Software Engineer in Test

Job Description

The Test and Evaluation Lead sets program-wide testing standards, leads SDET teams, and ensures all products are thoroughly evaluated prior to release. This role collaborates directly with Product Managers to confirm schedule readiness and alignment between test activities and release goals. As the senior authority on testing strategy, automation frameworks, and quality engineering, the Test and Evaluation Lead is accountable for ensuring delivery teams meet performance, compliance, accessibility, and reliability expectations across federal-mission applications.

Must Have Active - DoD Secret Clerance or Active Top Secret Clearance candidates

The Opportunity

This role provides the technical leadership needed to shape test automation strategy, evolve enterprise testing frameworks, and guide SDET engineers through complex, distributed test scenarios. You will drive testing maturity across Agile programs—ensuring that modernization, microservices, and cloud-native platforms are validated with rigor, precision, and strong DevSecOps

alignment. The Test and Evaluation Lead serves as the linchpin connecting quality engineering, development, compliance, accessibility, and release readiness.

Primary Responsibilities

Automation Strategy & Framework Leadership

• Design and develop automated test solutions using Selenium, Protractor, Jasmine, and Cucumber, ensuring modern frameworks support scalable applications.
• Improve automation frameworks for speed, reliability, and usability—introducing parallel execution, optimized grid configuration, and test harness enhancements.

Test Planning, Estimation & Reporting

• Plan, estimate, and architect comprehensive test solutions that align with sprint goals, release timelines, and mission priorities.
• Establish and maintain test data management processes and generate detailed test reports consumed by leadership and engineering teams.

Quality Metrics, Processes & ATDD

• Define meaningful performance and quality metrics to measure product readiness and cross-team success.
• Enable Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD) through close collaboration with Business Analysts and developers—ensuring acceptance criteria and test cases are aligned from the start.

Team Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Lead and mentor SDET engineers to strengthen technical capability and promote best practices in automation, accessibility, and usability.
• Work closely with Product Managers to confirm test schedules, validate readiness, and identify risks/gaps in release plans.
• Collaborate with development, UX, DevSecOps, and security teams to ensure testing fully covers functional, non-functional, and regulatory requirements.

Required Qualifications

• Strong programming or scripting background and a demonstrated passion for testing
• Bachelor’s degree with 15+ years of experience.
• At least 10 years in test automation and 8 years in manual testing.
• Expertise in:
• Selenium Grid or WebDriver
• Protractor or Jasmine
• Cucumber or Gherkin
• JUnit or TestNG
• GitHub or Bitbucket
• Experience with databases, Agile/Scrum, UI/UX best practices, 508 accessibility compliance, Jira, Serena, HP QC.
• Strong communication skills, with proven ability to collaborate across engineering, product, and leadership groups.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience leading SDET teams within federal cloud-modernization or enterprise software programs.
• Deep familiarity with DevSecOps practices and integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines.
• Strong understanding of performance testing, security scanning, and modern QA tooling ecosystems.