Quality Engineering Architect; Middleware Quality Engineer Architect

Position: Quality Engineering Architect (Middleware Quality Engineer Architect)
** Position Overview*
* At PNC, our people are our greatest differentiator and competitive advantage in the markets we serve. We are all united in delivering the best experience for our customers. We work together each day to foster an inclusive workplace culture where all of our employees feel respected, valued and have an opportunity to contribute to the company's success. As a Quality Assurance Architect within PNC's C&IB organization, you will be based in Atlanta, GA.

We are looking for a Middleware Quality Engineering Architect to join the C&IB Quality Engineering organization, supporting the Payments & Treasury ecosystem. In this hands on role, you will be responsible for designing, building, and executing middleware testing strategies across PNC's payments infrastructure - including wire transfers, ACH, real time payments, SWIFT messaging, and treasury services.

You will work closely with QE Managers, Development teams, and Platform Engineers to strengthen test coverage, drive automation, and ensure end to end quality across the payments middleware stack.

What You'll Do

- Design and execute middleware test strategies across the payments ecosystem - covering message brokers, integration platforms, APIs, middleware services, and payment processing flows.

- Build and maintain test automation for middleware components, including message validation, payload transformation, routing logic, and downstream integration points.

- Develop and execute test cases for middleware specific scenarios, including message flow validation, error handling, failover/resilience, and performance under load.

- Ensure test coverage across payment rails - including wire (Fedwire, CHIPS), SWIFT (MT and ISO 20022 / MX), ACH, and real time payment networks.

- Partner with Development and Platform teams to validate middleware changes - including upgrades, patches, and vulnerability remediations - before production deployment.

- Support test data and test environment readiness for middleware layers, ensuring availability and consistency across environments.

- Analyze middleware defect trends and production incidents - contributing to root cause analysis and recommending preventive measures.

- Provide quality sign off on middleware components across feature, tech only, and content releases.

- Contribute to QE standards and best practices for middleware testing techniques, tools, and domain specific approaches within the payments ecosystem.

- Collaborating with QE leads and peers to continuously improve testing processes and share knowledge across the team.

What You Bring

- 10+ years of experience in Quality Engineering, Test Automation, or Software Engineering with hands on exposure to middleware technologies.

- Working knowledge of middleware platforms - IBM MQ, Mule Soft, Apache Kafka, TIBCO, web Methods, or similar integration/messaging technologies.

- Payments domain familiarity - experience with payment processing systems, wire transfers, SWIFT messaging (MT/MX), ACH, real time payments, or treasury platforms.

- Understanding of message formats and standards - ISO 20022, SWIFT, NACHA, XML, JSON, and EDI.

- Hands on experience building test automation for middleware and integration layers - API testing, message validation, service virtualization, and contract testing.

- Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and the role of middleware testing within continuous integration and delivery workflows.

- Experience with test data management in complex, multi system environments.

- Analytical skills - ability to identify patterns in defect data and quality metrics to support continuous improvement.

- Strong communication skills - ability to articulate technical concepts clearly to peers and leadership.

Preferred Qualifications

- Exposure to performance and scalability testing of middleware under high volume transaction loads.

- Familiarity with service virtualization tools (e.g., Parasoft, Wire Mock, Mountebank).

- Awareness of regulatory and compliance requirements impacting payments and middleware (e.g., PCI DSS, SOX).

- Experience working in Agile / SAFe delivery models.

PNC is an in-office company that fosters a supportive culture where employees can thrive and achieve balance. We encourage candidates to connect with their recruiter and hiring manager to understand workplace expectations and ensure the role aligns with their goals.

PNC will not provide sponsorship for employment visas or participate in STEM OPT for this position.

** Job Description*
* + Responsible for development and support of processes, practices and tools necessary to produce quality products/services and to manage risk.

+ Researches and recommends hardware and software purchases for software quality assurance program. Selects and implements formal QA methodologies.

+ Architects and implements agile testing practices and tools. Evaluates, recommends and implements enterprise-wide defect-tracking software.

+ Assists in planning and estimation of Quality Assurance support for new programs and projects.…