Test Engineering, Senior Advisor

The Test Automation Lead is a designated Key Personnel position supporting the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Supply Chain Management Development Security Operations (SCMDSO) Integration program and the Health Enterprise Logistics Management (HELM) Product Line.

The Test Automation Lead provides product-line leadership for testing and quality engineering across HELM products. The role leads the planning, execution, documentation, and continuous improvement of product-specific testing integrated throughout the Agile/DevSecOps lifecycle, with emphasis on repeatable automation, requirements traceability, defect management, release readiness, and VA-approved testing practices.

The Test Automation Lead works within an Agile/SAFe and DevSecOps delivery environment and collaborates with VA stakeholders, product teams, architects, developers, cybersecurity personnel, integration teams, release personnel, and other contractors to validate functionality, performance, accessibility, security, interoperability, and operational readiness throughout the development lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities

The Test Automation Lead shall lead testing and quality engineering activities across the HELM Product Line, including:

• Lead product-specific testing activities across user story, sprint, build, release, and production-readiness phases, integrating testing into recurring Agile sprints and release cycles.
• Develop, implement, maintain, and continuously improve automated test strategies, frameworks, scripts, and regression capabilities using VA TRM-approved tools wherever feasible to increase coverage, repeatability, and delivery speed.
• Plan and oversee unit, functional, system, reliability, usability, interoperability, regression, security, performance/load, accessibility (Section 508), and other non-functional testing required for HELM products.
• Develop and maintain Test Plans and complete Test Strategy and Test Execution content in VA-approved tools; ensure test cases, automated/manual scripts, test data, execution results, and supporting evidence are current and under version control.
• Maintain the Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) and ensure bi-directional traceability among requirements, design elements, test cases, defects, validation evidence, and releases.
• Lead defect management by ensuring defects are logged promptly, assigned VA-defined severity/impact, prioritized with VA stakeholders, tracked through remediation and retesting, and closed only with documented validation evidence.
• Provide test execution status per sprint and release, Test Summary Reports, performance/load reports, security scan results and remediation evidence, and daily defect status updates in VA-approved repositories.
• Coordinate with product teams, VA stakeholders, dependent solution groups, cybersecurity, architecture, integration, and release teams to define test conditions, validate acceptance criteria, resolve dependencies, and establish release readiness.
• Ensure release-readiness testing satisfies PWS criteria, including execution of at least 95% of planned release test cases, resolution or formal VA acceptance of Critical/High defects, and required security vulnerability disposition and VA approval before production deployment.
• Promote continuous improvement of test quality by expanding automation, strengthening CI/CD-integrated regression testing, improving test coverage and evidence, and applying lessons learned across HELM products.

The program requires testing and related artifacts to be maintained in VA-approved lifecycle tools as authoritative evidence of requirements coverage, acceptance criteria, defects, traceability, and release readiness.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum of 12 years with BS/BA; Minimum of 10 years with MS/MA; Minimum of 7 years with Ph.D.
• Willingness to obtain ISTQB Agile Tester Certification (WS15.1) or equivalent certification in a reasonable amount of time.
• U.S. Citizenship required.
• Ability to obtain and maintain the VA-required Tier 2/Moderate Risk background investigation/Public Trust eligibility.
• Demonstrated professional experience leading software testing, test automation, quality engineering, or verification and validation for complex enterprise IT systems.
• Demonstrated experience designing and maintaining automated and manual test capabilities, regression suites, test plans, test cases/scripts, test evidence, defect workflows, and requirements traceability.
• Experience working in Agile software/product delivery and DevSecOps environments with testing integrated into sprint, build, release, and CI/CD activities.
• Working knowledge of functional, system, regression, accessibility, security, interoperability, performance/load, reliability, usability, and non-functional testing practices.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with technical, functional, program management, product, cybersecurity, release, and customer stakeholders.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting the Federal Government, with an emphasis on Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) programs or environments.
• Active VA Public Trust or equivalent Department of War (DoW) security clearance/background investigation.
• Previous experience supporting VA Office of Information and Technology (OIT), HELM, VA Supply Chain Management, VistA, or related VA enterprise systems.
• Experience with VA-approved testing/lifecycle tools, Quality Manager, VA Technical Reference Model (TRM) requirements, Section 508, and VA release/governance processes.
• Experience with SAFe and/or Agile product development and CI/CD-integrated automated regression testing.
• ISTQB Agile Tester Certification (WS15.1) or equivalent certification.
• Experience working with geographically distributed Federal and contractor teams.

Peraton is a next-generation national security company that drives missions of consequence spanning the globe and extending to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. As the world’s leading mission capability integrator and transformative enterprise IT provider, we deliver trusted, highly differentiated solutions and technologies to protect our nation and allies. Peraton operates at the critical nexus between traditional and nontraditional threats across all domains: land, sea, space, air, and cyberspace. The company serves as a valued partner to essential government agencies and supports every branch of the U.S. armed forces. Each day, our employees do the can’t be done by solving the most daunting challenges facing our customers. Visit peraton.com to learn how we’re keeping people around the world safe and secure.

$146,000 - $234,000. This represents the typical salary range for this position. Salary is determined by various factors, including but not limited to, the scope and responsibilities of the position, the individual’s experience, education, knowledge, skills, and competencies, as well as geographic location and business and contract considerations. Depending on the position, employees may be eligible for overtime, shift differential, and a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay.

EEO: Equal opportunity employer, including disability and protected veterans, or other characteristics protected by law.