Software Tester

Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc. (SPA) delivers high-impact, technical solutions to complex national security issues. With over 50 years of business expertise and consistent growth, we are known for continuous innovation for our government customers, in both the US and abroad. Our exceptionally talented team is highly collaborative in spirit and practice, producing Results that Matter. Come work with the best! We offer opportunity, unique challenges, and clear-sighted commitment to the mission. SPA: Objective. Responsive. Trusted.

The Strategic Division (SD) supports high-reliability organizations including Navy Strategic Systems Programs (SSP), Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, and the Department of Energy (DOE), among others. Our support across our client base is expanding rapidly and encompasses important services, such as data analytics and visualization, threat analysis, risk management, modeling and simulation, cost estimating, earned value management, program management, system engineering, independent evaluation, and High Consequence Event prevention.

This entry-level Software Tester position is with the Surety Programs Group (SPG) which supports government and private sector organizations ensuring the security, safety, and reliability of high consequence operations. SPG's philosophy is to help our clients understand and mitigate mission risks spanning physical, cyber, and human domains. The Software Tester will work as part of a cross-functional team by developing software tools, create test plans, manual tests, automated tests using tools and frameworks to make sure that products and processes run as expected and evaluating performance and vulnerabilities.

Quality Assurance and Testing:

• Develop, execute, and maintain manual and automated test cases that validate functional, regression, and integration requirements.

• Identify, report, and track bugs and defects using tools such as GitLab and Jira, providing detailed reproduction steps and severity classification.

• Contribute to the continuous improvement of the QA process by implementing QA best practices and methodologies.

Automation and CI/CD Integration:

• Set up and maintain GitLab CI/CD Pipelines for multiple software projects.

• Develop test automation scripts to enhance test coverage and accuracy.

• Integrate automated test suites into GitLab CI/CD.

Technical Writing and Documentation:

• Create and maintain clear, concise, and comprehensive documentation to include test reports, user guides, bug reports, and technical specifications.

• Document test results, update test case repositories, and ensure alignment with project requirements.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure that all documentation is accurate, usable, and accessible to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Collaboration with Development Team and Stakeholders:

• Work closely with developers and stakeholders to gather requirements, understand system functionality, and advocate for quality.

• Regularly communicate with developers to track feature completion, bug/defect status, and build output to align with test plans and reporting.

Continuous Improvement:

• Actively contribute to process improvements in testing techniques, frameworks, and tools.

• Stay up to date with emerging QA technologies, methods, and tools to enhance team efficiency and product quality.

• Drive innovation through exploration of new test automation tools and platforms.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelors Degree in Computer Science or Engineering field.
• U.S. Citizen with ability to obtain and maintain DoD SECRET clearance.
• Ability to work at SPA HQ in Alexandria, VA.
• Entry-level experience with:
  • C# and MSBuild
  • Technical Writing and Documentation
  • Manual and Automated testing methodologies and scripting for test automation
  • GitLab, Bitbucket, or other git repository hosting services
  • Creating and maintaining GitLab CI/CD Pipelines
  • Bug/Defect Tracking (GitLab, Jira) and writing bug reports with clear reproduction steps and severity classification
  • Unity Game Engine Development/Testing
  • .NET (C#) desktop applications, TestRail, and Unity Test Framework

Desired Qualifications:

• Agile methodologies
• Test case creation, execution, and documentation
• Version control systems like Git
• Regression, functional, and integration testing
• Software lifecycle methodology