Job Description

Come shape the future of education with us. At Compass, we're on a mission to transform the school day for everyone - from staff and students to families and administrators. We build smart, seamless technology that empowers schools to focus on what really matters: learning, growing and thriving. That mission has fuelled our growth into a global scale-up, now supporting 5,000+ schools across three countries, backed by a team of 300+ people. Our all-in-one school management platform is redefining how education communities connect, communicate and operate. We're now looking for a QA Engineer to join Griddle, the team behind Compass's school timetabling platform - a complex, high-stakes product used by schools every day to management timetables, lines, exams and yard duties.

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About the Role

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This role owns the testing on our environment end-to-end, giving engineers the confidence to merge, and signing off each release before it goes out the door. It's not a pure QA role. It's split roughly 50/50 between testing and feature delivery, with a genuine pathway into full stack development over time for the right person - a great fit for someone who wants to grow their engineering skills while being the trusted checkpoint before release.

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What You'll Do

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Testing

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- Take ownership of manual testing for tickets moving through the test environment, and approve them for engineers to progress.
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- Run final, pre-release regression and sign-off testing across the platform.
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- Write automated tests (UI, API) to reduce manual testing load over time and build a more reliable release safety net.
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- Use AI tools to accelerate test case design, test data generation and automation scripting.
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- Flag risk areas and edge cases early, working closely with engineers rather than testing in isolation at the end.
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Feature Delivery

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- Pick up feature and bug tickets across the stack, working with engineers on real delivery work.
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- Use AI tools to drive feature development - from scaffolding to implementation to testing your own changes.
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- Grow exposure to backend (Spring Boot / PostgreSQL / GraphQL) and frontend work over time.
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About You

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This role is for someone who takes ownership seriously, communicates clearly, and wants to grow from QA into full stack engineering over time. You will bring:

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- 4+ years experience in manual testing, with confidence using test management/automation tooling (r.g. Playwright, Cypress, Selenium, Postman or similar).
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- Comfort writing automated tests, or a keenness to build that skill quickly.
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- Practical, hands-on use of AI tools (Cursor, Claude, ChatGPT, etc.) to speed up both testing and development work.
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- Able to run a release testing cycle end-to-end with minimal guidance, without needing to operate at a senior or lead level.
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- Strong communication skills, comfortable being the last checkpoint before release and giving clear, direct feedback to engineers.
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- A genuine interest in eventually spending more time on the engineering side.
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- Highly regarded: Some full stack development experience - strong QA candidates who've dabbled in code and want to grow into it are welcome to apply.
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- Experience testing complex, data-heavy or scheduling/timetabling-style domains.
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- Exposure to GraphQL APIs and Postgres.
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- Experience in a CI/CD environment (Gitlab CI, or similar).
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Why Join Compass

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You'll join a small, high-trust engineering team building a genuinely complex, high-stakes product, with real ownership over the release process, a clear pathway into full stack development, and visible impact on thousands of schools every day.

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What we offer:

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- A hybrid working environment, based out of our Melbourne office hub.
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- Learning and development opportunities, including a dedicated PD budget.
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- 24/7 access to our Employee Assistance Program (EAP), including face-to-face, phone and live chat support.
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- A parental leave program for both primary and secondary carers.
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- Regular team events, social budgets and in-office perks help you stay connected, from team lunches to end-of-week socials.
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- Employee Referral Program
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- A supportive, inclusive culture where your voice is valued and heard.
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Compass is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We embrace and celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive workplace for all employees.

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Prior to commencing employment, you'll need:

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- A valid Employee Working With Children Check
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- A satisfactory National Police Check
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- Verification of unrestricted work rights in Australia (e.g. citizenship, passport or birth certificate)
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📌 Mid-Level QA Engineer (Victoria)
🏢 Compass Education
📍 Victoria