Quality Assurance Specialist; Fed Gov

RESPEC is hiring an experienced Quality Assurance / Test / O&M Specialist in support of our federal government client. This position supports enterprise engineering information technology systems at Sandia National Laboratories. This role plays a critical part in ensuring the reliability, security, and operational readiness of mission-critical PLM (Product Lifecycle Management), ALM (Application Lifecycle Management), and Digital Thread systems supporting national security engineering initiatives.

The successful candidate will lead quality assurance initiatives, establish comprehensive test frameworks, and oversee operational support activities for complex, enterprise-scale engineering systems. This role requires a meticulous attention to detail, strong technical acumen, and the ability to operate effectively within the stringent compliance and security requirements of a Department of Energy (DOE) National Laboratory environment.

Primary Scope

Lead quality assurance, interface testing, regression testing, and operational support for enterprise engineering systems and interface pipelines.

This position is responsible for the end-to-end quality assurance lifecycle for enterprise engineering IT systems, ensuring that all software releases, system upgrades, and interface integrations meet established quality standards and operational requirements. The specialist will coordinate cross-functional testing activities, maintain operational readiness, and serve as a trusted authority on quality protocols and testing methodologies within the engineering systems domain.

• Establish test plans, validation protocols, and quality assurance frameworks for enterprise system upgrades and software integrations.
• Coordinate functional, performance, and regression testing across engineering application releases.
• Oversee operations & maintenance (O&M) readiness, deployment checklists, cutover execution, and continuous integration pipelines.
• Ensure application interfaces and data transfers comply with baseline security and operational guidelines.
• Support PLM application upgrades and testing activities, including pre-release validation, user acceptance testing coordination, and post-deployment verification.
• Develop and execute test plans, diagnose issues, and validate fixes in collaboration with development teams, system integrators, and engineering stakeholders.
• Provide ongoing system monitoring, performance optimization, and support for deployed tools, identifying opportunities for efficiency improvements and proactive issue resolution.
• Handle troubleshooting, diagnostics, and resolution of software issues, serving as an escalation point for complex technical problems affecting system availability or data integrity.
• Document test results, defect reports, and quality metrics in accordance with laboratory standards and regulatory compliance requirements.
• Collaborate with Dev Ops and infrastructure teams to implement and refine continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines for engineering applications.
• Participate in change control boards and configuration management activities to assess the quality impact of proposed system changes.
• Maintain comprehensive knowledge of testing tools, automation frameworks, and industry best practices for enterprise software quality assurance.

Education & Years of

Experience:

Bachelor's degree in CS, Information Systems, or Engineering; 5-10 years (Senior) or 10-15 years (Principal) in QA, test automation, or IT O&M management. Relevant professional certifications (e.g., ISTQB, CSTE, or equivalent) are highly desirable and may be considered in lieu of some educational requirements.

Domain Exposure: Experience operating within DOE, DoD, or federal enterprise IT environments requiring formal compliance testing and controlled release management. Candidates must demonstrate familiarity with the unique operational constraints, security protocols, and quality standards applicable to national laboratory or defense contractor environments, including experience with classified or controlled unclassified information (CUI) systems.

Technical/Tooling Context: Functional exposure to testing or operating software within the PTC ecosystem (Windchill, Code Beamer) or adjacent ALM/Dev Ops platforms (Azure Dev Ops, Jira, Jenkins). Experience with automated testing frameworks (e.g., Selenium, TestNG, JUnit, or similar), version control systems (Git, SVN), and…