Test Engineer - Contingent

Aretum•McLean, VA

7d•Remote

About The Position

Aretum is seeking a highly skilled and motivated Test Engineer to join our team supporting a large-scale federal technology modernization program. As a Test Engineer, you will be responsible for validating application quality across multiple testing disciplines: functional testing, test automation, digital accessibility evaluation, and performance testing. You will work as an embedded member of an Agile scrum team, executing manual and automated tests within sprint cycles, building and maintaining automation frameworks, evaluating UI code for WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility compliance, and conducting load and performance testing before major releases. This is a hands-on role that requires both testing depth and the ability to communicate findings clearly to developers, product owners, and program leadership. Due to the nature of our work as a federal consulting organization, employees may be expected to handle Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and must adhere to applicable safeguarding and compliance requirements.

Requirements

3 years of applicable experience in software quality assurance and testing
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field (or 3 years of additional experience)
Hands-on experience with test automation frameworks, including Selenium, Cypress, or Playwright, with the ability to write and maintain test scripts in Java and/or JavaScript
1+ years of experience with Playwright for end-to-end browser automation, including test script development, cross-browser configuration, and CI pipeline integration
DHS Trusted Tester certification with experience applying the Trusted Tester conformance test process to evaluate Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 AA compliance on web applications (or willingness to obtain within the first 3 months of employment)
1+ years of experience with performance and load testing tools such as NeoLoad or JMeter, including script creation, threshold definition, and results analysis
Experience writing BDD test scenarios using Cucumber/Gherkin syntax and implementing step definitions
Proficiency with API testing tools such as Postman and Rest Assured, including creating collections, writing assertions, and validating RESTful service responses
Working knowledge of digital accessibility testing, including WCAG 2.1 AA standards, Section 508 compliance, and experience using automated accessibility scanning tools (aXe, pa11y, WAVE, or ANDI)
Experience with manual screen reader testing using JAWS or NVDA for accessibility evaluation beyond automated scanning
Experience with CI/CD pipelines (GitLab CI preferred) and understanding of how automated tests integrate into build and deployment workflows
Strong defect documentation skills: ability to write clear, reproducible bug reports with severity classification and supporting evidence
Familiarity with code quality tools such as SonarQube, including reading coverage reports and quality dashboards
Excellent communication skills with the ability to provide clear status updates, collaborate with developers on defect resolution, and present test results to stakeholders

Nice To Haves

Experience with the federal government
Proficiency with Agile project management tools (Jira, Confluence) and experience working in Scrum or SAFe environments with 2 to 3 week sprint cycles
ISTQB certification (Foundation or Advanced Level) or equivalent QA certification
IAAP certification (WAS, CPACC, or CPWA) or equivalent accessibility certification
Experience testing cloud-native applications running on AWS (ECS/Fargate, RDS, S3, ElasticSearch/OpenSearch)
Familiarity with microservices architecture and container-based deployment patterns
Experience testing applications that integrate with federal identity providers or federal payment systems
Background in testing Angular web applications with responsive design requirements

Responsibilities

Execute functional testing of web application features, validating stories against acceptance criteria and documenting defects with clear reproduction steps, severity classification, and expected versus actual behavior
Build, maintain, and expand automated regression test suites using Playwright, Cypress, and Selenium with Cucumber/Gherkin BDD patterns, integrated into GitLab CI pipelines for continuous feedback
Create and maintain automated API test collections using Postman and Rest Assured to validate microservice endpoints, inter-service contracts, and integration points with external systems
Perform digital accessibility evaluations on coded solutions using automated tools (aXe, pa11y, WAVE, ANDI) and manual techniques (JAWS and NVDA screen reader testing) per WCAG 2.1 AA and Section 508 standards, following the DHS Trusted Tester conformance test process
Document accessibility findings with specific WCAG success criteria references and actionable remediation guidance that enables developers to resolve issues efficiently
Execute load and performance tests using NeoLoad, JMeter, or equivalent tools to validate response times, throughput, and error rates against defined thresholds before production releases
Maintain test plans and test cases in Confluence linked to Jira stories, with test evidence documented for sprint reviews
Collaborate with developers to define clear acceptance criteria and test criteria during backlog refinement, ensuring stories are testable before development begins
Participate fully in Agile ceremonies within a SAFe framework: Sprint Planning, Daily Standup, Sprint Review, Retrospective, and Backlog Refinement
Maintain CI-integrated test suites at a 95% pass rate or above and resolve flaky tests promptly to keep automation a reliable quality gate
Support production triage when assigned, diagnosing issues and verifying fixes through the standard CI/CD pipeline
Contribute to test strategy improvements, automation framework enhancements, and knowledge sharing across the QA team