Quality Assurance and Test Engineer SME

About

We are seeking a highly skilled and innovative Quality Assurance and Test Engineer SME to join our team in the greater DMV area, supporting the Army National Guard.

Responsibilities

• Establish enterprise QA strategy, test architecture, and validation governance across system enhancements and modernization initiatives.
• Define testing standards, methodologies, coverage criteria, and acceptance gates spanning functional, integration, regression, security, performance, and load testing.
• Review and adjudicate test plans, acceptance criteria, validation frameworks, and test artifacts to ensure alignment with requirements, architecture, and operational objectives.
• Advise leadership on defect risk, release readiness, performance thresholds, and go/no‑go decisions prior to deployment.
• Oversee integration testing with external systems, migration validation, and configuration change verification to ensure stability, interoperability, and compliance.
• Coordinate with engineering, cybersecurity, product, and operations stakeholders to validate control effectiveness, assess operational impact, and preserve audit defensibility.
• Lead continuous improvement of test processes, metrics, automation strategy, and artifact management to strengthen lifecycle governance and release quality.
• Maintain test governance artifacts, QA dashboards, and executive reporting to support program reviews and accreditation evidence.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 12 years with BS/BA; Minimum of 10 years with MS/MA; Minimum of 7 years with Ph.D.
• Clearance: Active TS/SCI clearance.
• Candidate must meet ONE of the following:
  • Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Data Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, Software Engineering, or a related field; OR
  • Relevant DoD/military training (example: System Testing and Evaluation Specialist (Advanced) Playlist); OR
  • Relevant professional certification or equivalent experience (example: CCSP).
• Required experience and skills:
  • QA, test engineering, or systems validation experience with at least 7 years in senior QA/test leadership or SME roles in enterprise or DoD environments.
  • Demonstrated expertise in test strategy, test architecture, verification & validation, test automation frameworks, performance/load testing, and security validation.
  • Proven ability to adjudicate test plans, define acceptance criteria, and produce decision‑grade test reports and release recommendations.
  • Experience integrating testing into CI/CD/DevSecOps pipelines and managing test artifacts for RMF/ATO and audit evidence.
  • Strong stakeholder facilitation, governance board support, and executive briefing skills.
• Desired:
  • Prior DoD/ARNG QA governance or validation experience supporting accredited systems and large modernization programs.
  • Experience with enterprise test automation, test data management, performance engineering tools, and test management platforms (e.g., TestRail, Zephyr, Jenkins).