Junior Test Engineer (VOR)

Hatch IT•Washington, DC

About The Position

Expression is seeking a Junior Test Engineer to improve the quality, reliability, and usability of VOR, a platform for connecting data, AI agents, and workflows to support complex operational needs. The engineer will work alongside developers, product owners, and experienced engineers to test web applications, APIs, data integrations, and AI-enabled workflows. The role involves investigating unexpected behavior, identifying user-experience gaps, and creating repeatable ways to verify product behavior. Curiosity, sound judgment, and a willingness to learn AI-assisted testing and automation are important; prior automation expertise is not required. The position is hybrid or remote. Expression’s headquarters is in Washington, DC, and local employees are welcome to use the office and its amenities. Eligibility to obtain a security clearance is required. Expression provides data fusion, data analytics, software engineering, information technology, and electromagnetic spectrum management solutions to government and national-security clients, and describes its culture as focused on “Perpetual Innovation” and agile delivery.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field and 1 year of professional experience.
2+ years of foundational experience with software testing or development through employment, internships, coursework, or personal projects.
Basic understanding of functional, regression, and exploratory testing.
Ability to translate a user goal or requirement into meaningful test scenarios, including unexpected inputs and failure cases.
Willingness to learn scripting and test automation using languages such as Python or JavaScript/TypeScript.
Openness to using AI tools thoughtfully, checking their work, and improving approaches through experimentation.
Strong analytical skills and persistence in investigating issues when the cause is unclear.
Ability to explain findings clearly and collaborate constructively with others.
Eligibility to obtain a U.S. security clearance.

Nice To Haves

Exposure to browser automation tools such as Playwright, Cypress, or Selenium.
Experience testing APIs with tools such as Postman, curl, or automated test frameworks.
Familiarity with Git, CI/CD pipelines, and reading application logs.
Basic knowledge of SQL, data validation, or testing data ingestion and retrieval.
Experience using AI coding assistants or testing applications that incorporate language models.
Exposure to containers, cloud environments, or enterprise software.

Responsibilities

Test VOR’s web interfaces, APIs, and workflows, including connecting data sources, configuring tools and agents, and reviewing workflow results.
Explore real user scenarios, edge cases, and failure conditions to identify issues beyond documented acceptance criteria.
Collaborate with developers and product owners to clarify expected behavior and identify quality risks early.
Document defects with clear reproduction steps, expected and actual results, and evidence such as screenshots, logs, or API responses.
Use approved AI tools to explore test scenarios, generate test data, draft automation, and investigate failures; review and verify their output.
Build and maintain automated tests with guidance from experienced engineers, prioritizing repeatable checks that protect important user journeys.
Evaluate AI-enabled features for grounded responses, useful citations, appropriate tool behavior, and consistent handling of uncertainty.
Test permissions, data boundaries, approval steps, and error recovery to help ensure workflows behave appropriately.
Investigate failed tests, distinguish product defects from test or environment issues, and verify fixes.
Contribute clear testing evidence and communicate remaining risks to support release decisions.