Why USAA?
At USAA, our mission is to empower our members to achieve financial security through highly competitive products, exceptional service and trusted advice. We seek to be the #1 choice for the military community and their families.
Embrace a fulfilling career at USAA, where our core values – honesty, integrity, loyalty and service – define how we treat each other and our members. Be part of what truly makes us special and impactful.
We are proud to support active-duty military spouses. USAA roles may offer remote or hybrid flexibility for active-duty military spouses consistent with applicable policy and business needs.
The Opportunity
As the Director of Information Technology – Testing Center of Excellence (TCoE), you will lead the strategy, implementation, and ongoing operations of a centralized testing capability supporting multiple technology organizations. You will be accountable for establishing consistent testing practices, driving quality engineering excellence, and delivering measurable improvements in testing efficiency, effectiveness, and cost.
This role will lead the transformation of testing services through a combination of internal teams, third-party partners, automation/AI capabilities, and standardized processes. You will collaborate with technology executives, delivery leaders, and business stakeholders to ensure testing services are aligned with organizational priorities, delivery commitments, and risk management expectations.
The ideal candidate brings a combination of enterprise testing leadership, operational execution, vendor management, and demonstrated experience driving organizational change.
We offer a flexible work environment that requires an individual to be in the office 4 days per week. This position can be based in one of the following locations: San Antonio TX or Plano TX.
Relocation assistance is not available for this position.
What you'll do:
- Lead the strategy, implementation, and ongoing operations of the Testing Center of Excellence, establishing standardized testing services, processes, governance, and performance expectations across multiple technology organizations.
- Drive adoption of enterprise testing capabilities, including test automation, quality engineering practices, and continuous improvement to enhance software quality, delivery efficiency, and speed to market.
- Oversee third-party testing service providers, ensuring contractual commitments, service-level agreements, resource capacity, quality standards, and financial objectives are achieved.
- Establish and monitor key performance indicators to measure testing effectiveness, automation adoption, defect management, service delivery performance, and operational efficiency.
- Partner with technology and business leaders to understand testing demand, align testing services with delivery priorities, manage dependencies, and ensure successful adoption of the centralized testing model.
- Lead the transition and ongoing optimization of testing services, proactively managing operational risks, organizational change, service continuity, and realization of expected business benefits.
- Builds and oversees a team of employees and third party for TCOE through ongoing execution of recruiting, development, retention, coaching and support, performance management, and managerial activities.
- Oversees efforts in establishing documentation standards and quality assurance methodologies for technology support functions and ensure adherence to standards across teams.
- Accountable for the identification, research, and analysis of end to end business, processes, and technology support opportunities.
- Develops and oversees metrics for technology support capabilities and/or processes (KPIs, KRIs, etc.).
- Creates a multi-year plan to operationalize a technology support strategy, with key milestones, deliverables, and realization targets.
- Oversees the creation and execution of departmental budgets and forecasts for applicable technology support function.
- Oversees the availability management of technology solutions / domains by applying strong change and incident management practices.
- Works across multiple functional areas and influences future business strategy to be able to best utilize available technology support functions as well as future ones.
- Stays abreast of industry trends and understands the direction of applicable technology support capabilities and ensures technology environment is agile enough to change quickly to support.
- Builds successful stakeholder relationships with other IT and business leaders by developing a clear understanding of business needs, acting as a trusted advisor, and ensuring cost-effective delivery of technology support services to meet those needs.
- Builds and oversees a team of employees for assigned functional area through ongoing execution of recruiting, development, retention, coaching and support, performance management, and managerial activities.
- Ensures risks associated with business activities are effectively identified, measured, monitored, and controlled in accordance with risk and compliance policies and procedures.
What you have:
- Bachelor's degree; OR 4 years of relevant education and/or experience.
- 8 years of experience in a technology function in a Software Development/Engineering or Infrastructure environment.
- 3 years of direct team lead or management experience of IT professionals.
- Demonstrated experience leading enterprise software testing, quality assurance, or quality engineering functions within complex technology organizations.
- Experience establishing, transforming, or operating centralized testing services, shared services, or a Testing Center of Excellence.
- Strong understanding of software testing methodologies, test automation, defect management, and testing practices within Agile and traditional delivery environments.
- Experience managing third-party technology service providers, including service delivery performance, contractual commitments, financial management, vendor accountability and management of distributed development teams and resources.
- Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional transformation initiatives, influence senior technology leaders, and drive adoption of standardized processes and capabilities.
- Demonstrated thought leadership in embedding intuitive story telling of technology support functions including concise presentation of complex technical details.
- Previous experience managing multiple tasks and responsibilities in high-pressure environments; excelling at pinpointing and resolving problems in early stages to avoid cost/time expenses.
- Experience and ability to drive a culture of quality and personal accountability through technology support teams.
- Demonstrated financial acumen involving budgets, forecasting, and executing on the budgets for applicable technology support function.
- Advanced facilitation, collaboration and consensus building skills, with experience in presenting to cross-functional teams and Senior/Executive leaders.
- Experience in inspiring, leading, and defining vision, strategy and organizational change.
- Demonstrated experience in explaining complex technology decisions to both technical and nontechnical audiences at all levels in the organization.
- Demonstrated ability to influence change at the executive level and team level.
- Understanding of relevant industry frameworks, i.e. COBIT, ITIL, SAFe, etc.
- Understanding of Legislative and Regulatory Compliance Requirements.
What sets you apart:
- Proven success establishing or transforming an enterprise Testing Center of Excellence, including transitioning decentralized testing activities into a standardized service delivery model.
- Experience managing large-scale, third-party testing partnerships, including outcome-based service delivery models, vendor performance, and benefits realization.
- Demonstrated success advancing test automation, quality engineering maturity, and measurable improvements in testing effectiveness, operational efficiency, and cost optimization.
- Experience leading testing transformation within a highly regulated industry, such as financial services, with a strong understanding of risk management, compliance, and technology controls.
- US military experience gained through military service or gained as a military spouse / domestic partner.
Compensation range: The salary range for this position is: $143,320 - $273,930.
USAA does not provide visa sponsorship for this role. Please do not apply for this role if at any time (now or in the future) you will need immigration support (i.e., H-1B, TN, STEM OPT Training Plans, etc.).
Compensation: USAA has an effective process for assessing market data and establishing ranges to ensure we remain competitive. You are paid within the salary range based on your experience and market data of the position. The actual salary for this role may vary by location.
Employees may be eligible for pay incentives based on overall corporate and individual performance and at the discretion of the USAA Board of Directors.
The above description reflects the details considered necessary to describe the principal functions of the job and should not be construed as a detailed description of all the work requirements that may be performed in the job.
Benefits: At USAA our employees enjoy best-in-class benefits to support their physical, financial, and emotional wellness. These benefits include comprehensive medical, dental and vision plans, 401(k), pension, life insurance, parental benefits, adoption assistance, paid time off program with paid holidays plus 16 paid volunteer hours, and various wellness programs. Additionally, our career path planning and continuing education assists employees with their professional goals.
For more details on our outstanding benefits, visit our benefits page on USAAjobs.com.
Applications for this position are accepted on an ongoing basis, this posting will remain open until the position is filled. Thus, interested candidates are encouraged to apply the same day they view this posting.
USAA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.
