Mid-Level Test Engineer

Leidos•Gaithersburg, MD

21h

About The Position

Leidos is seeking a detail-oriented, mission-focused Mid-Level Test Engineer to support the Chinook program for an Intelligence Community customer. The role helps ensure mission-essential applications function as intended, provide accurate information, and perform reliably. By finding defects before software reaches operational environments, the Test Engineer helps reduce mission risk and improve system reliability. As part of a collaborative Agile development team, the Test Engineer performs manual functional testing, develops comprehensive test plans and procedures, and validates APIs. The role works closely with developers, product owners, business analysts, and mission stakeholders to translate requirements into test scenarios, investigate defects, and confirm that new capabilities meet functional requirements and operational expectations. The position may be performed in Gaithersburg, MD; Alexandria, VA; Chantilly, VA; Englewood, CO; St. Louis, MO; or Tucson, AZ. Gaithersburg, MD is the program’s primary work location. An active Top Secret/SCI clearance and the ability to successfully pass a polygraph examination are required. U.S. citizenship is required by contract.

Requirements

U.S. citizenship is required by contract.
Active Top Secret/SCI clearance and ability to successfully pass a polygraph examination.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field with 4–8 years of relevant experience, or a master’s degree with 2–6 years of relevant experience; equivalent experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
At least 4 years of software testing, quality engineering, or software validation experience.
Demonstrated experience with manual functional, integration, regression, and system testing of enterprise software applications.
Ability to develop test plans, procedures, cases, and scenarios based on software requirements and user stories.
Hands-on API testing experience with Bruno, Postman, or comparable tools.
Working knowledge of REST APIs, HTTP methods and status codes, JSON payloads, and request/response validation.
Experience identifying, documenting, tracking, and retesting software defects.
Experience working in an Agile software development environment, including Scrum ceremonies and sprint-based testing.
Experience using test management and issue-tracking tools such as Jira or equivalent platforms.
Understanding of software testing methodologies, Agile SDLC, SDLC, and STLC.
Ability to analyze technical requirements and turn them into clear, measurable, repeatable test procedures.
Experience validating end-to-end business processes and workflows across multiple application components.
Hands-on experience with geospatial applications or GEOINT data.
Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills, with exceptional attention to detail.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including clear documentation of test results and communication with technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced, mission-focused Agile environment.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting DoD or Intelligence Community programs.
Experience developing and executing detailed test procedures for complex, mission-critical enterprise applications.
Experience testing applications for intelligence analysis, data processing, or operational workflows.
Familiarity with API authentication mechanisms, including OAuth 2.0, JWT, and role-based access controls.
Experience using SQL queries to validate backend data, troubleshoot defects, and verify data integrity.
Experience testing microservices-based applications and distributed systems.
Familiarity with CI/CD processes and DevSecOps software delivery practices.
Exposure to automated testing frameworks or tools such as Playwright, Selenium, or Cypress.
Experience testing cloud-hosted applications or applications deployed in AWS.
Familiarity with Linux environments, command-line utilities, and application log analysis.
Experience with requirements traceability matrices, formal test documentation, and test readiness reviews.
Knowledge of accessibility, usability, and security testing considerations.
Experience working with cross-functional teams to improve testing processes and establish quality engineering best practices.
Certifications such as ISTQB, CASTP, CAST, CSTE, Security+, or similar.

Responsibilities

Plan, develop, and execute manual test cases and procedures to validate software against requirements, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
Perform functional, integration, system, regression, smoke, and exploratory testing of web applications and associated services.
Develop and maintain test plans, scenarios, cases, procedures, and execution documentation that provide clear, repeatable, traceable verification.
Test APIs using tools such as Bruno, Postman, or Swagger UI, validating REST services, HTTP requests and responses, JSON payloads, authentication, error handling, and data integrity.
Collaborate with developers, product owners, business analysts, and stakeholders to understand functionality, clarify requirements, and identify testing strategies.
Participate in Agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, daily standups, backlog refinement, sprint reviews, and retrospectives.
Analyze user stories and acceptance criteria to identify positive, negative, boundary, and edge-case test scenarios.
Execute manual tests in development, integration, and staging environments to find defects, integration issues, and unexpected behavior.
Document, track, and manage defects using Jira or comparable tools, including reproduction steps, evidence, and expected-versus-actual results.
Verify defect fixes and conduct regression testing to ensure issues are resolved without introducing new problems.
Maintain requirements traceability and ensure test coverage aligns with functional specifications and customer expectations.
Support test data preparation, test environment readiness, and troubleshooting.
Work with software engineers to investigate issues, isolate defects, and support root-cause analysis.
Communicate testing progress, defect trends, risks, and software quality to team members and program stakeholders.
Identify opportunities to improve testing processes, increase test coverage, and strengthen software quality.