ETL, Test Data Lead

QA Strategy and Planning

Define QA strategy for a hybrid ETL stack involving Informatica, and dbt for transformation/modeling.

Analyze STTMs (Source-to-Target Mapping documents), business rules, and dbt model definitions to derive test scope.

Plan and manage test phases across Program Increments (PIs) or releases: unit testing support, system testing, integration testing, and UAT support.

Review and validate Informatica mappings, workflows, sessions, and parameter files.

Validate:

• Source data extraction (flat files, RDBMS, mainframes, etc.)
• Data transformations via mappings (joins, lookups, aggregations, filters, etc.)
• Load strategies to staging/ODS layers (insert/update strategies, truncate/load, CDC).

Use SQL queries and data comparison tools to perform reconciliation and transformation validation.

Validate job dependencies and control table mechanisms (if used).

Monitor job runs via Informatica Monitor/Workflow logs, and ensure correct execution paths.

Validate dbt models, tests, and documentation in the analytics layer.

Review and test:

• Model SQL logic for business rule accuracy and performance
• YAML files for correct metadata and testing configurations
• dbt tests (unique, not null, accepted values, relationships, custom tests)

Execute dbt test suites using dbt test and investigate failures.

Collaborate with analytics engineers to validate materialization strategies (table, view, incremental), and source freshness logic.

Review generated SQL in target/compiled to ensure correct transformations.

Perform full and sampled data validation across source → staging → ODS → analytics data layers.

Write complex SQL queries to compare record counts, aggregates, and field-level data across layers.

Ensure data consistency and integrity using both manual validation and dbt tests.

Validate PII masking and data obfuscation where applicable.

Build and maintain reusable SQL-based test automation scripts for recurring validations.

Integrate QA checks in CI/CD pipelines using git Actions.

Monitor and validate Informatica batch schedules and dbt Cloud jobs (or CLI triggers).

Contribute to QA dashboards and test reporting automation.

Log and track defects in JIRA, categorize by layer (Informatica/dbt), and severity.

Facilitate daily defect triage calls with data engineering teams.

Provide detailed test execution status reports and test coverage metrics by data domain.

Work closely with data engineers, analytics engineers, data modelers, and product owners.

Coordinate test data provisioning and masking with data stewards.

Participate in scrum ceremonies, sprint planning, and retrospectives.

Represent QA during PI Planning and system demos (SAFe).