What is a QA Engineer at Amida Technology Solutions?

As a QA Engineer acting as a Medicaid Subject Matter Expert (SME) and Test Lead at Amida Technology Solutions, you are at the critical intersection of healthcare policy, data interoperability, and system integrity. Amida focuses on taking data from inception to impact, and in this role, you ensure that the complex systems managing Medicaid data function flawlessly, comply with federal regulations, and ultimately improve lives.

This is not a standard quality assurance role. You will be driving large-scale testing activities for systems that handle provider enrollment, eligibility, claims, prior authorizations, and encounters. Your work directly impacts public agencies and private partners who rely on our solutions for business intelligence, decision support, and user transactions.

You will report directly to the VP, Service Delivery, making this a highly visible and strategic position. Expect a fast-paced, high-growth environment where your deep domain expertise in Medicaid systems and your proven ability to manage end-to-end testing processes will be immediately put to the test.

Common Interview Questions

While the exact questions will vary based on your interviewers, the following examples reflect the core themes and scenarios you are likely to encounter during your Amida interviews. Use these to identify patterns and structure your responses.

Medicaid Domain & Compliance

These questions test your specialized knowledge of the healthcare landscape and federal regulations.

• Can you explain the lifecycle of a Medicaid claim and point out the highest-risk areas for data integrity issues?
• How do you stay current with changing CMS regulations, and how do you incorporate those changes into active test plans?
• Describe the differences in testing provider enrollment systems versus member eligibility systems.
• Walk us through your experience with Medicaid encounter reporting and validation.

Test Leadership & Execution

These questions evaluate your ability to manage complex, large-scale quality assurance programs.

• How do you determine the right balance between manual and automated testing for a legacy Medicaid system modernization?
• Walk me through the key components you include when drafting a Quality Management Plan from scratch.
• Describe a time you had to coordinate User Acceptance Testing (UAT) with non-technical stakeholders. How did you ensure it was successful?
• How do you track, manage, and report on defects across multiple concurrent development streams?

Behavioral & Culture Fit

These questions assess how you align with Amida's core values, including initiative, teamwork, and adaptability.

• Tell me about a time you identified a significant risk during testing that project leadership initially overlooked. How did you communicate the issue?
• Describe a situation where you had to adapt your testing strategy rapidly due to a sudden change in federal guidance or project scope.
• We value team members who are opinionated but align quickly. Give an example of a time you disagreed with a technical decision, how you voiced your opinion, and how you supported the final outcome.
• How do you bring a "sense of humor" or positive energy to high-stress, large-scale testing deployments?

Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparing for an interview at Amida Technology Solutions requires a strategic approach that blends your technical testing acumen with your deep healthcare domain knowledge.

Interviewers will evaluate you against the following key criteria:

• Medicaid Domain Expertise – You must demonstrate an in-depth understanding of Medicaid business processes, CMS regulations, and state plan requirements. Interviewers will look for your ability to interpret complex federal guidance and translate it into operational accuracy.
• Test Leadership and Strategy – You will be assessed on your ability to oversee large-scale testing efforts. You must show how you plan, execute, and report on both manual and automated testing, as well as how you manage defect lifecycles and coordinate User Acceptance Testing (UAT).
• Analytical and Documentation Skills – Amida places a high premium on intense attention to detail. You will need to prove your proficiency in creating comprehensive documentation, such as System Integration Plans, Quality Management Plans, and Companion Guides.
• Culture and Collaboration – We value a can-do attitude, great initiative, and authentic teamwork. Interviewers will look for candidates who are opinionated about the best ways of doing things but can align quickly to decisions once made. A sense of humor is also a highly valued asset.

Interview Process Overview

The interview process for the QA Engineer / Medicaid SME role is designed to rigorously assess both your testing leadership capabilities and your specialized healthcare knowledge. You will meet with a multidisciplinary team, reflecting our highly collaborative environment.

Expect the process to move efficiently but thoroughly. You will likely begin with an initial recruiter screen to validate your core experience and hybrid work capabilities in DC or Richmond, VA. This is typically followed by a deep-dive conversation with the hiring manager—often the VP, Service Delivery—focusing on your background in IT systems analysis and large-scale testing management. Subsequent rounds will involve cross-functional panel interviews where stakeholders from policy, operations, compliance, and IT will evaluate your ability to facilitate requirements sessions and navigate complex Medicaid scenarios.

