Job Summary

Senior Test Manager – Actuarial Calculation Platform Job Description  |  Zurich Insurance  |  Hyderabad, India Our Opportunity Zurich Insurance’s Actuarial Calculation Platform is the core system underpinning IFRS 17 and Solvency II compliance across multiple markets globally. It is a data-intensive platform built on cloud-native data engineering technologies, processing high-volume actuarial datasets daily across calculation, discounting, and reporting pipelines. The platform is currently undergoing a strategic cloud migration — one of the most critical technology programmes in Zurich’s actuarial technology roadmap. We are building a dedicated testing capability in Hyderabad as part of our global delivery model. The Senior Test Manager is the most senior testing role in the India team. You will own the end-to-end testing strategy for the platform, directly manage a team of Actuarial Testers, and act as the India testing focal point connecting with the global delivery team and stakeholders across Zurich. This is a leadership role first. You will establish the testing function, build the team’s capability, set quality and governance standards, and own the release gate. The platform you are testing is data-heavy — the correctness of numerical outputs in data pipelines and actuarial calculations is the primary testing challenge. Your ability to manage people, enforce rigorous governance, and track delivery against plan is what will make this programme succeed. Your Role As Senior Test Manager, you are accountable for: People Management and Team Leadership Directly manage and develop a team of Actuarial Testers based in Hyderabad — own their performance, development plans, and day-to-day workload Set individual and team quality standards; conduct regular one-to-ones, performance reviews, and capability assessments Build the testing function from the ground up — hire, onboard, and develop testers with the right mix of domain knowledge and technical skills Act as senior mentor: bridge the gap between actuarial business domain and hands-on testing execution for junior team members Coordinate testing activities across distributed global delivery teams; manage competing priorities across locations and time zones Identify resource gaps early; prepare and maintain staffing plans for sprint and release cycles Test Governance, Compliance and Tracking Own and enforce the quality governance framework across all testing activities — no exceptions, no deviations without documented risk acceptance Maintain a complete, auditable test evidence trail across SIT, UAT, and regression cycles — full traceability from requirement to test case to defect to closure Ensure all testing deliverables (test plans, test cases, defect reports, closure reports) meet Zurich’s audit and regulatory standards Define and track test metrics: execution progress, defect density, defect aging, open vs. closed rates, test coverage %, regression pass rates Produce structured, data-driven test status reports for senior stakeholders on a regular cadence — formal (written) and informal (verbal updates) Manage the release readiness gate: provide evidence-based go/no-go recommendations with supporting metrics — never qualitative-only assessments Drive lessons-learned cycles after every major release; document improvements and track their implementation Flag issues and risks to senior management before they escalate — do not wait for escalations to surface organically Formally record any deviations from standard processes with documented rationale and risk sign-off Test Strategy and Planning Define and own the Test Strategy — covering SIT, UAT, regression, and release testing across actuarial calculation, data ingestion, and reporting pipelines Develop test plans, effort estimates, and coverage frameworks aligned to sprint cadences and release milestones Work with Product Owners and actuarial subject matter experts to define test datasets and acceptance criteria for

Key Responsibilities

Essential

• 8+ years in software testing or quality assurance, with at least 3–5 years in a Test Manager role directly managing a testing team
• Demonstrated track record leading end-to-end testing programmes in a financial services or regulated environment
• Strong experience with data testing and pipeline validation — ability to verify financial or actuarial calculations against expected outputs in large-scale data systems
• Proven governance discipline: experience enforcing audit-trail standards, managing test evidence, and presenting testing compliance to regulators or auditors
• Advanced SQL proficiency: test data preparation, query validation, defect investigation, and calculation result verification
• Demonstrated experience managing, developing, and performance-reviewing a testing team — people leadership is a core requirement, not a secondary skill
• Experience coordinating testing across geo-dispersed delivery teams and time zones
• ISTQB CTAL-TM (Test Manager) certification or equivalent recognised qualification
• Fluent written and spoken English — comfortable presenting test status and go/no-go recommendations to senior leadership across cultures

Skill Requirements

Preferred

• Hands-on experience with cloud-native data engineering platforms (Databricks, Delta Lake, Azure Data Factory, Azure DevOps)
• AWS experience — directly relevant to upcoming cloud migration programmes
• Python scripting for test automation, data comparison, or regression validation
• Exposure to actuarial platforms and regulatory reporting frameworks (IFRS 17, Solvency II)
• Experience testing cloud-to-cloud migrations or large-scale data platform transformations
• Familiarity with AI-assisted testing approaches

Other Requirements

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• Experience testing cloud-to-cloud migrations or large-scale data platform transformations
• Familiarity with AI-assisted testing approaches

Knowledge

Strong foundation in QA and testing practices, quality management frameworks, and SDLC methodologies. Understanding of data engineering pipelines (ingestion, transformation, validation) is essential for this role. Knowledge of how actuarial calculations feed regulatory reporting (IFRS 17, Solvency II) is a significant advantage.

Technical Skills

• Azure DevOps – test management, test plans, defect tracking, pipeline monitoring, release management
• SQL – advanced querying for test data setup, calculation result verification, and defect investigation
• Cloud data platforms (e.g. Databricks, Delta Lake) – understanding data flows and validating transformation outputs
• Python – scripting for data comparison and automated regression checks
• Cloud platforms – Azure and/or AWS
• Test management tools (Azure Test Plans preferred)
• Test metrics and reporting dashboards

The Right Mindset for This Role

• Governance-first — audit trails, process adherence, and documentation are non-negotiable, not administrative overhead
• People leader — your primary job is making your testers effective; you measure your success by their output, not your own individual contribution
• Data-literate — testing this platform means validating numbers, not just workflows; you are comfortable with large datasets and SQL
• Ownership orientation — you take accountability for release quality; you do not pass risk upward without a recommendation