IT Quality Assurance Lead at ALU in Remote

ABOUT ALU At the African Leadership University (ALU), we are more than an academic institution, we are a launchpad for Africa’s next generation of leaders. Our mission is bold: to develop ethical, entrepreneurial changemakers who will shape Africa’s future. Through an innovative curriculum, hands-on learning, and a vibrant pan-African community, we equip our students to tackle complex challenges, connect the dots across diverse perspectives, and create solutions that drive lasting impact. We don’t just teach; we nurture adaptable, globally minded problem-solvers ready to thrive in ambiguity, build from scratch, and lead Africa into a prosperous 21st century. African Leadership University is incorporated in Rwanda as The African Leadership University (ALU) and in Mauritius as the African Leadership College of Higher Education (ALCHE). Each entity is separately accredited to offer qualifications by the Council of Higher Education in Rwanda and the Higher Education Commission in Mauritius. The ALU School of Business (ALUSB) is the engine of education in business, leadership, and entrepreneurship for both campuses. We are dedicated to fostering an open yet secure environment, balancing the safety of students, staff, and visitors with respect for individual rights, and safeguarding responsibilities. HOW WE WORK The ALU Team works in starkly different ways to traditional academic bureaucracies. We approach education from first principles, empower individuals to design, test, and implement creative new ideas, and work closely together to craft transformative learning experiences. We are deeply passionate about our students and excited by the challenge of building something entirely new. The African Leadership University is committed to ensuring the safety and Well-being of all students under our care. As part of this commitment , we have a comprehensive safeguarding policy in place , which outlines our Zero-tolerance approach to any violation of safeguarding. ABOUT THE ROLE The Quality Assurance (QA) Lead will play a critical role in ensuring the reliability, performance and integrity of ALU’s enterprise systems with a primary focus on the Student Information System (SIS) and its integrations with other Corporate platforms. All changes across SIS and corporate systems should adhere to ALU’s stability, replicability and governance standards.This role is both strategic and hands-on: you will design and implement an automated testing framework, develop manual and automated test scripts tied to user stories, conduct regression and integration testing and ensure seamless collaboration between developers, analysts and business owners. The ideal candidate is detail-oriented, methodical and passionate about building high-quality systems that enhance user experience and institutional performance. ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES 1. QA Strategy & Governance Define and implement QA standards, processes and automation frameworks across all SIS and corporate systems. Establish a test management strategy that covers functional, integration, regression and user acceptance testing (UAT). Ensure test coverage aligns with user stories, acceptance criteria and system requirements. Maintain a central QA documentation repository, including test cases, scripts and defect logs. 2. Test Planning & Execution Reduce production defects by implementing proactive testing gates and enforcing test readiness criteria before deployment. Design, develop and execute test cases (manual and automated) for new features, integrations and releases. Conduct end-to-end testing of SIS workflows; particularly points of integration with Finance (e.g., student billing, refunds, payments, reconciliations). Perform regression testing to ensure new changes do not break existing functionality. Track and manage defects through the full lifecycle from discovery to resolution. Own the final QA sign-off for releases and ensure readiness criteria are met before deployment. Incorporate basic security testing and collaborate with the Cybersecurity team to ensure vulnerabilities are identified early. 3. Automation & Tools Implementation Implement and maintain appropriate automated testing tools (e.g., Selenium, Provar, Playwright, TestComplete, or similar). Develop reusable automated test scripts and data sets to improve efficiency and coverage. Integrate automated testing with the CI/CD pipeline where applicable. Monitor test automation results and generate clear reports for stakeholders. 4. Collaboration & Continuous Improvement Work closely with developers and business analysts to clarify requirements, acceptance criteria, and test readiness. Partner with data and system integration teams to validate data accuracy between SIS, Finance and other corporate platforms. Support UAT by coordinating testing with end users and providing structured feedback mechanisms. Identify recurring issues, propose process improvements, and advocate for quality-first development practices. 5. Reporting & Metrics Produce regular QA reports summarizing defects, testing progress, release readiness and quality trends. The following KPI’s indicate success: 95% of defects discovered before production; 90% automation coverage of critical SIS workflows and 100% of releases pass QA readiness gates Maintain testing dashboards for visibility across the Transformation Office. Provide post-release reviews and feedback loops to improve future testing cycles. Ensure the safety and well-being of all young persons and vulnerable adults with whom we deal,  by adhering to ALCHE’s comprehensive safeguarding policy, maintaining a zero-tolerance approach to any violations of safeguarding standards. QUALIFICATIONS Bachelor’s degree in IT, Computer Science, Information Systems, Software Engineering, or related field. 5+ years’ experience in software quality assurance Strong hands-on experience with both manual and automated testing methodologies. Proficiency with automated testing tools such as Selenium, Provar or equivalent. Solid understanding of software development life cycle (SDLC), Agile methodologies, and test management tools (e.g., Jira, AzureDevops). Demonstrated experience testing integrated enterprise systems, preferably Student Information Systems, ERP or CRM systems Strong SQL skills for data validation and backend testing. Excellent analytical, documentation and communication skills. PREFERRED EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS Experience testing student information systems (SIS) and ERP systems (e.g., Salesforce, NetSuite, Oracle, Workday, or similar). Familiarity with API testing tools (Postman, ReadyAPI) and database testing. Knowledge of CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions, Jenkins). Strong understanding of QA metrics, root cause analysis and risk-based testing. Ability to mentor QA analysts and foster a culture of continuous quality improvement.