Automation Test Engineer

SAIC•Sterling, VA

6d•Hybrid

About The Position

SAIC is hiring an Automation Test Engineer to build automated test coverage and perform hands-on manual testing for systems that integrate hardware and software. The engineer will design and maintain automated tests across API, service, and some UI layers; develop and test supporting C# and Python code; and validate integrated components end to end, including devices, backend services, middleware, and data. The role works with developers and DevOps in an Agile team throughout the software development lifecycle, maintaining automation in CI/CD and tracking test plans and defects in Jira. The position is hybrid remote and requires two days on-site per week in Sterling, Virginia.

Requirements

Must be a U.S. citizen and able to obtain and maintain a DHS Public Trust security clearance.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience.
At least 2 years of QA or testing experience, including test automation.
Proficiency in C#, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, and Node.js.
Test automation experience with Selenium, Playwright, and Cucumber.
Strong SQL and relational-database knowledge; ability to read a data model and derive test scripts and test data from it.
API-focused automation experience with some UI testing across backend, middleware, desktop, and microservice layers, including SOAP services via SoapUI and basic XML.
Working knowledge of TCP and HTTP and ability to inspect traffic using Wireshark, tcpdump, or curl.
Comfort using Ubuntu/Linux and SQL or Unix/shell scripting for test data and test-harness automation.
Experience testing integrated hardware and software systems; exposure to media or data validation such as video-frame or image/stream inspection, or a clear aptitude to learn it.
Ability to generate test data, validate results, and report and manage defects in Jira.
Strong written and verbal communication and problem-solving skills, with effectiveness communicating to technical and non-technical audiences.
Comfort working in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment and strong initiative.

Nice To Haves

Test automation for applications running in the cloud, such as AWS or equivalent.
Experience across functional, usability, regression, load/stress, and performance testing.
Hands-on testing of LPR, biometric/facial recognition, RFID, or other sensor- or camera-based systems.
Prior software development experience.
Experience with CI/CD pipelines such as GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or Jenkins, and containers such as Docker.
Deeper XML experience and familiarity with a BDD or test-framework ecosystem such as pytest or Robot Framework.

Responsibilities

Design, build, and maintain automated test scripts to verify functionality, security, and usability across API, service, and UI layers.
Develop and test C# and Python code as project requirements dictate.
Implement automated integration, regression, functional, and system tests during feature development.
Perform manual and exploratory testing of integrated hardware and software systems, including LPR, biometric/facial recognition, and RFID devices; validate read accuracy, correlation to the correct vehicle or transaction, and behavior under real and adverse conditions.
Reproduce field and edge conditions, including device faults, dropped, duplicate, or out-of-order messages, timing skew, and degraded inputs, and confirm graceful end-to-end handling.
Develop and maintain test plans and test cases; write SQL or Unix scripts for test-data generation and test-harness automation.
Maintain and improve automation frameworks and CI/CD pipelines, and troubleshoot issues in the automation systems.
Investigate defects across the stack using logs, TCP/HTTP traffic captures, and the command line; isolate whether faults are hardware-, software-, configuration-, or network-related.
Report and manage defects in Jira; produce test summaries and raise functional, performance, and requirement-discrepancy tickets.
Collaborate with development and DevOps teams and participate in Agile ceremonies such as daily stand-ups and sprints.