Automation Engineer Contract Jobs (NOW HIRING)

540 is seeking a Test Automation Engineer to support the DoW in building a next-generation Air Force aircraft maintenance application powered by Angular, Apigee, Kubernetes, and Google Cloud. Test Engineers on this team design and implement automated tests to ensure the platform performs reliably as it supports Air Force maintenance operations. You'll work closely with engineers, architects, and product stakeholders to validate system integrations, improve test coverage, and ensure the platform operates reliably across distributed systems and services.

This role is offered as a contract engagement and is ideal for engineers who value flexibility, autonomy, and high-impact work. While there may be an opportunity to convert to full-time in the future, conversion is not guaranteed and is dependent on program needs.

Location: Remote within the continental United States, East Coast working hours
Citizenship & Clearance Requirement: per client requirements, candidates must be a U.S. Citizen with the ability to obtain a DoW Secret clearance
Education Requirement: Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related engineering field (preferred)
Contract Duration: initial 9 month contract, 40 hours per week

HOW YOU'LL DRIVE IMPACT

• Own and manage the development-level testing process and outcomes
• Design, develop, and maintain automated tests to validate platform functionality across APIs, microservices, and user interfaces
• Develop and execute integration, functional, and regression tests for distributed systems and platform services
• Build and maintain automated API tests for RESTful services and service integrations
• Work closely with engineers to validate microservice interactions and platform integrations
• Participate in manual testing of user stories and new features to validate requirements and expected system behavior
• Define and improve test strategies, test coverage, and automation frameworks for the platform
• Contribute automated tests to CI/CD pipelines to enable reliable and repeatable deployments
• Investigate and troubleshoot defects, working with engineering teams to reproduce and resolve issues
• Create and maintain clear testing documentation and test cases for platform functionality
• Collaborate with engineers, architects, and product stakeholders to ensure quality standards are maintained throughout development

REQUIRED SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

• 3+ years of experience developing in modern programming languages such as Python, JavaScript, Java, or similar
• 2+ years of experience writing automated tests and technical test documentation
• Experience developing or maintaining automated test frameworks using tools such as PyTest, JUnit, Playwright, Cypress, or similar frameworks
• Experience designing and executing integration tests (API testing, service-level testing, unit testing, etc.)
• Experience testing and automating tests for REST APIs
• Experience performing manual testing of user stories and application features
• Experience working in Agile software development environments
• Ability to quickly learn new technologies and become proficient in unfamiliar domains
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strong attention to detail and ability to identify discrepancies between system behavior and documentation
• Ability to work independently while also collaborating effectively within a team
• Strong sense of ownership with the ability to drive tasks to completion

NICE TO HAVE

• Familiarity with RESTful API design and service integrations
• Experience with OpenAPI (Swagger) specifications
• Experience with API gateways and API management platforms, such as Google Apigee
• Experience working with CI/CD pipelines and automated testing environments
• Familiarity with non-RESTful data interfaces (SOAP, WebSockets, GraphQL, etc.)
• Understanding of core cloud architecture principles and experience with AWS or Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
• Experience supporting U.S. Federal Government programs, particularly DoW environments

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY (EEO)

540's policy is to provide equal employment opportunity to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.