Test Strategy Lead Consultant - Core Banking

Role: Test Strategy Lead Consultant - Core Banking

Location: Jersey City, NJ (Hybrid)

Type: Contract

Role Overview:

• The Test Strategy Lead will architect, govern, and drive the comprehensive testing and automation frameworks for our global core banking platform.
• Based in the NY/NJ region, this individual must be a seasoned veteran with a proven track record of executing and overseeing core banking projects across multiple international geographies.
• Operating at the intersection of continuous quality engineering and complex core banking systems, you will own the overarching strategy to ensure seamless, compliant, and highly automated platform rollouts that align disparate regional systems into a cohesive global footprint.

Day to Day job Duties:

• Global Strategy Architecture: Design, establish, and mandate the master test strategy for complex core banking transformations, ensuring the framework successfully accounts for localized product variants, multi-currency processing, and distinct geographical variations.
• Multi-Location Project Governance: Provide direct leadership and delivery oversight for core banking automation projects spanning multiple international hubs, ensuring consistent quality standards across all regional deployments.
• Core Banking Automation Engineering: Drive the evolution of legacy testing models into highly automated pipelines, optimizing for Straight-Through Processing (STP), ledger integrity, and high-volume transaction environments across global deployments.
• Cross-Border Team Orchestration: Provide executive technical oversight and governance across distributed onshore, nearshore, and offshore squads worldwide, seamlessly aligning delivery across varying time zones and regional operating models.
• Risk-Based Release Management: Implement a disciplined, risk-based stage-gate methodology to provide regional leadership and clearing committees with clear code quality and release confidence metrics before local deployments.

Basic Qualifications:

• Experience Baseline: 15+ years of progressive leadership experience within financial services quality engineering, with a definitive track record in Tier-1 Core Banking Systems (e.g., Temenos, Finacle, FIS, or major regional clearing platforms).
• Multi-Geography Delivery Record: 10+ years of extensive experience managing the cross-border delivery of core banking automation projects across multiple distinct countries or regions, demonstrating a deep understanding of local regulatory and business variations.
• Automation Mastery: 10+ years of Expert-level capability in architecting enterprise-scale automated testing frameworks, behavior-driven/test-driven development (BDD/TDD), and automated regression models within continuous integration (CI/CD) setups.
• Regulatory & Environments Awareness: 10+ years of experience in global banking compliance frameworks (such as local data residency and sovereignty laws) impact data masking, obfuscation, and environment provisioning across international test boundaries.
• Infrastructure Familiarity: Strong experience of 5+ years in cloud-native and hybrid architectures (AWS, Azure, or private cloud infrastructure) that support enterprise banking systems globally.

 Nice to Have - Leadership & Soft Skills:

• Executive Presence: Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to translate complex quality risks, test execution data, and automation strategies into clear business terms for C-suite and regional leaders across different locations.
• Geographical Flexibility: Strategically located in New York or New Jersey, with the proven ability to seamlessly collaborate with and orchestrate teams across global time zones (EMEA, LATAM, APAC).
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: A natural bridge-builder who can align divergent technical and business priorities across core infrastructure, regional product owners, and external delivery partners globally