Throughout the process, Amida interviewers will look for evidence of your problem-solving skills and your ability to leverage data analysis to validate business rules. Be prepared for candid conversations; we appreciate candidates who bring fresh ideas and can clearly articulate their testing methodologies.

This visual timeline outlines the typical stages of our interview process, from the initial screening to the final panel discussions. Use this to anticipate the flow of your interviews, ensuring you are prepared to discuss high-level strategy early on and dive into granular Medicaid business processes and testing documentation in the later stages.

Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

To succeed in your interviews, you must be prepared to speak authoritatively across several core competencies. Interviewers will probe deeply into your past experiences to ensure you can handle the scale and complexity of our projects.

Medicaid Business Processes and Regulations

This is the foundation of the SME role. Interviewers need to know that you do not just understand testing, but that you deeply understand the data and rules being tested. You must demonstrate operational knowledge of healthcare systems.

Be ready to go over:

• Claims and Encounters – The lifecycle of a claim, adjudication processes, and how encounters are reported to CMS.
• Eligibility and Enrollment – How provider and member eligibility systems function and the data required to validate them.
• CMS Compliance – Interpreting and applying federal guidance and Medicaid state plan requirements to ensure system compliance.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Specifics on Trading Partner Testing, EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) transactions (e.g., 837, 835, 270/271), and prior authorization workflows.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Walk me through how you would validate a new system component designed to handle Medicaid provider enrollment against current CMS regulations."
• "Describe a time you identified a compliance gap in a Medicaid system during the testing phase. How did you address it?"
• "How do you ensure that state-specific Medicaid rules are accurately reflected in your test cases?"

Test Leadership and Management

As a Testing Manager, you are expected to lead, not just execute. You will be evaluated on your ability to design robust testing strategies for complex, multi-stakeholder projects.

Be ready to go over:

• End-to-End Test Planning – Creating comprehensive test plans that cover manual and automated efforts.
• Defect Management – Your methodology for tracking, prioritizing, and resolving defects, and communicating these risks to project leadership.
• UAT Coordination – How you prepare for, facilitate, and support User Acceptance Testing to ensure successful validation across releases.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Performance testing strategies for high-volume healthcare data systems and integrating quality management into agile workflows.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Tell me about the largest testing effort you have managed. How did you structure the team and the reporting cadence?"
• "How do you handle a situation where a critical defect is found just days before UAT is scheduled to begin?"
• "Explain your approach to developing a System Integration Plan for a platform that collects and reconciles data from multiple sources."

Cross-Functional Collaboration and Communication

Success at Amida relies heavily on communication. You will be acting as a bridge between highly technical data teams and policy-focused compliance teams.

Be ready to go over:

• Requirements Facilitation – Leading sessions with policy, ops, and IT to gather and clarify testing requirements.
• Stakeholder Alignment – Navigating disagreements and aligning diverse teams toward a common decision.
• Risk Reporting – Providing clear, concise, and actionable testing reports and issue summaries to executive leadership.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Describe a time when the development team and the compliance team disagreed on a system requirement. How did you facilitate a resolution?"
• "We value team members who are opinionated but align quickly to decisions. Can you share an example of when you strongly advocated for a specific testing approach, but the team chose a different path? How did you handle it?"

Data Analysis and Validation

Because Amida specializes in data interoperability and integrity, your ability to analyze data to validate business rules is paramount.

Be ready to go over:

• Anomaly Detection – Identifying outliers or errors in large datasets during testing.
• Business Rule Validation – Ensuring that the data transformations match the defined Medicaid business logic.
• Decision Support – Using test results and data analysis to provide actionable insights to project leadership.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "How do you leverage data analysis to validate complex business rules during the testing of a new claims processing module?"
• "Tell me about a time when data anomalies you discovered during testing prevented a major issue from reaching production."

Key Responsibilities

As a QA Engineer / Medicaid SME, your day-to-day work will be dynamic and highly impactful. You will take ownership of analyzing and documenting intricate Medicaid business processes, ensuring that every system component we design aligns perfectly with CMS regulations and state plan requirements.

