Test Automation Engineer

Test Automation Engineer

Spatial Front, Inc. (SFI) is a fast-growing small business providing IT solutions and services to Federal Government customers. We are proud recipients of the 2025 USA Today National Top Places to Work and 2025 Washington Post Top Workplaces awards. At SFI, we are committed to delivering mission-critical solutions while fostering a collaborative, innovative, and people-first culture.

SFI is seeking a hands-on Test Automation Engineer to support a complex People Soft HCM environment within a secure federal program. This role is ideal for a detail-oriented automation professional who thrives in highly technical environments and is passionate about improving software quality through robust test automation. The selected candidate will design, build, maintain, and execute automated test solutions, with a strong emphasis on Open Text UFT (Unified Functional Testing) as the primary toolset.

You will play a key role in advancing automation maturity, improving efficiency, and reducing manual testing effort across the program.

Work Location:

Arlington, VA - Onsite/Hybrid

Primary Responsibilities

• Design, develop, maintain, and execute automated test scripts supporting People Soft HCM enhancements, defect fixes, releases, patching, and production support activities
• Build scalable, reusable, and maintainable UFT-based automation assets, including shared functions, libraries, object repositories, parameterized components, and data-driven scripts
• Develop supporting scripts to enhance automation execution, including test data management, environment setup, validation, and result verification
• Automate functional, regression, integration, interface, and end-to-end testing across People Soft HCM modules, batch processes, reports, security roles, and system integrations
• Implement robust test logic for synchronization, exception handling, checkpoints, validations, and recovery scenarios to improve execution reliability and reduce false failures
• Analyze automated test execution results, logs, and backend data to identify defects and distinguish between script and application issues
• Perform root cause analysis, documenting findings, reproduction steps, and recommended solutions for development and stakeholder teams
• Collaborate with developers, QA testers, business analysts, and support teams to identify automation opportunities and align test coverage with release priorities
• Maintain and continuously improve automated regression suites, ensuring adherence to best practices for modularity, naming conventions, and data strategies
• Support test environment readiness, including validation of system access, configurations, test data, and dependencies required for successful execution
• Contribute to ongoing improvements in automation frameworks, execution standards, and quality engineering practices
• Develop or support automation using People Soft Test Framework (PTF) as program needs evolve; assist in evaluating emerging tools such as Tricentis
• Maintain accurate automation documentation, execution reports, test evidence, and traceability artifacts to support auditability and release readiness
• Perform other duties as assigned

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience)
• 3+ years of software QA and test automation experience supporting enterprise applications, with a strong track record of developing and maintaining automated test suites
• Hands-on expertise with Open Text UFT (Unified Functional Testing), including scripting, reusable components, object repository management, checkpoints, parameterization, and troubleshooting
• Experience automating testing for People Soft HCM or similar enterprise systems, including online transactions, interfaces, batch processing, reporting, and end-to-end workflows
• Ability to develop and maintain supporting scripts that enhance automation execution, including data handling, validation, reporting, and framework efficiency
• Experience in analyzing test failures, reviewing logs, validating expected results, and supporting structured defect identification and retesting
• Working knowledge of SQL or query-based validation for backend data verification
• U.S. Citizenship is required
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Secret security clearance

Desired Skills

• Experience building scalable automation frameworks and reusable assets to support enterprise-level regression testing
• Strong understanding of UFT automation best practices, including modular design, descriptive programming, synchronization strategies, recovery scenarios, and maintainable scripting standards
• Experience with People Soft Test Framework (PTF) for automating business processes
• Familiarity with People Tools components, including Process Scheduler, Integration Broker, queries, reporting, and security testing
• Exposure to Tricentis tools (e.g., Tosca, qTest) for future-state automation or test management capabilities
• Experience supporting automation…