What are the responsibilities and job description for the Software Quality Assurance (QA) Specialist position at The Surplus Line Association of California?
Job Title: Software Quality Assurance (QA) Specialist
Organization: The Surplus Line Association of California (SLA)
Location: San Ramon, CA
Position Type: Full-time, Remote
Salary: $75,000 - $90,000
Come join our team — we’d love to have you!
At the SLA, we take pride in fostering an open, inclusive, and collaborative culture where employees come first. Our commitment to creating an exceptional workplace has earned us recognition:
- Certified as a Great Place to Work® three years in a row
- Named one of California’s Best Workplaces for 2025
And it’s not just the accolades — our employees agree! According to recent survey results, 87% of our team members would recommend working here to their friends and family.
As an employee-first organization, we’re passionate about supporting our team inside and outside the workplace.
We offer:
We offer:
- Flexible work-life balance options so you can thrive both professionally and personally.
- An expansive benefits package with a variety of choices for medical, dental, and vision coverage tailored to your needs.
- Educational benefits, including tuition reimbursement and student loan relief programs to support lifelong learning.
- A generous wellness stipend to help you invest in your health and well-being.
- And because we love adding a little extra value: complimentary Costco memberships for you and your family.
If you’re looking to grow your career in an environment where your voice is heard, your contributions are valued, and fun is part of the culture — come join us!
About Us:
At the Surplus Line Association of California (SLA), we don’t sell insurance—we protect access to it. As the only organization overseeing California’s $20 billion surplus lines insurance marketplace, we help support coverage availability for businesses—from film studios to freight haulers—when risks are too complex, too large or too unique for the standard market.
Each year, we review more than 1 million policy transactions, equip insurance brokers with compliance tools and continuing education courses, monitor the financial stability of global insurers, and deliver data-driven insights that help the industry stay ahead of emerging risks. That impact—combined with our strong employee culture—has earned us recognition by Fortune as one of the Bay Area’s best places to work.
Quick Clarifier:
We are not insurance agents or a government agency—and we won’t be quoting your car or life insurance. We oversee a multibillion-dollar market that primarily serves businesses with hard-to-place risks. It’s niche, essential, and surprisingly interesting.
Position Overview:
This position will be responsible for assuring the quality of software releases. The person in this role will perform manual and automated testing and verification of bug fixes, features, and new projects. Creation of automation for regression testing crucial existing system modules will also be expected. The role will require the creation of test scripts, test cases, UAT hand-off guides. It involves participation throughout the full software development lifecycle (SDLC), from requirements gathering to writing ticket acceptance criteria through final release.
Responsibilities:
- Testing of all existing and future software, largely built on the .NET framework.
- Create and implement a new QA Automation framework.
- Build and run automated regression tests for ongoing and new software projects.
- Perform comprehensive manual testing of features and bug fixes on an ongoing basis.
- Understand the intricacies, relationships, and dependencies of enterprise software systems to test the applications effectively.
- Create and implement detailed test plans, test cases, protocols, and procedures.
- Create and maintain system metrics to track test results.
- Review software bug reports, highlight problem areas, and recommend innovative solutions.
- Troubleshoot automation software and performance issues.
- Identify issues/risks in testing and present alternatives to alleviate or resolve them.
- Plan and prioritize testing activities.
- Proactively recommend new features and improvements to optimize test automation and coverage.
- Collaborate with the development team, business analysts, and project managers.
- Assist with ticket writing in the issue tracking system.
- Communicate with managers, project sponsors, and users regarding the status of specific projects, features, tests, and issues.
- Work in an Agile environment and participate in daily stand-up meetings.
Qualifications:
- Must be a California resident.
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field from an accredited university.
- Detail-oriented.
- Strong presentation and communication skills.
- Carry out instructions furnished in written, oral, and/or diagram form.
- Apply logical and technical concepts to identify and define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
- Work in a collaborative team environment.
- Ability to interact and work effectively with superiors, peers, developers, engineers, consultants, software vendors, and end-users.
- Effectively present information in one-on-one and small group situations to others inside and outside the organization.
This job description is not intended, and should not be construed to be, an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, skills, efforts, or working conditions associated with the job. It is intended, however, to be an accurate reflection of those principal job elements essential for making decisions related to job performance, employee development, and compensation. The Company reserves the right to change, modify, amend, add to or delete from any section of this document as it deems, in its judgment, to be proper.
The SLA is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment 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.
About The Surplus Line Association of California:
The Surplus Line Association of California (SLA) operates as a private, 501(c)(6) not-for-profit organization governed by a plan of operation approved by both the California Department of Insurance (CDI) and the SLA Board of Directors. Appointed by the Commissioner in 1994, the Association serves as the statutory surplus line advisory organization to the CDI and facilitates the state’s capacity to monitor and direct surplus line brokers’ placements of insurance with eligible surplus line insurers.Working with its members and the CDI, the Association assists its members’ compliance with California laws and regulations; helps maintain a healthy, fair, and competitive surplus line marketplace in California; and strives to protect the interests of California insurance consumers.
Salary : $75,000 - $90,000