QA Senior Specialist (Contract)

Why PlayStation?

PlayStation isn’t just the Best Place to Play — it’s also the Best Place to Work. Today, we’re recognized as a global leader in entertainment producing The PlayStation family of products and services including PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, PlayStation®VR, PlayStation®Plus, acclaimed PlayStation software titles from PlayStation Studios, and more.

PlayStation also strives to create an inclusive environment that empowers employees and embraces diversity. We welcome and encourage everyone who has a passion and curiosity for innovation, technology, and play to explore our open positions and join our growing global team.

The PlayStation brand falls under Sony Interactive Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation.

Join the award-winning team that created God of War

Santa Monica Studio is seeking a QA Sr Specialist to support our internal projects on the PS5 platform.

The QA Sr Specialist will spend most of their time in development tools, in a complex, technical, and service-oriented environment. This position has a multitude of critical and time-sensitive responsibilities, with their core purpose being to always keep development moving forward. The role will be in an environment where every day they will be learning something new about our studio’s tools, processes, and workflows while acting as a dedicated technical support resource. With unrivaled in-depth tribal knowledge, they will analyze, research, document, educate, report, and resolve key technical issues and obstacles that negatively impact the development progress of studio projects. QA Sr Specialist are the first line of defense for build stability, performing all relevant aspects of the build/content authoring pipeline and related tools assessment as well as providing primary support to ensure all issues impacting the build pipeline are actioned appropriately.

Learning on the fly, customer service and attention to detail are critical requirements of the role, as is a highly communicative, amicable, and mature demeanor.  As a driving force behind these services, you will regularly implement improvement and seek feedback. We value talent, self-motivation, and team spirit. In turn, we provide an environment with a large degree of freedom, autonomy, and growth opportunities.

We value those that have a mindset of OWNERSHIP, diligence in their CRAFTSMANSHIP, a commitment to PARTNERSHIP and humility in their LEADERSHIP. In turn, we will collaborate with you to craft an environment that empowers and equips you with the freedom to create better, the autonomy to think better, the opportunity to grow better and the feedback to choose to “Be Better”.

Responsibilities

• Primary ownership in monitoring, identifying, investigating, diagnosing, reporting, resolving, and collaborating on any issues that arise during the build, test, patch, or deployment phases
• Primary ownership in developing build/content authoring pipeline validation plans, as well as incorporating them into the software development life cycle process
• Primary ownership of our developer support process to identify, report, facilitate, and resolve issues blocking or impacting development
• Primary ownership in designing, building, and maintaining custom testbeds to support effective and efficient project development
• Primary ownership in designing, building, and maintaining comprehensive proprietary tech and tools documentation for studio training and knowledge sharing
• Primary ownership in ensuring that release deliverables are compliant with standards and meet customer expectations
• Utilize version control software to integrate content across branches
• Facilitating communication across teams and stakeholders to keep everyone informed about release statuses and timelines
• Validate and optimize usability and efficiency of in-development workflows across all disciplines
• Tracking and reporting on deployment metrics to assess performance and identify areas for improvement
• Utilize a data-driven mindset when looking at problems and understand the ROI of content creator time
• Identify and implement process improvements for our teams’ services
• Assess, prioritize, and execute external team tech requests
• Troubleshoot complex issues under tight deadlines across a diverse set of positions and communication styles
• Collaborating with other tech teams to develop and enforce policies for hotfixes and emergency releases
• Collaborating with development, quality assurance, and operations delivery teams to coordinate release schedules and dependencies
• Assist in tracking, analyzing, and proposing refinements and/or new tool features to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of new deployment content pipelines

Requirements

• 3+ years of professional experience in Tools, Engineering, Programming, IT, Analyst, or equivalent position
• Responsible, strong work ethic, self-motivated and proactive
• Demonstrated knowledge of and maturity in emotional intelligence
• Demonstrated knowledge of Jenkins or equivalent build/pipeline and automation software
• Demonstrated knowledge of role-applicable aspects of programming and scripting languages
• Demonstrated knowledge of Software Development Lifecycle
• Demonstrated knowledge of JIRA and equivalent SDLC database systems
• Demonstrated ability to thrive in a high pressure, high workload environment balancing multiple responsibilities
• Excellent organizational skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Excellent critical analysis and problem-solving skills
• Proficient in TMS applications
• Passion for video games

Preferred Experience

• S. Cognitive Science, Computer Science, or Programming/Engineering related field
• Successfully shipped at least 2 AAA titles on current generation console platforms and/or PC
• Experience in customer service and support setting
• Successful completion, certification, and application of ISQTB® Foundation Level CT-Test Automation Engineer or equivalent
• Experience with advanced development pipeline and automation methods
• Experience with Maya, Unreal, or similar software

#LI-SMS
#LI-MC1

Equal Opportunity Statement:

Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.

We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond. 

PlayStation is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment.