Vacancy Notice No. 2008/055
Position and Grade: Quality Assurance Engineer (P-3)
Organizational Unit: Project Management Services Unit
Information Architecture and Projects Section
Division of Information Management
Department of Safeguards
Duty Station: Vienna, Austria
Issue Date: 25 July 2008
Application Deadline: 8 September 2008
Type/Duration of Appointment: Fixed term, 3 years (subject to a probationary period of 1 year)

Organizational Setting
The Division of Information Management comprises four Sections and provides the Department of Safeguards with services relating to data processing, secure information distribution, information analysis and knowledge generation, which are needed to draw independent, impartial and credible safeguards conclusions.

The Information Architecture and Projects Section provides project-oriented information and communication technology (ICT) services to all the Divisions and Sections in the Department, working cooperatively with staff in the Operations Divisions and the Support Divisions to plan, establish and maintain information systems and to provide them with system analysis, software development, software contract management and maintenance services.

The Section is responsible for the development of information related projects. It implements best practices in project management, using Capability Maturity Model (CMM) standards. The Section continuously monitors the Department's information-related needs so that they can be translated into requests for new or enhanced functionalities of ICT systems.

The Project Management Services Unit, within the Information Architecture and Projects Section, provides overall coordination of all projects, including the planning and scheduling of resources and the tracking and reporting of work progress; ensures that the new services developed or acquired comply with the general architecture of the information system, with the standards for the user interface, and with all the requirements established, inter alia, by the ISIS (IAEA Safeguards Information System) Re-engineering Project; assists in the definition and management of contracts, and the relationship with contactors; provides overall coordination of user requirements, ensuring the consistency of requests across business areas; provides quality assurance services and general guidance to project managers in compliance with the Division's software systems engineering process.

The Section consists of approximately 45 staff, including 30 programmers. The working environment involves a level of confidentiality typical of software development.

Main purpose
The Quality Assurance Engineer ensures compliance of development activities with established Divisional policies, processes, procedures and standards by defining, collecting, and analyzing the quality metrics necessary for improvement of the processes and products, as well as by participating in product/service design reviews, testing, configuration control, problem reporting and resolution, and change control. Additionally, he/she contributes broad knowledge of the quality assurance field to the collaborative process of driving and facilitating process improvement efforts in the Division.

Role
The Quality Assurance Engineer is an auditor, reviewer, developer, troubleshooter and tester of quality assurance procedures, and a specialist ensuring that the quality manager is well informed of issues impeding project completion. In his/her role, the Quality Assurance Engineer will ensure that all the Divisional quality processes, standards and guidelines are followed and kept up to date.

Partnerships
The Quality Assurance Engineer builds strong working relationships with IAEA project managers and with the members of project teams as well as external contractors, reviewing/testing project deliverables and communicating the review results and recommendations to the project teams and to the management.

Functions / Key Results Expected
Ensure quality of the relevant projects and products by carrying out the following:
  • Perform project quality assurance reviews and audits for all active projects in the Division. These quality assurance activities are critical in verifying that the deliverables from each project meet or exceed the quality criteria established at the beginning of the project.
  • Participate with the project teams in software testing, test results analysis and improving test procedures.
  • Participate in independent reviews of the project planning documents and the acceptance procedures.
  • Define and collect quality metrics to provide analysis of their trends and correlations.
  • Prepare inputs for quality status reports.
  • Assist the quality assurance manager in coaching and supporting the development teams in the Division.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
  • Technical expertise:
    • Good knowledge of software development methodologies (CMMI, CoBit, ITIL, ISO 9001:2000...), software quality assurance and/or quality control;
    • Familiarity with libraries, databases, programming, desktop publishing on the Microsoft environment and Software Configuration Management (TFS, VSS...) tools.
  • Analytical skills: Good judgement and objectivity in approaching problems.
  • Very good communication skills: Ability to communicate both orally and in written form, to formulate and present the results of metrics analysis and audits in a simple and visually appealing way.
  • Initiative and decision making: Ability to devise new and improved methods to perform quality assurance tasks.
  • Proven organizing skills: Ability to work independently, to establish priorities and to respect deadlines.
  • Interpersonal skills: Excellent sense of tact, sensitivity and client orientation. Proven ability to work in a multicultural environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity.
  • Accuracy, including the ability to pay attention to detail.
  • Learning attitude: Open to new technologies and tools in the IT industry and willing to learn new skills.

Education, Experience and Language Skills
  • University (or equivalent) degree in computer science, information technology or a related technical discipline. Certification in quality management in general and/or a degree in system engineering is highly desirable.
  • At least five years of practical relevant working experience of which at least two years should be in software quality assurance and/or quality control.
  • Fluency in written and spoken English. Knowledge of German and/or another official IAEA language (i.e. Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) an advantage.

Remuneration
The Agency offers an attractive remuneration package including a tax-free annual net base salary starting at US $52 408 (subject to mandatory deductions for pension contributions and health insurance), a variable post adjustment which currently amounts to US $41 298*, dependency benefits, rental subsidy, education grant, relocation and repatriation expenses; 6 weeks' annual vacation, home leave, pension plan and health insurance.

How to apply to the IAEA

* Subject to change without notice

Applications from qualified women and candidates from developing countries are encouraged

Applicants should be aware that IAEA staff members are international civil servants and may not accept instructions from any other authority. Staff members may be assigned to any location. The IAEA retains the discretion not to make any appointment to this vacancy, to make an appointment at a lower grade or to make an appointment with a modified job description or for shorter duration than indicated above. Testing may be part of the recruitment process.