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Ascension LLC is seeking a detail-oriented, user-focused Quality Assurance Specialist to support website testing, accessibility validation, defect tracking, and launch-readiness activities for a Drupal website redesign and implementation effort supporting Maryland Sea Grant.

This role is important because the redesigned website must function reliably across user roles, content types, templates, browsers, devices, and workflows. The Quality Assurance Specialist will help confirm that the website performs as intended before launch, supports Maryland Sea Grant’s content management needs, and provides a stable experience for website visitors, staff content contributors, editors, moderators, and administrators.

The ideal candidate will bring hands-on experience testing websites, CMS workflows, responsive design, accessibility features, search functionality, forms, media/content displays, and user permissions. The candidate should be comfortable working in a collaborative project environment where the prime contractor or technical lead owns final development decisions, while Ascension provides structured QA support, issue documentation, retesting, and acceptance-readiness input.

Summary of Contractor Role

The Quality Assurance Specialist will support testing and quality assurance activities for a redesigned Drupal website. The role will focus on confirming that website pages, templates, navigation, search, media features, content workflows, user roles, and responsive design elements operate as expected. The specialist will also support accessibility checks aligned to Section 508 and WCAG expectations, document defects clearly, coordinate with project stakeholders, and verify corrections after developers implement fixes.

This is a supporting QA role. The specialist will not serve as the final technical authority for the website build, but will provide disciplined testing support to help the project team identify defects, validate corrections, reduce launch risk, and support a smoother transition to production.

The selected candidate should be analytical, organized, practical, and comfortable translating technical findings into clear defect reports and user-facing observations. The candidate should be able to work independently with limited supervision, manage multiple test cycles, anticipate risk areas, and communicate findings in a way that helps developers, project managers, and client stakeholders make informed decisions.

Anticipated Day-to-Day Activities

• Review project requirements, user stories, site maps, templates, content types, and acceptance criteria to understand what must be tested.
• Develop QA checklists, test scenarios, and test scripts for Drupal webpages, content workflows, search, navigation, media displays, publications archive functionality, blogs, forms, ecommerce/bookstore workflows, and user permissions.
• Execute functional testing across approved website sections, templates, page types, and CMS features.
• Validate content moderation workflows, including draft, review, unpublished, and published states for different user roles.
• Test responsive behavior across desktop, tablet, and mobile screen sizes to confirm pages display and function properly.
• Check browser compatibility across commonly used browsers such as Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox.
• Support accessibility testing using manual checks and available tools to identify potential Section 508 and WCAG-related issues, including heading structure, keyboard access, link clarity, color contrast, image alternative text, form labels, and logical reading order.
• Document defects, usability issues, accessibility concerns, and inconsistencies in a clear issue log with steps to reproduce, expected results, actual results, severity, screenshots, and affected pages or components.
• Coordinate with the Project Coordinator, Training and Documentation Specialist, prime contractor technical team, and client stakeholders to clarify defects and confirm testing priorities.
• Retest corrected items and update defect status after developers or technical leads implement fixes.
• Support user acceptance testing by preparing test guidance, collecting feedback, organizing findings, and helping distinguish defects from enhancement requests.
• Verify that CMS training materials and user guides accurately reflect tested workflows for creating, updating, publishing, and deleting content.
• Monitor post-launch issues during the maintenance and user support period and assist with triage, documentation, and resolution tracking.
• Prepare QA summaries, testing status updates, defect reports, and launch-readiness input for project leadership.