Contract Software Tester Jobs in Virginia (NOW HIRING)

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What You Will Do:

We are seeking a Quality Assurance System Tester with hands-on experience in both manual testing and test automation to support a large-scale GrantSolutions platform modernization effort. This role will help verify that new and enhanced capabilities are reliable, secure, accessible, data-consistent, and ready for production release across complex application, API, data integration, and legacy system environments.

The Quality Assurance System Tester will design and execute test cases, validate user stories and acceptance criteria, perform end-to-end system testing, support integration and API testing, document defects, verify fixes, and contribute to automated regression testing within the CI/CD process. This individual will collaborate with delivery teams to strengthen quality practices, improve test efficiency, and reduce production risk during incremental modernization releases.

• Plan, design, execute, and document system, regression, smoke, integration, API, data validation, and user acceptance testing for a large-scale platform modernization program delivered through agile execution.
• Develop and maintain automated test scripts, test suites, and reusable test assets to improve regression coverage, reduce manual testing effort, and support repeatable release validation.
• Analyze user stories, acceptance criteria, business rules, interface specifications, API contracts, data mappings, and technical design documentation to define complete and traceable test coverage.
• Perform end-to-end testing across modernized application components, legacy system touchpoints, APIs, integrations, workflows, reports, data exchanges, and security-related access paths.
• Support API and integration testing by validating request and response behavior, error handling, data transformation logic, authentication or authorization behavior, and downstream processing outcomes.
• Document defects clearly with reproducible steps, expected and actual results, test evidence, severity, priority, environment details, and supporting screenshots or logs when appropriate.
• Work closely with developers, integration engineers, data teams, Product Owners, Scrum Masters, vendors, and security teams to triage defects, verify fixes, clarify requirements, and support release readiness decisions.
• Integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines where appropriate and support automated test execution, results review, failure analysis, and maintenance of test environments and test data.
• Support accessibility, security, performance, data quality, and operational readiness testing in coordination with specialized teams and approved program standards.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of QA processes, test automation frameworks, defect management practices, test documentation, and release quality metrics.

What You Will Need:

• Must be able to OBTAIN and MAINTAIN a Federal or DoD "PUBLIC TRUST"; candidates must obtain approved adjudication of their PUBLIC TRUST prior to onboarding with Guidehouse. Candidates with an ACTIVE PUBLIC TRUST or SUITABILITY are preferred.
• Bachelor's degree required.
• Minimum of FOUR (4) years of experience in quality assurance, system testing, software testing, test automation, application testing, or related technical roles.
• Hands-on experience designing, executing, and documenting manual test cases for system, regression, integration, smoke, API, data validation, and user acceptance testing.
• Hands-on experience developing, maintaining, and executing automated test scripts using test automation tools, frameworks, or scripting languages.
• Experience testing web-based applications, APIs, data integrations, workflows, reports, interfaces, and end-to-end business processes across multiple environments.
• Experience with defect tracking, test management, requirements traceability, test evidence capture, test data preparation, release validation, and defect retesting.
• Understanding of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), agile delivery, DevSecOps practices, version control, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and release management.
• Familiarity with cloud-native application testing, containerized environments (Docker/Kubernetes), and observability platforms.
• Ability to interpret user stories, acceptance criteria, business rules, interface specifications, API contracts, data mappings, architecture guidance, and technical design documentation.
• Ability to troubleshoot test failures, isolate defects, analyze logs or test results, validate fixes, and communicate quality risks clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong documentation skills, including the ability to maintain test plans, test cases, test scripts, traceability matrices, defect records, test evidence, and release readiness summaries.
• Strong problem-solving, collaboration, and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with Product Owners, developers, integration engineers, data teams, vendors, security teams, and business stakeholders.
• Self-motivated, detail-oriented, and able to operate effectively in fast-paced, dynamic environments with competing testing priorities and release timelines.

What Would Be Nice To Have:

• Experience supporting platform modernization initiatives within enterprise or government environments.
• Experience supporting federal or government IT programs involving legacy system modernization, shared services, interoperability, cloud adoption, data governance, or phased capability delivery.
• Experience with test automation tools or frameworks such as Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, Cucumber, Postman/Newman, REST Assured, JUnit, TestNG, or similar tools.
• Experience with test management, defect tracking, and agile delivery tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps, Zephyr, qTest, Confluence, or similar platforms.
• Familiarity with AWS cloud environments, API testing, database validation, SQL queries, data integration testing, accessibility testing, security testing, performance testing, or observability tools.
• Quality, agile, testing, automation, cloud, or security certification preferred, such as ISTQB, Certified ScrumMaster, SAFe, AWS Cloud Practitioner, AWS Developer - Associate Security+, or similar credentials.\
• Knowledge of AI-assisted test design techniques to achieve comprehensive functional, regression, API, and end-to-end test coverage while reducing manual effort.

What We Offer:

Guidehouse offers a comprehensive, total rewards package that includes competitive compensation and a flexible benefits package that reflects our commitment to creating a diverse and supportive workplace.

Benefits include:

• Medical, Rx, Dental & Vision Insurance

• Personal and Family Sick Time & Company Paid Holidays

• Parental Leave

• 401(k) Retirement Plan

• Group Term Life and Travel Assistance

• Voluntary Life and AD&D Insurance

• Health Savings Account, Health Care & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts

• Transit and Parking Commuter Benefits

• Short-Term & Long-Term Disability

• Tuition Reimbursement, Personal Development, Certifications & Learning Opportunities

• Employee Referral Program

• Corporate Sponsored Events & Community Outreach

• Care.com annual membership

• Employee Assistance Program

• Supplemental Benefits via Corestream (Critical Care, Hospital Indemnity, Accident Insurance, Legal Assistance and ID theft protection, etc.)

• Position may be eligible for a discretionary variable incentive bonus

About Guidehouse

Guidehouse is an Equal Opportunity Employer-Protected Veterans, Individuals with Disabilities or any other basis protected by law, ordinance, or regulation.

Guidehouse will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable law or ordinance including the Fair Chance Ordinance of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

If you have visited our website for information about employment opportunities, or to apply for a position, and you require an accommodation, please contact Guidehouse Recruiting at 1-571-633-1711 or via email at RecruitingAccommodation@guidehouse.com. All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodation.

All communication regarding recruitment for a Guidehouse position will be sent from Guidehouse email domains including @guidehouse.com or guidehouse@myworkday.com. Correspondence received by an applicant from any other domain should be considered unauthorized and will not be honored by Guidehouse. Note that Guidehouse will never charge a fee or require a money transfer at any stage of the recruitment process and does not collect fees from educational institutions for participation in a recruitment event. Never provide your banking information to a third party purporting to need that information to proceed in the hiring process.

If any person or organization demands money related to a job opportunity with Guidehouse, please report the matter to Guidehouse's Ethics Hotline. If you want to check the validity of correspondence you have received, please contact recruiting@guidehouse.com. Guidehouse is not responsible for losses incurred (monetary or otherwise) from an applicant's dealings with unauthorized third parties.

Guidehouse does not accept unsolicited resumes through or from search firms or staffing agencies. All unsolicited resumes will be considered the property of Guidehouse and Guidehouse will not be obligated to pay a placement fee.