Sr Automation Qa Engineer Jobs in Reston, VA (NOW HIRING)

Position Overview

Northramp is seeking a detail-oriented Quality Assurance (QA) Automation Engineer to support the delivery of secure, reliable, and accessible software solutions in a federal environment. 

In this role, you will lead the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of automated testing solutions across cloud-based applications and development environments. You will help ensure that new functionality, enhancements, integrations, and production releases meet established standards for quality, security, accessibility, performance, and reliability. 

The Senior QA Automation Engineer will collaborate with software engineers, architects, DevSecOps engineers, product owners, security personnel, and program leadership within a SAFe or similar Agile delivery environment. This position will also contribute to the program's broader Quality Assurance and Quality Control strategy, including test planning, quality metrics, defect prevention, and federal audit support. 

Location & Work Arrangement

This is a primarily remote position supporting a federal program in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Candidates must live in MO, OR, NV, CO, AL, IL, PA, TX, DC, FL, MD, PA, TX, NC, or VA and be available for occasional onsite meetings, planning sessions, or other program activities as required. 

Key Responsibilities

Test Automation & Quality Engineering 

• Design, develop, execute, and maintain automated tests for functional, regression, integration, API, performance, security, and accessibility testing. 
• Build and enhance scalable test automation frameworks, reusable components, and testing standards that improve coverage and support frequent software releases. 
• Translate requirements, user stories, and acceptance criteria into traceable test cases and automated test scenarios. 
• Apply test-driven development and shift-left testing practices throughout the software development lifecycle. 
• Validate application functionality across development, integration, staging, pre-production, and production-like environments. 

CI/CD & DevSecOps Integration 

• Integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines using Harness or comparable orchestration tools. 
• Establish automated quality gates to prevent defective, insecure, or noncompliant code from progressing through the delivery pipeline. 
• Partner with DevSecOps and engineering teams to troubleshoot failed builds, test failures, environment issues, and deployment defects. 
• Incorporate automated performance, security, API, and accessibility testing into continuous delivery workflows. 

Test Planning, Documentation, & Compliance 

• Develop and maintain test plans, test cases, test scripts, test data, execution results, traceability records, and audit-ready testing documentation. 
• Support updates to Quality Assurance and Quality Control plans, application test plans, test strategy documents, and applicable federal systems lifecycle documentation. 
• Maintain accurate testing artifacts in Jira, Confluence, and other approved repositories. 
• Ensure documentation is complete, current, auditable, and aligned with sprint and program increment delivery cadences. 
• Support Section 508 accessibility testing and preparation of related testing reports. 

Defect and Quality Management 

• Identify, document, prioritize, and track defects through resolution. 
• Perform root cause analysis of escaped defects, recurring quality issues, and failed production deployments. 
• Track and report quality indicators, including automated test coverage, pass rates, defect volume and severity, escaped defects, failed tests, and deployment failures. 
• Recommend corrective actions and process improvements based on testing results and quality trends. 
• Help ensure sprint deliverables meet established definitions of done and acceptance criteria. 

Performance, Security, & Accessibility Testing 

• Develop and execute performance, load, stress, and resilience tests to validate system responsiveness, stability, availability, and capacity. 
• Collaborate with cybersecurity and engineering teams to validate remediation of security vulnerabilities and Plan of Action and Milestones items. 
• Conduct automated and manual accessibility testing in accordance with Section 508 and applicable federal accessibility requirements. 
• Help ensure applications appropriately protect personally identifiable and sensitive information. 

Collaboration and Program Support 

• Participate in sprint planning, backlog refinement, program increments, demonstrations, retrospectives, and release activities. 
• Collaborate with product owners and business analysts to define clear, testable acceptance criteria. 
• Partner with engineers and architects to improve software testability, quality, and operational resilience. 
• Support User Acceptance Testing, Independent Verification and Validation, third-party testing, and federal audit activities. 
• Present test results, risks, quality trends, and recommendations to technical teams and program leadership. 
• Mentor team members and promote consistent quality engineering and automation practices. 

Requirements

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, or related field; equivalent professional experience considered.
• 3-5 years experience in software quality assurance with a focus on test automation engineering.
• Proficiency in programming languages commonly used for test automation such as Java, Python, or JavaScript.

• Experience with test automation frameworks and tools such as Selenium, Katalon, JMeter, Axe by Deque, and Postman.

• Familiarity integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines using Harness, GitHub Actions, or equivalent.
• Understanding of software development life cycles, Agile methodologies, and shift-left testing practices.
• Experience working within federal compliance environments including FedRAMP, FISMA, or NIST standards.
• Experience with Google Cloud.
• Previous federal contracting or government program experience.
• Certifications such as ISTQB Foundation or Advanced Level.
• U.S. Citizenship with the ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust or higher security clearance.

Desired Qualifications

• Knowledge of accessibility testing and Section 508 compliance.
• Experience partnering with software engineers, architects, and program managers, and presenting QA findings and quality metrics to leadership.
• Existing active Public Trust or higher clearance.

Benefits

• Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
• Retirement Plan (401k, IRA)
• Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
• Paid Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
• Family Leave (Maternity, Paternity)
• Short Term & Long Term Disability
• Training & Development
• Work From Home
• Wellness Resources
• Employee Bonus Programs