QA and Test Engineer Role

OpenDataJobs•Washington, DC

19h

About The Position

QA and Test Engineers produce evidence that tells teams whether software is ready to trust. They turn requirements, user stories, and risks into tests, execute tests manually and through automation, and report findings in actionable terms for developers and decision-makers. The work spans the full stack—from user interfaces through APIs, services, integrations, and databases to their operating environments—and follows real user journeys end to end. Testing may include UI and UX testing, usability testing with representative users, functional, regression, integration, end-to-end, and user acceptance testing, as well as performance and load testing. Accessibility testing checks conformance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and WCAG, while testers work with security specialists on checks built into the delivery pipeline. QA and Test Engineers plan test strategies and schedules; build and maintain test environments and test data; write and maintain automated test suites; track defects through resolution; and define release criteria and report whether the evidence meets them. Testing begins early and continues throughout delivery, either within a delivery team or as an independent assessment. Engineers work with product owners, business analysts, developers, and DevSecOps engineers to design quality into delivery, measure it continuously, and document it for audits and independent reviews. This role produces test strategies, plans, cases, and scenarios traced to requirements and acceptance criteria; automated unit, API, UI, and end-to-end test suites wired into CI/CD pipelines; usability, performance, load, compatibility, and accessibility results; defect reports and retest records; and traceability, test evidence, and release-readiness reports. The role suits a skeptical, user-focused tester who investigates issues, reports defects with reproducible steps and useful evidence, challenges unclear requirements early, and makes unresolved release risks visible when schedules are under pressure. Specific openings may emphasize manual or user acceptance testing, UI/UX, full-stack or end-to-end testing, test automation, API and integration testing, performance, accessibility, or quality leadership. Compensation, benefits, work location, and employment terms are determined by each specific opening.

Requirements

Experience designing and running tests for web applications or enterprise systems.
Depth in at least one of manual and exploratory testing, test automation, end-to-end testing, performance testing, or accessibility testing.
Working knowledge of test design techniques such as boundary value analysis and exploratory testing, applied to negative and regression tests.
Hands-on skill with tools relevant to the candidate's specialty; examples include Playwright, Selenium, Cypress, Postman, JMeter, k6, screen readers, or automated accessibility checkers.
Ability to trace defects toward their source using reproducible steps, logs, data, and configuration, and to work with developers when causes cross system layers.
Disciplined defect tracking and test documentation, using a tool such as Jira, with attention to accuracy in regulated or mission-critical work.

Nice To Haves

Experience with a particular testing framework, scripting or programming language, SQL, or cloud-hosted test environments, if required by a specific opening.
A testing certification such as one from the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB), if required by a specific opening.
Experience with independent verification and validation, if required by a specific opening.
For accessibility-focused openings, experience with keyboard and screen-reader testing, manual conformance checks, and automated accessibility tools.
For AI-enabled openings, experience testing applications that call models, evaluating outputs against expected behavior and safeguards, or using AI-assisted tools to generate and maintain tests with human review.

Responsibilities

Design and execute manual and automated tests based on requirements, user stories, risks, and acceptance criteria.
Test software across user interfaces, APIs, services, integrations, databases, and operating environments, including end-to-end user journeys.
Conduct functional, regression, integration, end-to-end, user acceptance, usability, performance, load, compatibility, and accessibility testing as applicable.
Plan test strategies and schedules, and build and maintain test environments and test data.
Write and maintain automated test suites, including unit-, API-, UI-, and end-to-end tests integrated with CI/CD pipelines.
Track defects through resolution, provide reproducible steps and diagnostic evidence, and retest fixes.
Define release criteria and report whether test evidence meets those criteria, making unresolved release risks visible.
Maintain test documentation, traceability matrices, test evidence, and release-readiness reports to support go-live decisions, authorization reviews, audits, and independent reviews.
Collaborate with product owners, business analysts, developers, DevSecOps engineers, and security specialists to build quality into delivery.
Challenge unclear requirements early and perform accessibility checks, including Section 508 and WCAG conformance, where applicable.