Senior QA and Production Support Manager

Position Description

This position reports to the Director of Data Science and Product Research at IQSS and, occasionally, co-reports to other Directors of IQSS depending on specific products.

This position manages the design, the implementation and delivery of QA processes, programs and policies for several products at IQSS: those developed or forked by our development and IT teams.

In particular, this position supports both the Dataverse open source project and its instance called Harvard Dataverse Repository. It also supports other IQSS products like DPCreator and Consilience or forked products like OJS for the PPR project.

It is responsible for the execution and coordination of QA testing activities, performs troubleshooting, and identifies and reports issues to the development teams of each product. It also supports deployment engineering tasks at the time of every new software release.

It supports the Harvard Dataverse by advising and answering questions from internal support staff regarding users or system issues and by responding to service availability issues, troubleshooting and resolving them with knowledge gained used to improve the Dataverse project.

Risk assessment and compliance

Identify and assess potential risks, ensure compliance, and recommend changes for each product. Conduct functional and performance testing. Independently identify, triage, and track issues to resolution.

Work with development team and contractors to address identified or potential issues before development code is merged into production.

Deployment and release engineering

Conduct release engineering tasks, including building and deploying to the test environment, merging approved changes into the production environment, tagging and building public releases, preparation of release deliverables: release notes, auxiliary configuration files, and binaries. Publish release notes.

Define, build, and maintain test, demo, and performance test infrastructure servers

Quality Assurance design and execution

Review, design and implement quality standards and ensure execution on every stage of solution implementation.

Apply established standards to existing programs and services by creating automatic testing.  Perform manual and visual quality assurance tests across all functions of an application.

Independently perform quality assurance tests and test scenarios based on requirements and specifications and report results. Execute database queries for stress testing the products.

The size and complexity of the software products being developed and enhanced requires continual (re)engagement with product owners, developers, user community to develop test case scenarios and translate them into concrete QA test steps for either delivery of automated test scripts as a regression testing suite, or manual end user testing documentation. Continually reviews new and existing development work and patches.

Conduct and stage weekly production database backups.

RT (Request Tracking) support and monitoring

Respond to and investigate production service issues identified by response time/restart script. Discuss problem and solutions with development team. Work with Library Technical Services in some cases to mitigate issues related to Harvard Dataverse installation. Research better diagnostic and monitoring tools.

Technical Advice

Advise technical support on most complex issues.

Write documentation to explain QA facts, policies and practices at IQSS and specific guidelines for each product.

Basic Qualifications

• Minimum of seven years’ post-secondary education or relevant work experience

Additional Qualifications and Skills

• Bachelor in Computer Science or related technical degree preferred.
• Minimum 5 years working in QA, achieving a senior level of responsibility preferred. Could substitute half experience with related Technical Support or system admin/devops experience.
• Experience working with build environments such as Github, Jenkins.
• Working familiarity with modern web application stacks and frameworks.
• Working knowledge of at least one programming language and IDE and associated debugging tools.
• Understanding of how programs use system resources, including memory.
• Knowledge of a scripting language. Basic Unix skills, including admin skills.
• Working knowledge of databases, including SQL, basic database design.
• Understanding of basic performance testing concepts.
• Experience working as a performance engineer or significant experience conducting performance tests preferred. Experience implementing test automation preferred.
• Criminal background screen required, as this position has the ability to disrupt or disable highly sensitive or confidential data or systems.

Additional Information

We are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this position.

All formal offers will be made by FAS Human Resources.

IQSS sits in the Division of Social Science of Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS). The Division of Social Science is strongly committed to creating and supporting a diverse workforce. Respect and fairness, kindness and collegiality, and trust and transparency are among the values we espouse and promote in our workplace culture. We work hard to ensure a healthy, inclusive and positive environment where everyone does their best work in support of Harvard’s mission.

Work Format Details

This is a hybrid position that is based in Massachusetts. Additional details will be discussed during the interview process. All remote work must be performed within one of the Harvard Registered Payroll States, which currently includes Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Washington, and California (CA for exempt positions only). Certain visa types and funding sources may limit work location. Individuals must meet work location sponsorship requirements prior to employment.

Benefits

We invite you to visit Harvard's Total Rewards website (https://hr.harvard.edu/totalrewards ) to learn more about our outstanding benefits package, which may include:

• Paid Time Off: 3-4 weeks of accrued vacation time per year (3 weeks for support staff and 4 weeks for administrative/professional staff), 12 accrued sick days per year, 12.5 holidays plus a Winter Recess in December/January, 3 personal days per year (prorated based on date of hire), and up to 12 weeks of paid leave for new parents who are primary care givers.
• Health and Welfare: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision benefits, disability and life insurance programs, along with voluntary benefits. Most coverage begins as of your start date.
• Work/Life and Wellness: Child and elder/adult care resources including on campus childcare centers, Employee Assistance Program, and wellness programs related to stress management, nutrition, meditation, and more.
• Retirement: University-funded retirement plan with contributions from 5% to 15% of eligible compensation, based on age and earnings with full vesting after 3 years of service.
• Tuition Assistance Program: Competitive program including $40 per class at the Harvard Extension School and reduced tuition through other participating Harvard graduate schools.
• Tuition Reimbursement: Program that provides 75% to 90% reimbursement up to $5,250 per calendar year for eligible courses taken at other accredited institutions.
• Professional Development: Programs and classes at little or no cost, including through the Harvard Center for Workplace Development and LinkedIn Learning.
• Commuting and Transportation: Various commuter options handled through the Parking Office, including discounted parking, half-priced public transportation passes and pre-tax transit passes, biking benefits, and more.
• Harvard Facilities Access, Discounts and Perks: Access to Harvard athletic and fitness facilities, libraries, campus events, credit union, and more, as well as discounts to various types of services (legal, financial, etc.) and cultural and leisure activities throughout metro-Boston.

Job Function

Information Technology

Department Office Location

USA - MA - Cambridge

Job Code

I1258P IT RC Software/Data Prof IV

Work Format

Hybrid (partially on-site, partially remote)

Department

Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS)

Union

00 - Non Union, Exempt or Temporary

Pre-Employment Screening

Criminal, Identity

Commitment to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging

Harvard University views equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging as the pathway to achieving inclusive excellence and fostering a campus culture where everyone can thrive. We strive to create a community that draws upon the widest possible pool of talent to unify excellence and diversity while fully embracing individuals from varied backgrounds, cultures, races, identities, life experiences, perspectives, beliefs, and values.

EEO Statement

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions, or any other characteristic protected by law.

LinkedIn Recruiter Tag (for internal use only)

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