Performance Load Test Architect/Lead

Description of Duties

Define and own the overall performance engineering strategy for the Journi program.

Develop enterprise performance testing standards, governance, methodologies, and best practices.

Define workload models using historical production metrics and anticipated business growth.

Establish non-functional requirements (NFRs), service level objectives (SLOs), service level agreements (SLAs), and performance acceptance criteria.

Lead performance planning activities for Solution Confirmation, PI Planning, SIT, UAT, Go-Live, and Hypercare.

Review solution architecture to identify scalability risks, performance bottlenecks, and infrastructure constraints early in the SDLC.

Provide technical leadership for capacity planning and infrastructure sizing recommendations.

Performance Engineering Leadership

Lead performance testing across:

o SAP BRIM

o SAP Convergent Mediation (CM)

o SAP S/4HANA

o SAP Datasphere

o Dynamics CRM Customer Engagement

o Middleware

o REST/SOAP APIs

o Batch processing

o Event-driven integrations

o Customer web portal

o Mobile applications

o IVR and chatbot platforms

Define enterprise load profiles for concurrent users, transaction volumes, billing cycles, payment processing, toll transactions, financial processing, and customer service operations.

Review and approve performance test plans, scripts, workloads, and execution schedules developed by performance analysts.

Architecture, Monitoring & Analysis

Define enterprise monitoring strategy across application, middleware, SAP, database, infrastructure, and cloud platforms.

Analyze application response times, throughput, resource utilization, JVM metrics, database performance, middleware queues, API latency, and infrastructure bottlenecks.

Lead root-cause analysis with development, SAP, CRM, infrastructure, middleware, and vendor teams.

Recommend application tuning, database optimization, infrastructure scaling, and configuration improvements.

Validate system readiness for production deployment.

Tooling & Automation

Lead implementation and administration of NeoLoad as the enterprise performance testing platform.

Define reusable scripting frameworks and standards.

Establish automated performance regression testing for major releases.

Develop performance dashboards and executive reporting.

Collaboration & Leadership

Present performance status, risks, bottlenecks, and mitigation strategies to executive leadership and project governance boards.

Fully document all created work associated with this position, including technical and functional designs and diagrams, test plans, test scripts, impact analysis reports, lessons learned, best practices for others to follow, plus any other documentation as required by the Commission. This documentation shall follow the format and / or templates as instructed by the Commission.

Adhere to and follow all The Commission standards, policies, and procedures.

Minimum Experience/Skillset

12+ years of overall IT experience.

8+ years of enterprise performance engineering and load testing experience.

5+ years leading enterprise performance testing initiatives.

Expert-level experience with NeoLoad.

Experience architecting performance testing solutions for enterprise-scale applications.

Strong experience with SAP BRIM, SAP S/4HANA, SAP Convergent Mediation (CM), SAP Datasphere, CRM platforms, APIs, middleware, and enterprise integrations.

Experience designing production workload models using historical production metrics.

Strong knowledge of:

o Capacity planning

o Performance engineering

o Scalability architecture

o Stress, endurance, spike, and failover testing

o API and middleware performance testing

o Batch processing optimization

o Cloud and hybrid infrastructure performance

o Performance monitoring and diagnostics

Certifications / Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related field.

NeoLoad certification preferred.

Cloud certifications (Azure or AWS) are preferred.

Engagement Requirements

Candidate must reside within the Continental United States.

Preference given to candidates local to Pennsylvania or within reasonable commuting distance to Middletown, PA.

Must pass ePATCH and ClearChecks background checks prior to starting.

The work location will be virtual/remote until further notice. When required to be onsite, the work location will be at either The Commission s Central Administration Building located at 700 South Eisenhower Boulevard in Middletown, PA, or The Commission s Turnpike Industrial Park location located at 2850 Turnpike Industrial Drive, Middletown, PA.

