Sr. Test Engineer

American Association of Motor Vehicles•Arlington, VA

3d•$114,134 - $172,985

About The Position

The Senior Test Engineer is an experienced member of the AAMVA Quality Assurance Department within the IT Division, responsible for designing and executing comprehensive, automation-first testing of AAMVA applications and the REST services and microservices that compose them, and for coordinating extensive testing efforts with state and federal jurisdictions and commercial/third-party data consumers on motor vehicle administration and driver licensing systems. This senior-level role requires a proficient QA professional who works independently with external customers, delivers exceptional service to government agencies and partners, and serves as a trusted technical advisor and testing partner to both internal teams and the jurisdictions implementing AAMVA solutions. The role includes mentoring junior team members, promoting modern testing practices, and providing technical guidance on complex testing initiatives. The IT Division develops and operates information systems for state and federal agencies conducting business related to motor vehicle and driver license administration. Our systems support critical government functions across multiple jurisdictions. We are modernizing toward a cloud-native, microservices architecture on Azure with REST interfaces across all internal and external integrations, and we are investing in automation-first, AI-assisted test engineering. Our in-house test platform abstracts much of the underlying infrastructure, so we value strong test-design judgment, data and integration testing depth, and learning agility over pre-existing mastery of any single platform technology.

Requirements

Four-year degree from an accredited college or university; equivalent work experience may be substituted for the degree.
6+ years of software quality assurance and testing experience with a comprehensive understanding of the software development lifecycle.
Strong test-design ability — proven track record of independently designing and executing test plans for complex applications, including edge, negative, and boundary cases.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills and learning agility — able to reason about complex system behavior and pick up new tools and technologies quickly. (Non-negotiable.)
Strong background in system, integration, and automated testing, with REST/API testing and contract validation.
Strong, hands-on knowledge of databases and data validation, including the nuances of relational and NoSQL/document stores (Azure SQL, Cosmos DB) — query behavior, consistency models, and partitioning — sufficient to set up and validate test data and to judge whether a result reflects correct system behavior.
Hands-on experience with automated testing frameworks and tools (Selenium, Postman, Playwright, or similar) and with test management / defect tracking tools (Jira, Azure DevOps, or similar).
Experience using service virtualization / mocking to test components and services in isolation, and managing test data for atomic, repeatable tests.
Familiarity with the Azure platform components that sit in the request path — API Management (APIM), Application Gateway, and Web Application Firewall (WAF) — sufficient to recognize when a failure originates in those layers rather than the application (e.g. a blocked payload, throttling, or a gateway timeout).
Conceptual understanding of cloud-hosted, microservices environments (asynchronous communication, eventual consistency); deep platform or orchestration expertise is not required.
Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, and exposure to AI-assisted testing for test generation, debugging, or reporting.
Excellent written and verbal communication, articulating complex technical concepts to technical and non-technical audiences.
Proven ability to deliver exceptional customer service to internal teams and external jurisdictions and partners.
Experience leading meetings, testing sessions, and technical discussions, and conducting knowledge transfer with junior team members.
Ability to build rapport and establish credibility as a trusted technical advisor.
Self-motivated, able to work independently with minimal supervision.
Strong organizational and time-management skills; able to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
Strong adaptability to new technologies and concepts, and effective collaboration within a team.

Nice To Haves

Exposure to legacy SOAP/XML web services is a plus during the transition to REST.
Knowledge of AAMVA applications, systems, and standards.
Experience with government or public-sector IT systems in motor vehicle administration or driver licensing.
Experience extending testing into data analytics and BI pipelines (e.g. Synapse, Power BI) — building coverage for analytics solution chains.
Experience with SQL Server and Azure Tables specifically.
Understanding of / experience with white-box testing.
Familiarity with scripting languages (JavaScript, PowerShell, Python, or similar).
ISTQB Advanced Level or other relevant QA certifications.

Responsibilities

Design, implement, and maintain comprehensive test plans and automated tests for AAMVA applications and their underlying REST services and microservices.
Conduct functional, integration, system, regression, and end-to-end testing in alignment with AAMVA's business and technical specifications.
Build, maintain, and optimize automated test scripts across UI, API/REST, service, and data layers, and integrate them into CI/CD pipelines.
Perform API and contract testing of RESTful services — request/response and schema validation, status codes, authentication/authorization, and conformance to contract specifications.
Test microservices in isolation using service virtualization and mocking of dependent services and third-party interfaces; manage test data (create/modify/reset) so tests are atomic and repeatable.
Validate data integrity and behavior across relational and NoSQL data stores (Azure SQL, Cosmos DB), and across service-to-service and external integrations.
Apply AI-assisted testing techniques to accelerate test design, debugging, and reporting, and evaluate AI/ML approaches to improve defect prediction and testing analytics.
Document test results with thorough defect analysis, root-cause identification, and full traceability to business and technical requirements.
Mentor junior team members on testing best practices, automation techniques, and quality assurance methodologies.
Track and manage defects throughout their lifecycle, ensuring timely resolution and accurate documentation in established tracking systems (e.g. Jira, Azure DevOps).
Analyze defect trends and test metrics, providing clear insights and status updates to Technical Leads and Managers.
Determine whether a failure originates in the application, the test data, the mock/virtualized dependency, or an intervening platform layer, and drive issues to the right owner.
Conduct root-cause analysis on critical defects and recommend actionable solutions to prevent recurrence.
Provide expert-level customer service and lead testing sessions with state and federal jurisdictions and commercial/third-party consumers (e.g. DLDV, consumer-access, and CDLIS third-party customers) implementing new or enhanced applications.
Serve as a trusted technical advisor, addressing complex testing scenarios and providing guidance on best practices.
Conduct customer outreach including surveys, scheduling, consultations, and technical presentations, and support the onboarding of new jurisdictions and partners.
Develop and nurture strong, lasting relationships with internal and external customers in a collaborative environment.
Conduct meetings on testing schedules, concerns, reviews, and documentation changes, and collaborate with developers, business analysts, project managers, and external agencies to integrate quality objectives throughout project lifecycles.
Review and provide technical guidance on testing documentation, procedures, and standards.
Maintain strong expertise in AAMVA applications through continuous learning, and research new tools and approaches that improve testing efficiency and effectiveness.
Analyze testing processes and metrics, recommending enhancements that improve quality, accuracy, and cycle times.