Sr. Test Automation Engineer

Position Title: Sr. Test Automation Engineer

Location: North Chicago, IL

Clearance Requirements: Secret Preferred

Pay Rate: $120,000 - $ annually

Seeking a mission-focused Senior Automation Test Engineer to support DoD application modernization. The role supports AWS-hosted applications built with Ruby and Type Script and focuses on automated functional, API, performance, and regression testing using Java, Selenium, JMeter, POSTMAN, and Cucumber.

You will support fast-paced Agile teams by validating releases through automated CI/CD pipelines and maintaining effective test plans, suites, and cases for manual and automated testing.

A live challenge-and-response interview technique is used to identify the right candidate.

This is a hybrid role requiring at least 1 day per week onsite in North Chicago/Great Lakes, IL.

• Develop and maintain test plans, strategies, suites, artifacts, and cases for manual and automated testing.
• Define testing scope, objectives, entry/exit criteria, and risk-based approaches for each release and sprint.
• Estimate testing effort to support sprint planning, release scheduling, and resource forecasting.
• Maintain traceability between requirements, test cases, and defects using JIRA and Confluence.
• Improve test documentation, templates, and standards as application architecture and mission needs evolve.

• Execute manual and automated tests across functional, regression, integration, system, and user acceptance scenarios.
• Design, develop, and maintain automated test scripts and frameworks for web and mobile applications.
• Perform API, performance, and load testing to validate secure data exchange, scalability, and stability under operational demand.
• Conduct security-focused testing aligned with DISA STIGs, RMF requirements, and DoD application security standards.
• Use AWS cloud knowledge to shape cloud-native test strategies and validate AWS-hosted application behavior.

• Participate in Agile ceremonies as a senior contributor, including planning, refinement, standups, reviews, and retrospectives.
• Integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines to enable continuous testing and rapid feedback.
• Collaborate with developers, business analysts, and product owners to clarify acceptance criteria, identify testable requirements, and shift quality left.
• Provide testing input during requirements analysis and design reviews to identify gaps, ambiguities, and testability concerns.
• Communicate quality risks, testing status, technical findings, and release readiness clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Identify, document, track, and verify defects through closure across release cycles.
• Use JIRA to prioritize, assign, and monitor defects with development and operations teams.
• Produce actionable reports, summaries, and metrics dashboards for program leadership and Government stakeholders.
• Analyze defect trends and test metrics to identify quality risks and recommend process or tool improvements.
• Support release readiness decisions by clearly communicating defect severity, impact, mitigation status, and residual risk.

• US Citizenship required, with ability to pass an IT-II background investigation; active Secret clearance preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, or related field preferred; equivalent education, certifications, and directly relevant experience may be substituted.
• 8140 IAT Level II Certification (Option for post placement compliance)
• 8+ years of professional software testing experience.
• 5+ years of automated scripting experience using Java and Selenium.
• Working knowledge of automation frameworks such as BDD or TestNG and reporting tools such as Cucumber.
• Familiarity with Jenkins and AWS environments.
• 2+ years of experience with performance testing tools such as JMeter.
• 2+ years of REST API testing experience using tools such as POSTMAN.
• Knowledge of SQL for validating database objects.
• Minimum of 2+ years on an Agile software development team.

• Active Secret clearance.
• ISTQB Certified Tester – Foundation Level (CTFL)
• Direct experience supporting DoD enterprise mission applications.
• Experience with performance and load testing tools such as JMeter, Gatling, or equivalent.
• Background in security testing practices, including OWASP methodologies and vulnerability validation.
• Experience with BDD frameworks such as Cucumber or Spec Flow.
• Familiarity with test management platforms such as Zephyr or Test Rail.

• Hybrid role requiring at least 1 day per week onsite. Local candidates with higher availability preferred.
• Occasional travel to Great Lakes, IL, as needed.
• Ability to sit or stand for extended periods and perform computer-based work using standard office equipment.
• Requires frequent verbal communication, active listening, and visual acuity to perform job…