Infrastructure Network Testing Lead

About Northern Trust As a global leader in innovative wealth management, asset servicing, asset management and banking services, Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) is proud to guide the world’s most successful individuals, families, corporations and institutions. Since 1889, we have aligned our efforts with our three guiding Principles That Endure:
Service, Expertise, and Integrity. Together, they reflect the three cornerstones of business conduct which we strive to instill in our employees, whom we call partners, and to provide to our clients and the communities we serve worldwide. With more than 135 years of financial experience and over 24,000 partners, we serve the world’s most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.

Experience 10–14 years total IT experience, with 5+ years in Network testing delivery leadership

Role Summary Lead Software Quality Engineer – Network responsible for validating enterprise network changes across LAN/WAN, security, and cloud platforms. Ensures changes meet functional, performance, and compliance requirements prior to production release. Partners with engineering and operations teams to enable high-quality, low-risk deployments.

Execute validation of network changes (routing, switching, firewall, SD-WAN, load balancers) Responsible for independent validation, testing, and quality assurance of enterprise network changes across LAN/WAN, security, and cloud platforms.

Ensures all network changes meet functional, performance, security, and compliance requirements prior to production deployment.

Collaborates with Network Engineering, Operations, CAB, and Risk teams to deliver high-quality, low-risk releases.

Acts as a quality gate to reduce incidents and improve deployment success through structured testing and automation.

Accountable to deliver estimate efforts, track and address failed changes incidents and identify do better opportunities.

Accountable to drive quality efficiencies and effectiveness using automated solutions for Network and Security changes, testing life cycle and change process optimization.

Design and run test plans, test cases, and validation scenarios.

Identify defects, risks, and provide go/no-go recommendations.

Collaborate with engineering, CAB, and release teams for change readiness.

Drive automation and improve testing efficiency and coverage.

Maintain validation evidence, test reports, and quality metrics.

Network Change Validation & Testing Perform end-to-end validation of network changes (Switching, Routing, Firewall, SD-WAN, Zscaler, Load Balancers) Design and execute detailed test plans, test cases, and validation scenarios Validate functionality, performance, resilience, and security compliance Conduct regression and post-change validation before production release Ensure all validations align with CAB approvals and change governance.

Defect Management & Risk Control Identify, document, and track defects, risks, and validation gaps Provide clear go/no-go recommendations during release/bridge calls Coordinate with engineering teams for defect resolution and re-validation Ensure compliance with risk, audit, and governance requirements.

Test Strategy & Automation Develop and maintain standardized testing frameworks and SOPs Drive automation of validation processes using scripts and tools Improve test coverage across network technologies and environments Enhance efficiency and reduce manual testing efforts.

Stakeholder & Governance Engagement Collaborate with Network Engineering, Operations, Release Management, and CAB Participate in bridge calls, change reviews, and governance forums Communicate validation results, risks, and readiness…