Test Engineer - Contingent

Public Trust Eligibility RequiredThis is a contingent position, meaning employment is dependent upon the successful award of the associated contract to Aretum and completion of any required background investigation or security clearance verification. About AretumAretum is a mission-driven organization committed to delivering innovative, technology-enabled solutions to our customers across defense, civilian, and homeland security sectors. Our teams work at the intersection of strategy, technology, and transformation, helping agencies solve their most critical challenges. We believe in investing in our people and creating a culture where collaboration, inclusion, and professional growth are at the forefront. Job SummaryAretum 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. ResponsibilitiesExecute functional testing of web application features, validating stories against acceptance criteria and documenting defects with clear reproduction steps, severity classification, and expected versus actual behaviorBuild, maintain, and expand automated regression test suites using Playwright, Cypress, and Selenium with Cucumber/Gherkin BDD patterns, integrated into GitLab CI pipelines for continuous feedbackCreate and maintain automated API test collections using Postman and Rest Assured to validate microservice endpoints, inter-service contracts, and integration points with external systemsPerform 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 processDocument accessibility findings with specific WCAG success criteria references and actionable remediation guidance that enables developers to resolve issues efficientlyExecute load and performance tests using NeoLoad, JMeter, or equivalent tools to validate response times, throughput, and error rates against defined thresholds before production releasesMaintain test plans and test cases in Confluence linked to Jira stories, with test evidence documented for sprint reviewsCollaborate with developers to define clear acceptance criteria and test criteria during backlog refinement, ensuring stories are testable before development beginsParticipate fully in Agile ceremonies within a SAFe framework: Sprint Planning, Daily Standup, Sprint Review, Retrospective, and Backlog RefinementMaintain CI-integrated test suites at a 95% pass rate or above and resolve flaky tests promptly to keep automation a reliable quality gateSupport production triage when assigned, diagnosing issues and verifying fixes through the standard CI/CD pipelineContribute to test strategy improvements, automation framework enhancements, and knowledge sharing across the QA teamRequirements3 years of applicable experience in software quality assurance and testingBachelor'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 JavaScript1+ years of experience with Playwright for end-to-end browser automation, including test script development, cross-browser configuration, and CI pipeline integrationDHS 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 analysisExperience writing BDD test scenarios using Cucumber/Gherkin syntax and implementing step definitionsProficiency with API testing tools such as Postman and Rest Assured, including creating collections, writing assertions, and validating RESTful service respon