You will be the central figure in our quality assurance efforts, leading end-to-end testing activities. This means you will spend a significant portion of your time developing detailed documentation—such as Trading Partner Testing Plans, Performance Testing Plans, and Companion Guides—and executing both manual and automated test cases. You will collaborate constantly with development, data, and project teams to validate system workflows from inception to impact.

Beyond execution, you will act as a facilitator and leader. You will conduct requirements and testing sessions with stakeholders across policy, operations, and IT, ensuring everyone is aligned on the validation strategy. You will also coordinate User Acceptance Testing (UAT), leverage data analysis to identify anomalies, and provide regular, highly detailed testing reports and risk assessments to the VP, Service Delivery and other project leadership.

Role Requirements & Qualifications

To be competitive for this position, candidates must possess a blend of extensive healthcare IT experience and proven testing leadership.

• Must-have skills and experience:

  • 10+ years of IT systems analysis, specifically focused on healthcare systems and Medicaid processes.
  • Deep Subject Matter Expertise (SME) in Medicaid business processes, regulations, and systems (claims, eligibility, encounters, etc.).
  • Proven experience acting as a Testing Manager, overseeing large-scale testing efforts.
  • Proficiency in business process analysis, requirements gathering, and creating highly detailed documentation.
  • A Bachelor's degree in business administration, science, or a related field.
  • Strong problem-solving, analytical, and written/verbal communication skills.

• Nice-to-have skills and experience:

  • Background working with government contractors.
  • Experience in a hybrid work environment, specifically collaborating across DC and Richmond, VA offices.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the working arrangement for this role? Preference is given to candidates who can work a hybrid schedule from our offices in Washington, DC, or Richmond, VA. You should be prepared to discuss your ability to commute and collaborate in person when necessary.

Q: How technical does my testing background need to be? While you must understand and manage both manual and automated testing efforts, this role leans heavily on your Subject Matter Expertise in Medicaid and your ability to lead testing strategy, perform data analysis, and write extensive documentation, rather than writing automated test scripts from scratch.

Q: What makes a candidate stand out at Amida? Candidates who demonstrate a "can-do attitude," intense attention to detail, and the ability to communicate complex Medicaid regulations clearly to technical teams will stand out. Showing that you can take initiative and drive a testing program autonomously is critical.

Q: How long does the interview process typically take? The process usually spans 2 to 4 weeks, depending on interviewer availability. Because this role reports to the VP of Service Delivery and requires cross-functional collaboration, coordinating panel interviews may take a little time, but the recruiting team moves as efficiently as possible.

Other General Tips

• Master the STAR Method: When answering behavioral questions, strictly use the Situation, Task, Action, Result framework. Ensure the "Result" highlights actionable insights or positive impacts on data interoperability or compliance.
• Showcase Your Documentation: Since detailed documentation is a core requirement, proactively mention the types of plans and guides you have authored (e.g., Companion Guides, Integration Plans) when discussing your past projects.
• Emphasize "Inception to Impact": Amida's mission is taking data from inception to impact. Frame your testing philosophy around this idea—how does your quality assurance work ensure that the final data actually improves lives and decision-making?
• Be Authentic and Collegial: Amida prides itself on an entrepreneurial, multidisciplinary environment where candid conversations and a sense of humor matter. Do not be afraid to let your personality show during the interviews; cultural alignment is just as important as technical fit.

Summary & Next Steps

Securing the QA Engineer / Medicaid SME role at Amida Technology Solutions is a unique opportunity to leverage your deep healthcare expertise to drive meaningful, large-scale technological change. You will be stepping into an entrepreneurial, high-growth environment where your testing leadership will directly support public agencies and improve data integrity across critical Medicaid systems.

To succeed, focus your preparation on clearly articulating your Medicaid domain knowledge, demonstrating your strategic approach to end-to-end testing, and highlighting your ability to produce top-tier documentation. Remember to bring your authentic self to the table—your initiative, your opinions, and your ability to collaborate seamlessly will be your biggest assets.

This salary module provides insight into the compensation trends for Senior QA and SME roles within the DC/Richmond GovTech market. Use this data to set realistic expectations and negotiate confidently, keeping in mind that Amida also offers a robust benefits package including immediate 401(k) vesting and generous PTO.

You have the expertise and the leadership background required to excel in this process. Take the time to refine your narratives, review your past testing strategies, and explore additional insights on Dataford to round out your preparation. Approach your interviews with confidence—you are ready to make an impact at Amida.