The Software Tester / QA Engineer – Junior supports software quality assurance activities by executing test plans and validating application functionality across multiple development and test environments. This role focuses on uncovering defects early, maintaining clear documentation, and helping ensure that software meets functional and non ‑functional requirements.

Working as part of an enterprise QA team, the junior tester contributes to both manual and automated testing for mission ‑critical systems in a federal client environment. The position collaborates closely with developers, product owners, and other stakeholders to improve test coverage, system reliability, and overall product quality.

Key Responsibilities

• Execute functional, regression, integration, system, and basic performance tests based on requirements, user stories, and established QA methodologies.
• Design, write, and maintain structured test cases, test scripts, and traceability matrices to ensure full coverage of functional and non ‑functional requirements.
• Identify, document, and track defects using industry ‑standard issue ‑tracking tools, providing clear reproduction steps, expected versus actual results, and severity assessments.
• Contribute to automated test frameworks and scripts for web and API testing using tools such as Selenium or similar, with basic scripting in Java, Python, or JavaScript.
• Prepare test data sets, support test environment setup, and verify environment readiness prior to execution of test cycles.
• Perform basic performance and security testing activities, including executing predefined scenarios and supporting use of scanning tools to validate resilience and controls.
• Use SQL queries and other tools to validate database contents, support root ‑cause analysis, and confirm end ‑to ‑end data integrity.
• Produce test reports, metrics, and dashboards that communicate test progress, defect trends, and quality status to project stakeholders, and participate in defect triage and confirmation testing.
• Collaborate with developers and other team members to improve code testability, clarify requirements for testability, and contribute to continuous improvement of QA processes and practices.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related technical field; equivalent experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
• 0–3 years of professional, internship, or project ‑based experience in software or system testing and QA.
• Demonstrated ability to design and execute structured test cases and document clear, reproducible defects.
• Foundational experience with test management and defect ‑tracking tools (for example, Jira, Azure DevOps, or similar).
• Basic familiarity with automated testing frameworks and scripting languages (such as Java, Python, or JavaScript) for web or API testing.
• Ability to obtain and maintain an active Secret clearance; current Secret clearance required at time of hire per program needs.
• Must be a US citizen.

Preferred Qualifications

• ISTQB Foundation Level or equivalent software testing certification.
• Experience working in Agile or DevOps environments, including participation in ceremonies such as sprint planning, stand ‑ups, and retrospectives.
• Exposure to security testing concepts and tools for scanning vulnerabilities or validating security controls in regulated environments.
• Prior experience testing mission ‑critical or government systems where reliability, security, and compliance are emphasized.