Lead Software Quality Assurance (QA) Automation Engineer with Security Clearance

About Peraton 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 solve the most daunting challenges that our customers face. Visit peraton.com to learn how we're keeping people around the world safe and secure. About The Role Peraton is delivering advanced mission planning, digital engineering, and command-and-control capabilities supporting the U.S. Government's space communications enterprise. Our team uses modern MBSE practices to translate mission needs into precise, traceable, and verifiable technical requirements across a complex, multi-system environment. As a Lead Software Quality Assurance (QA) Automation Engineer, you will play a critical role in ensuring the reliability, performance, and security of core platform services that enable scalable, resilient satellite ground communications and data-transport capabilities. You will design and maintain automated testing frameworks, validate complex web interfaces and microservices, and drive quality assurance practices that uphold mission-critical standards for U.S. Government systems. In this role, you will lead automation strategy, collaborate closely with cross-functional engineering teams, and ensure test solutions align with system requirements, technical objectives, and program compliance expectations. This position may be supported from any of the following locations: Colorado Springs, CO; Arlington, VA; or Seal Beach, CA. What You'll Do * Architect, design, and evolve scalable automated testing frameworks using Cypress (JavaScript/TypeScript) to validate complex web interfaces, microservices/APIs, and end-to-end system workflows essential to mission operations.
* Provide technical leadership to the QA automation team, defining automation strategies, establishing robust test procedures, and shaping best-practice approaches to Agile/SAFe execution.
* Lead the development, compilation, and execution of automated regression and functional test suites, ensuring consistent delivery of high-quality software across multiple integrated subsystems. Drive defect management activities in Jira with a focus on root-cause identification and long-term quality improvement.
* Oversee the design, maintenance, and governance of test control databases (Postgres, MySQL), ensuring high-confidence data sets, accuracy, and proper distribution of test data supporting enterprise-scale development and integration efforts.
* Perform advanced system analysis in Linux environments-conducting deep-dive log reviews, troubleshooting distributed applications, running diagnostics, and guiding junior engineers through complex debugging scenarios.
* Lead formal test reviews and customer-facing discussions, clearly presenting acceptance criteria, test results, and technical rationale to government stakeholders while addressing high-priority concerns with confidence.
* Own the integration of Cypress automated test suites into CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab CI) across AWS cloud and containerized environments, optimizing pipeline performance, reliability, headless execution, and parallelization strategies.
* Collaborate at a technical lead level with developers, system engineers, analysts, and mission specialists to influence requirement definition, shaping testability considerations early in the lifecycle and mitigating architectural risks.
Qualifications Required Qualifications * Associates degree and 14+ years of experience; OR bachelor's degree and 12+ years of experience; OR master's degree and 10+ years of experience. Additional four (4) years of relevant experience will be considered in lieu of a degree.
* 5+ years supporting large government programs in software testing, development, or management roles with a strong understanding of software testing methodologies and the full software development life cycle (SDLC).
* This position requires the candidate possess a minimum of Secret clearance with ability to upgrade to TS/SCI. The candidate must maintain the clearance. * Proven experience in a technical lead or software engineering leadership role.
* Proven hands-on experience creating, maintaining, and scaling automated test frameworks using Cypress and JavaScript/TypeScript.
* Demonstrated experience in the space domain industry (e.g., satellite systems, ground control, space-related data).
* Experience working with Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) like Postgres or MySQL.
* Experience testing REST APIs.
* Strong operational experience in Linux environments, including command-line navigation, file manipulation, script execution, and log analysis.
* Automation Frameworks: Hands-on experience with Cypress and Playwright for end-to-end testing.
* Scripting and Languages: Strong scripting capabilities in Python and Bash.
* Test Frameworks: Proficiency in PyTest and JUnit.
* Infrastructure and Containerization: Practical experience working within Kubernetes environments.
* Messaging and Data Flow: Familiarity with message buses (e.g., Kafka, ActiveMQ) to test event-driven architectures.Desired Qualifications * Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical field.
* Hands-on experience with Cypress advanced features (e.g., API testing via cy.request(), custom commands, fixture management, and Cypress Cloud/Dashboard integration).
* Experience testing microservices architectures (Docker-focused) and cloud platforms like AWS (e.g., S3, Amazon RDS).
* Hands-on experience with tools such as Jira, Jenkins, GitLab, and Ansible.
* Demonstrated ability supporting unit, system, interface, integration, and verification testing events.
* CompTIA Security+ or other IA certification in accordance with DoD 8570-01.M (IAT/IAM levels).
* Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills with experience supporting customer-facing test events and requirement sell-off activities.
* SAFe Agilist (or equivalent Agile certification).Benefits: Peraton offers enhanced benefits to employees working on this critical National Security program, which include heavily subsidized employee benefits coverage for you and your dependents, 25 days of PTO accrued annually up to a generous PTO cap and eligible to participate in an attractive bonus plan Details Target Salary Range: $135,000 - $216,000. 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. Benefits Statement: Peraton offers eligible employees a variety of benefits including medical, dental, vision, life, health savings account, short/long term disability, EAP, parental leave, 401(k), paid time off (PTO) for vacation, and company paid holidays. A full listing of available benefits can be viewed at https://www.careers.peraton.com/benefits. Application Statements: The application period for the job is estimated to be 30 days from the job posting date. However, this timeline may be shortened or extended depending on business needs and the availability of qualified candidates. By applying to this job, you are expressing interest in the role and the Company. During the review of your application, you may be required to participate in an on-camera interview, as well as participate in a process to verify your identity. EEO:Equal opportunity employer, including disability and protected veterans, or other characteristics protected by law.