Performance QA Lead

Job Title: Performance QA Lead

Job ID: POS-18724

Primary Skill: Performance testing

Contractor Intake Form – Performance & Reliability Engineer (Guidewire Platform)

Role Summary

We are establishing a Sustaining Engineering team focused on improving performance, stability, reliability, and observability of the Guidewire platform (PolicyCenter, BillingCenter, and integrations).

We are seeking a contractor who operates at the intersection of performance engineering, system reliability, and integration testing, with the ability to diagnose and validate improvements across distributed system flows.

Engagement Overview

• Role Type: Contract - SOW
• Team: Sustaining Engineering
• Work Model: Cross-team, platform-focused
• Reporting Structure:
• Reports into Sustaining Engineering
• Dotted line to internal Performance Engineer
• Primary Goal: Improve overall system health through root cause identification and measurable validation of fixes
  

Key Objectives

• Support remediation of Guidewire Platform Health findings (performance, integration, stability)
• Establish or enhance performance and reliability testing strategy
• Baseline, measure, and track:
• Latency
• Throughput
• Error rates
• Integration success/failure rates
• Batch/job stability and success rates
• Validate that fixes result in measurable improvements in system health
• Contribute to a repeatable, scalable performance and reliability testing practice
  

Core Responsibilities

Performance & System Testing

• Design and execute:
• Performance, load, and stress tests
• End-to-end system tests across PolicyCenter and BillingCenter
• Validate system behavior under normal and peak conditions
  

Integration & Distributed System Validation

• Test and analyze:
• API interactions
• Asynchronous processing / messaging flows
• Cross-system data movement (PC ↔ BC)
• Identify and diagnose integration failures and inconsistencies
  

Batch & Work Queue Stability

• Validate:
• Batch job execution and performance
• Work queue processing and failure handling
• Identify retry issues, bottlenecks, and backlog risks
  

Root Cause Analysis

• Analyze:
• Application-layer bottlenecks
• JVM/thread behavior
• Database query performance
• API latency and failure points
• Distinguish root causes vs symptoms
  

Observability & Error Analysis

• Analyze system logs and monitoring outputs
• Identify:
• High-noise vs actionable errors
• Gaps in logging and monitoring
• Recommend improvements to observability
  

Engineering Collaboration

• Partner with developers to address:
• Query optimization
• Code-level performance issues
• Integration reliability
• Error handling improvements
• Translate findings into clear, actionable recommendations
  

Validation & Reporting

• Provide before/after metric validation for fixes
• Support sprint/release reviews with quantifiable improvements
• Help establish consistent reporting on system health
  
  

Technical Capabilities

Required Skills & Experience

• Strong experience in performance and reliability testing in distributed systems
• Hands-on experience with performance testing tools:
• JMeter, Gatling, LoadRunner, or similar
• Experience testing system integrations:
• APIs (REST/SOAP)
• Async processing / messaging systems
  

System Analysis Skills

• Ability to analyze:
• JVM / thread behavior
• Database queries and performance
• API latency and throughput
• Batch/job execution patterns
• Experience diagnosing:
• Integration failures
• High error volumes and log noise
• Systemic vs localized issues
  

Working Style

• Strong root cause analysis mindset (not just defect identification)
• Ability to translate technical findings into actionable insights
• Comfortable working in cross-team, platform-level environments
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Guidewire (PolicyCenter and BillingCenter strongly preferred)
• Insurance domain knowledge (policy and billing flows)
• Experience with:
• Batch processing / job scheduling systems
• Observability tools (e.g., DataDog)
• Background in:
• SRE (Site Reliability Engineering)
• Platform engineering
• Systems-level QA
  

Success Criteria

The Contractor Will Be Successful If They Demonstrate

• Measurable improvements in:
• System performance (latency, throughput)
• Integration reliability (reduced cross-system failures)
• Batch/work queue stability
• Reduction in error noise and improved observability
• Consistent ability to identify true root causes across system layers
• Clear contribution to sustained system health improvements
• Establishment of repeatable performance and reliability testing practices
  

Job Description

• Work on Performance Test Strategies/Test Plans
• Identify Performance Test Requirements/Test Scenarios
• Define and Validate Workload Models with the Project Teams
• Create Test Case Workflow/Performance Test Scripts
• Validate Monitoring tools
• Validate Test Environments are ready, available, accurate, etc.
• Define, communicate and plan test schedule/windows
• Execute test per planned windows and analyze executed tests
• Document defects in Microfocus Quality Center
• Review Test Results
• Create Results Report
  
  

Mandatory Skills

• Experience in Performance testing, monitoring and analysis with excellent reporting Skills
• Experience in Test Strategy, Test Design, Test Plan report
• Experience in creating performance test scripts using different protocols like Web (HTTP/HTML), TruClient, Web Services, REST and .Net applications
• Experience in creating different type of scenarios to simulate different load and users pattern for Stress Test, Peak Load Test, Endurance Test, Volume test and other different type tests
• Experience in tools like Loadrunner, Jmeter, AppDynamics, Splunk ( or other APM Tools) for Web/App and DB layers
• Good experience on Performance testing of the Web (HTTP/HTML), TruClient, Web Services, REST and .Net applications
• Proficiency in one or more general purpose programming languages.
• Good understanding of agile methodologies and agile performance testing.
• Knowledge of Storm Runner tool
• Ability to work in team in diverse/ multiple stakeholder environment
• Good communication skills
• Good Analytical skills
• Experience and desire to work in a Global delivery environment
  
  

Desired Skills

• Experience in WAS tuning, JVM tuning, PL SQL tuning experience.
• Working knowledge in debugging of performance scripts, identification of performance bottlenecks using drill down analysis using monitoring tools; Interaction with various stake holders for performance issue resolution
• Development performance testing solution for small services in Devops world.
• Strong understanding of techniques such as Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, Test Driven Development, Cloud Development, application resiliency and security
• Experience in working for cloud-based application performance testing and tuning
  
  

Experience in CI/CD pipeline for performance testing.

About The Company

Founded in 2000 with the core belief that impactful change comes from deep commitment, ValueMomentum specializes in delivering measurable results across the P&C value stream. For more than 25 years, we have empowered more than 100 carriers to reimagine their businesses with AI and emerging technologies, navigate market shifts, unlock speed to value, and become future-ready. We help insurers in the US, Canada, and Europe stay ahead with sustained growth and high performance to enhance stakeholder value and foster resilient societies. For more information, visit ValueMomentum

Equal Employment Opportunity

ValueMomentum is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We make all employment decisions based on qualifications, merit, and business needs, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

We are also committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities and applicants throughout the recruitment process, in accordance with applicable laws.

Benefits

We at ValueMomentum offer you a congenial environment to work and grow in the company of experienced professionals. Some benefits that are available to you are:

• Competitive compensation package.
• Career Advancement: Individual Career Development, coaching and mentoring programs for professional and leadership skill development.
• Comprehensive training and certification programs.
• Performance Management: Goal Setting, continuous feedback and year-end appraisal. Reward & recognition for the extraordinary performers.