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Manual QA Tester (Part-Time, On-Site Portland)

Rapta, Inc. Portland, OR Part-time, W-2 On-site

About Rapta

Rapta builds on-premises computer vision systems for manufacturing and assembly quality control. Our software runs on the factory floor, in air-gapped environments, on edge hardware that customers depend on every shift. When our product misbehaves, a production line slows down - so we treat QA as a first-class engineering discipline.

The Role

We're hiring a Manual QA Tester on a part-time basis to lead daily testing and own the test case library across our product suite. This is a hands-on testing role - your day is spent in the product, finding what's broken, documenting what works, and making sure nothing ships that shouldn't.

You'll be the testing voice in the room: the person who knows the product deeply enough to catch a regression before a customer does, and the person our interns learn the craft from.

Ownership is core to how Rapta operates. Every person here owns an area end-to-end, and we're looking for someone who takes the same approach to testing: setting the standard, deciding what coverage looks like, and being a trusted voice on whether a release is ready to ship.

The role is W-2 part-time, up to 40 hours per week, on-site at our Portland office. Benefits are not offered at this stage, but there is a clear path to convert to full-time with benefits as the role and company scale.

This is not an automation role. Our engineers write automated tests against their own services. We need someone who tests the integrated product the way a customer experiences it - patiently, thoroughly, every day - and who turns that experience into durable test artifacts.

What you'll own

• Daily manual testing. Your day is in the product. You'll run test passes against release candidates, nightly builds, and pre-release branches, catching the things automation misses: visual regressions, timing-sensitive UX, hardware-in-the-loop behavior, and edge cases that only surface in real use.
• The test case library. You'll audit existing cases, update them as the product evolves, retire what's stale, and author what's missing. Coverage decisions - what to add, what to escalate for automation, what to accept as risk - are yours to drive.
• Deep product expertise. Within 90 days, you should know our product better than most engineers on the team. You'll be the person Sales pings when they hit something unexpected in a demo, and the person Engineering trusts when you flag something as not ready.
• Mentorship of QA interns. We bring on promising interns and want to convert the strongest ones. You'll set their test plans, review their bug reports, and teach them how to think about quality - not just how to follow a script.
• The bug reporting standard. Reproducible steps, isolated variables, clear severity, useful artifacts. You'll set the bar and help the team hold it.
• A voice in release decisions. You'll partner with Release Engineering on go/no-go calls and have a real seat at the table.

What we're looking for

Beyond the technical fundamentals, the trait that matters most is a strong sense of ownership - a track record of seeing what needs to happen and driving it, rather than waiting to be told.

Required

• 3+ years of hands-on manual software testing experience
• Demonstrated contribution to a test case library at a real product company
• Strong bug isolation instincts; you can tell the difference between a flaky test, a configuration issue, and a real defect
• Comfort working in a Linux environment (Ubuntu) - reading logs, navigating filesystems, tailing services
• Excellent written communication; your bug reports and test plans are the artifact you're judged on
• Able to work on-site in Portland
• Comfortable working with minimal oversight in a small-team environment

Strongly preferred

• Experience mentoring interns, co-ops, or junior testers
• Experience testing computer vision, ML-driven, or other non-deterministic software where "expected output" isn't a fixed string
• Manufacturing, industrial automation, or hardware-in-the-loop testing background
• Familiarity with Jira, Confluence, and structured release processes
• Exposure to camera systems, edge hardware, or factory-floor deployments

Nice to have

• Light scripting ability (Python, shell) for test data setup and log triage
• ISTQB or equivalent certification
• Experience with regulated environments (DOD, automotive, medical) where audit trails matter

Employment Type: PART_TIME