About the role
This role sits across three responsibilities: turning ambiguous requirements into testable acceptance criteria, building and maintaining automated test coverage, and running human-led acceptance testing of the web portal with LLM tools accelerating the work rather than replacing the judgment behind it. We're looking for someone self-driven who can take an ambiguous problem, define what "done" actually looks like, and solve it without needing the path laid out step by step.
What you'll do
- Work with product owners and stakeholders to translate functional and non-functional requirements into acceptance criteria a tester can actually execute against.
- Design, build, and maintain automated test suites (UI, API, and regression) integrated into the CI/CD pipeline.
- Test content management system (CMS) functionality — including Drupal and WordPress-based sites — covering content workflows, theming/templates, plugin or module updates, user roles and permissions, and upgrade/migration paths.
- Plan and run manual and exploratory acceptance testing of the web portal, using LLM-assisted tools to draft test cases, generate edge-case scenarios, and triage defects. A human reviews and signs off on every acceptance decision; the tooling speeds up the work, it doesn't replace the sign-off.
- Write and maintain test plans, test scripts, and defect reports that hold up to program and government review.
- Track issues in Jira through the full lifecycle — logging defects with clear repro steps, linking them to the originating requirement or story, and verifying fixes before release.
- Maintain Jira-based test reporting (test coverage, defect trends, release-readiness status) for the delivery team and stakeholders.
- Identify gaps in requirements or test coverage on your own initiative, propose a plan to close them, and drive it to resolution rather than waiting for direction.
- Support accessibility (Section 508) and basic security testing as part of acceptance criteria where applicable.
Required qualifications
- 5-7 years of QA engineering experience spanning both manual and automated testing.
- Direct experience testing CMS-based web applications, including Drupal and/or WordPress — content workflows, roles/permissions, module/plugin behavior, and upgrade or migration testing.
- Demonstrated experience writing test plans and acceptance criteria directly from requirements documents or user stories.
- Hands-on experience with at least one test automation framework (Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, or similar) integrated with CI/CD.
- Practical experience using Jira for issue tracking, defect logging, and test/release reporting.
- Experience using AI/LLM tools inside a testing workflow (test case generation, exploratory test support, defect triage), paired with the judgment to know when a result needs direct human verification.
- A track record of working independently: scoping a problem, deciding on an approach, and seeing it through with minimal oversight.
- Comfortable working in an Agile/Scrum environment with product owners, developers, and government stakeholders.
- Clear, professional written communication for defect reports and test documentation.
Preferred qualifications
- Experience testing federal or public-sector web applications, including Section 508 accessibility testing.
- Familiarity with FISMA-compliant environments and the documentation standards that come with them.
- Experience with Drupal or WordPress migrations (e.g., version upgrades, platform migrations) from a QA perspective.
- Experience with API testing tools (Postman, REST Assured) and basic performance/load testing.
- Experience building Jira dashboards or reports for QA/release metrics.
- ISTQB certification or equivalent formal QA training.
What we'll assess in the interview
- A walkthrough of how you turned a real, imperfect requirement into testable acceptance criteria.
- Your approach to testing a CMS-driven site — what breaks, what you check by default, and how you'd approach a Drupal or WordPress upgrade.
- An example of a problem you identified and solved on your own, without being told exactly what to do.
- Your approach to using an LLM tool inside a testing workflow, and specifically where you draw the line for human review.
- How you structure a defect in Jira — repro steps, linking, severity, and status flow.
- A sample of test automation code or a test plan you've written.
Terms
Full-time. On-site/remote arrangement and contract duration to be confirmed based on program assignment.
Compensation
The base pay range for this role is $75,000 – $100,000 per year.