product Owners, and Scrum Masters.
• Surface environment and test data constraints, and name residual risk when an adequate test environment or representative data cannot be provided.

What You'll Bring:

• 10 or more years in software quality engineering, testing, or quality architecture, including at least 3 years operating above the individual team level, across multiple teams, a program, or an enterprise practice.
• Demonstrated ownership of a quality standard that other teams adopted, with the ability to describe how that adoption was won.
• Hands-on depth in Azure DevOps: Boards, Test Plans, and Pipelines, including requirement-based suites, configurations, shared parameters, and Work Item Query Language (WIQL) queries.
• Experience coaching Given/When/Then or equivalent structured acceptance criteria with Product Owners and Scrum Masters in refinement.
• Experience designing and coordinating user acceptance testing where the Business, not IT, held the acceptance decision.
• Experience defining risk-based regression scope, and the judgment to defend what was deliberately excluded.
• Working fluency with test automation and CI/CD quality gates sufficient to direct and review automation work.
• Hands-on use of AI assistance in quality or delivery workflow, with a clear articulation of where the human decision stays.
• A track record of influence without formal authority, and written communication strong enough that standards are followed because they are clear.

What Will Set You Apart:

• Life insurance, annuity, or financial services delivery experience, particularly policy administration, new business, or distribution systems.
• Experience in a regulated environment with SOX and audit obligations touching software delivery.
• Experience standing up or leading a Community of Practice, and SAFe or scaled agile experience, particularly quality practices across one or more ARTs.
• ISTQB certification at Advanced Level, or equivalent demonstrated depth.
• Test data management and masking experience in an environment holding non-public personal information.

Additional Information
Job titles may span multiple career levels. Base pay is determined by a variety of factors, including training, transferable skills, relevant experience, business needs, and market conditions. Compensation is subject to change and may be modified in the future.
This job posting outlines the general nature and level of work for this role and is not intended to be a comprehensive list of duties, responsibilities, or qualifications. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, and we encourage candidates to apply even if their experience does not perfectly align with every qualification- you may be a strong fit for this role or other opportunities at American National.

American National offers a comprehensive benefits package supporting employees' health, financial security, and well-being, including multiple medical plan options, dental and vision coverage, basic life insurance, and health savings accounts. Employees are automatically enrolled in a company-funded 401(k) plan, receive paid time off and holidays, and work in an inclusive, people-first culture that values flexibility, work-life balance, professional growth, and a casual dress environment.
American National is a financially strong and stable insurance organization with a legacy of trust and impact dating back to 1905. We're committed to supporting our employees as they build meaningful careers while helping protect what matters most to our customers and communities. Guided by our core values- Financial Strength, Integrity, Respect, Service, and Teamwork (FIRST)- we foster a collaborative, people-centered workplace where individuals are encouraged to grow, contribute, and make a difference today and for the future. Learn more about our company, by following us on social media: LinkedIn , Facebook , Instagram .
Hiring Practices
American National's recruitment policies help us place individuals in a timely and efficient manner, and only the most qualified candidates will be contacted by our recruiting team. Candidates may check the status of their application by logging into their account.
While candidates may choose to use artificial intelligence (AI) tools for personal interview preparation, the use of AI or automated tools is not permitted during any live or recorded interview, assessment, or at any stage of the application process where original candidate responses are required. Candidates are expected to represent their own qualifications, skills, and experiences throughout the hiring process. American National does not accept unsolicited resumes or candidate submissions from third-party recruitment agencies without a valid, signed agreement in place, and no fees will be paid for unauthorized submissions. Additionally, American National's ability to sponsor employment-based immigration authorization is limited and available only for certain positions based on business needs and role requirements.

American National is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, genetic information or any other legally protected categories. American National is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities.