Software Quality Assurance Specialist

Founded and based in Richmond, BC, Ideon Technologies

is a tech scale-up that uses the energy from supernova explosions in space to image deep beneath the Earth’s surface. The world pioneer in cosmic-ray muon tomography, Ideon has developed the REVEAL™ Subsurface Intelligence Platform™, comprising an advanced suite of proprietary data-generation hardware, software, AI-powered services, and multi-physics fusion that provide x-ray-like visibility deep underground and unlock the exponential power of integrated spatial data. By transforming muon data into reliable 3D density maps, Ideon helps geologists identify, map, characterize, and monitor mineral deposits with confidence.

We are a team that is entrepreneurial by nature and focused on doing things right to deliver great customer outcomes. We are committed to finding the best brains and the most exceptional humans, wherever they come from and however they happen to be packaged. Learn more at

ideon.ai

.

The Role

As we continue to grow, we are seeking a Software Quality Assurance (QA) Specialist who will report to the Director, Software Engineering and collaborate closely with a team of full-stack software developers, data scientists, geoscientists, applied scientists, and IT infrastructure/DevOps professionals.

Working in an Agile environment, you will leverage your expertise to ensure the reliability, performance, and quality of our cloud-based software solutions. This is a hands-on role, and you will spend significant time designing and executing test plans, automating test suites, and proactively identifying issues before they reach production.

You will focus on the following activities:

- Design, implement, and maintain automated and manual test strategies across web, API, and data-driven services.

- Validate functionality, scalability, and reliability of cloud-based applications and integrations.

- Collaborate with software developers to define clear acceptance criteria and ensure features meet business and technical requirements.

- Build and maintain automated regression and performance test suites to support CI/CD pipelines.

- Proactively troubleshoot and identify root causes of issues, collaborating with developers for quick resolution.

- Lead test reviews, share QA best practices, and mentor team members on testing methodologies.

- Stay current with emerging QA tools and techniques, recommending and implementing improvements to the testing framework.

Success in the role looks like:

- Robust Quality Assurance: High confidence in software reliability and performance due to comprehensive test coverage and automation.

- Seamless Integration in Development Lifecycle: QA integrated into all phases of Agile software development, ensuring fewer production defects and faster delivery cycles.

- Testing Leadership: Proactive contributions to improving quality practices and standards across the software team.

Priorities in the first few months will include:

- Technology Onboarding: Rapidly familiarize yourself with Ideon’s technology stack, workflows, and QA practices.

- Immediate Contributions: Design and execute functional and regression tests for critical software components.

- Automation Roadmap: Contribute to expanding automated testing coverage and integrating test suites into CI/CD pipelines.

Qualifications

Must-haves

– You’ll need the following to move forward in the hiring process (and be successful in the role).

- 5+ years of professional experience in software quality assurance or software testing roles.

- Education: degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent training and experience.

- Strong experience with test automation frameworks (e.g., Pytest, Selenium, Cypress, or Playwright).

- Familiarity with Azure cloud services and testing distributed, cloud-based applications.

- Experience testing RESTful APIs, microservices, and data pipelines.

- Proficiency with SQL for validating data integrity and back-end workflows.

- Strong familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and integrating automated tests into development workflows.

- Excellent communication skills in English; able to effectively collaborate across cross-functional teams.

- Legally able and currently documented to work full-time in Canada.

Nice-to-haves

- Knowledge of performance/load testing tools (e.g., JMeter, Locust, k6).

- Familiarity with containerized environments and testing in Docker/Kubernetes.

- Experience with infrastructure-as-code testing (e.g., Terraform validation, policy compliance).

- Exposure to geoscience workflows or geospatial data visualization in geology, mining, or related fields.

- Security testing knowledge (e.g., OWASP, penetration testing basics).

We also look for the following from

all new Ideon team members

:

- Experience in or excitement for working in a tech scale-up; happy to wear a few hats and adjust on the fly.

- An ambitious, can-do attitude; you get that we’re doing challenging work and are excited to dive in.

- Enthusiastic and confident to take initiative and be adaptable in an agile, fast-paced environment.

- Solid teamwork skills; you’re accountable to yourself and your team and will jump in to help where you can.

- Creative solutioning mindset with great problem-solving skills.

- Insatiable curiosity paired with a drive to deliver.

- Able to work well under pressure and to meet committed deadlines.

- Great interpersonal skills; able to build relationships with colleagues, customers, and external stakeholders.

- Able to contribute something “extra” to our culture beyond the work that you do, like wowing people with your home-baked goods, sharing improv comedy skills, or organizing sports games.

More Role Details

Location

: Ideon’s office is located at #150 - 4611 Viking Way in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.

Ideon is a hybrid workplace, with some roles required to work fully in office (it’s tricky to manufacture from home!).

This is a

hybrid

role. We love seeing folks in the office 2+ times a week; you’re welcome to work from home the remainder of the week or come into the office all 5 days if you prefer. Our “be an adult” approach means you have the flexibility to determine your in-office schedule while factoring in the positive impact of face-to-face connection and communication with your leader and teammates.

During your first few months, it’s anticipated you’ll spend more time in the office to support role-specific onboarding and relationship building.

Hours of work

: 8 hrs/day, M-F. Typical working hours are 9AM-5PM-ish pacific time; some employees shift slightly earlier or later based on business and personal needs. As Ideon is a high technology company, you may be asked to be flexible with your hours due to business requirements.

What We Offer

Salary

: The annual salary range for this role, in Canadian dollars, is

$80,000 - $95,000

. Early equity option allocations upon hire plus the opportunity to earn performance-based option allocations annually are also highlights of our total rewards package.

- A team that is entrepreneurial by nature and focused on doing things right to deliver great customer outcomes. We are committed to seeking out the best brains and the most exceptional humans, wherever they come from and however they happen to be packaged.

- An opportunity to work with a dynamic tech scale-up. You will contribute to advancing a ground-breaking solution that generates significant economic and environmental benefit.

- Financial support for accreditation membership, exams, continuing professional development (i.e. P.Eng, P.Geo, CPA)

- Annual tuition allocation (i.e. online or in-person, synchronous or asynchronous learning)

- Extended health and dental benefits, employee assistance program, and health/personal spending accounts to cover things that may not fall into other categories (i.e. exercise classes, transit, daycare, pet insurance).

- Minimum 3 weeks paid leave to start, including an annual closure between the Christmas and New Year’s stat holidays.

- 5 paid sick days + other leaves per employment standards legislation.

- For hybrid/remote roles, 2 weeks/year work-from-almost-anywhere.

- Parental leave top-up for 12 months.

- Employee referral bonus.

- Casual dress – we like our jeans and hoodies.

- While we work hard, we also sprinkle social events and learning opportunities into our days (in person and virtually).

- Free parking and tasty snacks at the office!

Ideon’s salary ranges are determined by role and level and are benchmarked against companies of similar size and stage in the Vancouver, BC, Canada market. The range reflects the minimum and maximum new employee salary. It is not typical for a new employee to be hired at the top of the range; as experienced as someone may be they likely won’t have the directly related experience unique to working at Ideon. In exceptional circumstances, though, where a person has the knowledge, skills, and experience to exceed those needed for the position, we may consider compensating at the top of the range. In the application process you will be asked to provide your salary expectations.