Sr Lead, SDLC Testing Governance

About Northern Trust:

Northern Trust, a Fortune 500 company, is a globally recognized, award-winning financial institution that has been in continuous operation since 1889.  

Northern Trust is proud to provide innovative financial services and guidance to the world’s most successful individuals, families, and institutions by remaining true to our enduring principles of service, expertise, and integrity. With more than 130 years of financial experience and over 22,000 partners, we serve the world’s most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.

Job Description AND Principal Responsibilities

The Sr Lead, SDLC Testing Governance is a senior individual contributor and thought leader responsible for establishing, governing, and continuously improving testing governance across the SDLC. Operating in a regulated financial services environment, this role ensures testing practices and evidencing are robust, auditable, and aligned to industry specific and Northern Trust internal standard, with a strong partnership across 1LOD/2LOD and Enterprise Change Management (ECM).

The successful candidate will work horizontally across product, engineering, QE, architecture, release/change, risk, and audit partners to drive uplift, reduce risk, and enable high‑quality releases with complete, traceable test evidence.

Principal Responsibilities

SDLC Testing Governance & Control Adherence

• Own and enforce SDAM testing controls across programs/releases covering test requirements analysis, strategy/plan approvals, production‑separate and production‑equivalent environments, application security testing, and data protection in non‑prod.
• Define and operate practical stage gates and tollgates for testing artifacts (Test Strategy, Test Plan, Traceability, Execution Results, Defect reports, Test Summary, Post‑Implementation Validation) with clear acceptance criteria and approvals.

Compliance, Risk & Audit Management

• Serve as the primary point of contact for QE/testing compliance matters; conduct self‑assessments and targeted audits; manage exceptions with documented mitigations; partner with 1LOD/2LOD to meet ECM and enterprise risk expectations.
• Support remediation of supervisory observations (e.g., MRIA/MRA) by tightening test oversight, documentation completeness, and release governance for Tier‑1 programs.

Uplift & Implementation

• Lead the uplift of testing governance processes, playbooks, and templates; standardize how teams plan, execute, and evidence testing in ADO / ServiceNow Test Management Module (TMM); drive adoption through pilots and iterative rollout.
• Facilitate governance forums, CAB support, and decision‑making meetings; curate artifact checklists and ensure readiness against ECM expectations and required templates (e.g., Impact Analysis, Risk Registry, Test Strategy/Plan).

Training & Enablement

• Develop and deliver training, clinics, and office hours for engineering, product, and program teams on SDLC testing governance, evidencing, and SDAM alignment.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Build trusted relationships with product owners, architects, development, QE, change/release, and risk/audit partners; act as a liaison across IT, compliance, audit, and business to ensure cohesive execution and a culture of accountability.

Metrics & Reporting

• Define and track KPIs/OKRs for testing governance (e.g., artifact completeness, traceability coverage, defect leakage, automation coverage, environment parity, audit issue closure); publish dashboards and executive‑ready reporting.

Continuous Improvement

• Perform gap assessments and retrospectives across audits, and major releases; integrate lessons learned to mature controls, tooling, and workflows (including risk‑based testing and exception paths).

Experience and Must‑Have Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related field.
• 8+ years in software testing/QE, test governance, or QA leadership in regulated financial services or technology environments.
• Hands‑on governance of enterprise/release Test Strategy & Test Plans, traceability, defect management, and test summarization for complex, multi‑system programs.
• Strong tool proficiency: Azure DevOps (ADO), ServiceNow TMM, CI/CD pipelines, and test data/environment management; fluency in risk‑based testing practices.
• Deep understanding of SDLC, Agile/DevOps, change/release governance and software risk management.
• Excellent communication, documentation, and executive‑facing reporting skills; ability to influence without authority in a matrixed environ