Who are we?

Western National Insurance Group is a private mutual insurance company with over 120 years of experience serving customers' property-and-casualty insurance needs in the Midwestern, Northwestern, and Southwestern United States. Known as “The Relationship Company®,” we define success as a measure of the relationships we’ve built over time. In everything that we do, we know that delivering a friendly and helpful interaction makes for a better experience for everyone involved. That’s the power of “nice”. At Western National, nice is something we work to bring to every person and organization with whom we partner and serve.

Does this opportunity interest you?

Western National is seeking a Quality & Automation Team Lead to join our team! 

The individual in this role will have the opportunity to lead and coach a team of QA engineers to ensure the delivery of high-quality products that align with the company’s strategic plan. This individual will collaborate with technology and business stakeholders, identify impediments, manage risks, and drive continuous improvements while enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of testing practices. The individual in this role will also provide oversight on the execution of test plans, cases, scripts, and test documentation to ensure best practices and processes are followed. 

What are the responsibilities and opportunities of this role?

• Executes QA strategies and processes aligned to IT deliverables.
• Manages QA / AE resources, workload, and staffing needs within product team(s).
• Provides guidance and best practices for testing and initiating corrective action for any process improvement needs.
• Mentors and trains team members in Agile testing process, test standards, and testing tools.
• Ensures communication of testing progress and status of testing efforts for projects that involve multiple applications.
• Implements and ensures testing metrics and reporting are available and communicated within the team and stakeholders.
• Leads in the creation and improvement of overall test strategies, processes, and standards; both manual and automated.
• Assists in formulating and implementing improvements in collaboration with other IT leaders within the context of product teams and partner teams. 
• Identifies opportunities to help improve efficiency and quality of software delivery.
• Supports evolution of company-level software development testing practices, standards, and policies.
• Takes the lead in utilizing knowledge, experience, and available resources to mobilize action to problem resolution and process improvement within an Agile environment.
• Consistently acts according to our customer experience standards, including responding quickly, maintaining a positive attitude, building rapport, demonstrating empathy, managing the customer’s expectations, using the proper communication channel for the situation, and taking ownership to ensure the customer’s issue is resolved.
• Collaborates with internal and external customers.
• Performs special projects and other duties as assigned.

What are the must-have qualifications for a candidate?

• Experience in test automation tools and frameworks, preferably Cypress and / or Playwright. 
• Intermediate knowledge in continuous improvement to enhance testing standards, methodologies, processes, and tooling. 
• Intermediate knowledge of QA best practices with the demonstrated ability to define standards and identify tooling and processes.
• Ability to understand and apply various developing and testing methodologies and frameworks.
• Prior leadership experience with demonstrated ability to coach and develop individuals.  
• Demonstrated aptitude towards problem identification and resolution within an Agile environment. 
• Ability to multitask and solve problems of moderate complexity.
• Ability to implement and ensure testing metrics and reporting are available and communicated within the team and with stakeholders.
• Proven ability to communicate clearly and effectively both verbally and in writing to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience with Confluence and Jira.
• Advanced competency with various core systems, office and computer equipment, and software packages.
• Experience with Agile methodology.
• Bachelor’s degree preferred; equivalent training, education, and / or experience in lieu of degree acceptable.

What will our ideal candidate have?

• Demonstrated proficiency in coordinating and prioritizing deliverables to achieve multiple objectives within defined timeframes.
• A solid understanding of quality standards and processes with a proven ability to measure and monitor services against established benchmarks.
• Established track record of effectively leading team members.
• Team player with outstanding communication, listening, and collaboration skills.
• Experience in informal or formal leadership roles.
• Experience working in a matrixed leadership environment.
• Property-and-casualty insurance industry experience or education.

Compensation overview

The targeted hiring range for this role is $128,700-$157,000, annually. However, the base pay offered may vary depending on the job-related knowledge, skills, credentials, and experience of each candidate as well as other factors such as the scope and location of the role. Candidates looking for compensation outside of the posted range are encouraged to apply and will be considered based on their individual qualifications and/or may be considered for other positions.

Culture and Total Rewards

Western National has long been known as “The Relationship Company®” and caring for our employees is part of that relationship commitment. We value connectiveness, empowerment, and accountability, and we believe that our employees are our biggest asset. 

Currently ranked as the 41st largest private company by revenue in Minnesota (Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal), Western National has earned accolades year-over-year as an employer of choice and garnered multiple awards for wellness in the workplace. Western National has also been named a Top Workplace by the Star Tribune for the past four consecutive years. In addition, the Group is consistently recognized as a Ward’s 50 property-and-casualty insurance company for its outstanding financial results.

Western National offers full-time employees a significant Total Rewards Package, including:

• Medical insurance plan options and other standard employee benefits, including dental insurance, vision benefits, life insurance, disability insurance, and more!
• Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• 401(k) Plan (participants are eligible for 100% matching on the first 6% of their contributions)
• Wellbeing Program, including onsite fitness studio
• Paid Time Off – including holiday, vacation, and volunteer
• 100% company-paid tuition reimbursement for approved job-relevant coursework and access to The Institutes (Risk and insurance education)
• Paid parental leave
• Bonus opportunities

Western National believes in supporting balance between work and life by providing a flexible work environment, which includes a variety of hybrid and remote work arrangements designed to balance individual, job, department, and company needs. 

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time.

Western National provides employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

#LI-Hybrid  

#LI-AN1

#IND123