Position is hybrid/remote with onsite presence required in Middletown, PA for:

o Solution Confirmation

o PI Planning

o Architecture Workshops

o Performance Test Planning

o SIT

o UAT

o Showbacks

o Go-Live

o Hypercare

The resource shall attend onsite meetings at one of the Commission Middletown PA locations for 1 week per month based on the schedule set by the Commission.

In-person interviews or work sessions with stakeholders will be conducted at the Commission facilities in Middletown, PA.

Candidate Interviewing Guidelines

We value authentic communication and real-time problem-solving during our interview process. To ensure fairness and accurately assess skills, candidates must complete interviews without assistance from Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, scripts, or external prompts.

o At the Commission s discretion, additional interviews may be required in person at an approved Commission facility.

o Travel expenses for in-person interviews will not be reimbursed.

The resource may be required to provide onsite post go-live support activities at one of the Commission Middletown PA locations. This includes one or more one-to-two week tours of duty onsite on a rotating basis with other team members. The post go-live support period is planned for the six months beginning immediately after the Journi is live with active customers.

The resource shall attend an orientation session onsite at one of the Commission s Middletown, PA offices. The resource shall be onsite for the full day of this orientation where they will pick up any assigned Commission Equipment, by the resource. Equipment will not be shipped and cannot be pick up by anyone other than the selected resource. Travel costs associated with picking up this equipment plus the orientation day will not be reimbursed.

If the resource is based within a 3-hour commuting distance of the Commission s Middletown PA offices, then no additional compensation for any travel is allowed. The rate is inclusive of any travel costs.

If travel expenses are authorized, then the travel expenses submitted for reimbursement must adhere to federal GSA guidelines governing hotel, mileage, and meals per diem rates, and must include appropriate expense documentation (receipts). The Commission does not reimburse for purchases of alcohol. GSA Guidelines are available at: .

o In accordance with OST's travel expense guidelines, all travel expenses shall be submitted no later than 60 days of the travel occurrence. The individual resource and/or vendor will be responsible for any expenses submitted past the 60-day timeframe.

The vendor must arrange for workspace for its project team. The Commission will provide meeting space; however, it does not plan to house the project team on a daily basis unless this statement of work states otherwise.

Remote connectivity: computer equipment and access to required administrative services and facilities will be provided to vendor resources as required. Computer equipment for use while engaged with the Turnpike may include a laptop, iPad or other tablet device, laptop bag, monitors, wireless keyboard, mouse, or other equipment as required to perform job functions. When an engagement ends, all equipment issued to the vendor resources, including any PA Turnpike ID badges, must be returned to the Commission within 2 weeks of the resources being offboarded. All equipment shall be returned to the Commission in good working condition. The Prime Contractor will be invoiced for any unreturned equipment or equipment damaged beyond reasonable wear and tear.
The vendor should allow a minimum of five to seven business days to fully on-board new resources.

o Sign the Commission s Acceptable Use of Commission Technology Resources (Policy 8.01) and the Non-Revenue Card Application Use Agreement for door access.

o Provide a contact phone number and a current professional photo.

o Must provide a copy of the results of a Pennsylvania Access to Criminal History - Record Check Certification (ePATCH) of the selected candidate dated after the release date of the Statement of Work.

o Provide a copy of the results of a National Criminal Check.

o If vendor resources will manage or access The Commission systems and/or data for the Commission, they must sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), which must also be approved and signable by their Commission supervisor.

The Commission IT Department has established the following guidelines while working virtually and the vendor resource is expected to follow them:

o Use cameras during meetings.

o Maintain a professional appearance when in meetings and on camera.

The Commission has eleven (11) holidays (for salaried employees) when the CAB is closed. Those holidays are New Year s Day, M.L. King Jr. Birthday, Presidents Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.

Resources must abide by all published IT Standards, including those published publicly at .

Overtime requests always need to have prior approval of Project Principal with the rightful reasons for overtime.