Automation Test Engineer

Job ID: 2618126
Location: Sterling, VA, US
Date Posted: 2026-10-19
Category: Engineering and Sciences
Subcategory: Test Engineer
Schedule: Full-Time
Shift: Day Job
Travel: No
Minimum Clearance Required: None
Clearance Level Must Be Able to Obtain: Public Trust
Potential for Remote Work: ORA_HYBRID
Description
SAIC hiring an Automation Engineer to build automated test coverage and perform hands-on manual testing for systems where hardware and software are integrated. You will design and maintain automated tests (API, service, and some UI), develop and test supporting C#, Python code, and validate integrated components end to end - devices, backend services, middleware, and the data between them. You will work in an Agile team alongside developers and DevOps across the full software development lifecycle, maintaining automation in CI/CD and tracking plans and defects in Jira.
This position is hybrid remote and requires 2 days on-site in Sterling, VA per week.
Key Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain automated test scripts that verify functionality, security, and usability across API, service, and UI layers.
• Develop and test C#, Python code as project requirements dictate.
• Implement automated integration, regression, functional, and system tests during feature development.
• Perform manual and exploratory testing of integrated hardware and software systems - including LPR, biometric/facial recognition, and RFID devices - validating read accuracy, correlation to the correct vehicle or transaction, and behavior under real and adverse conditions.
• Reproduce field and edge conditions (device faults, dropped, duplicate, or out-of-order messages, timing skew, degraded inputs) and confirm graceful end-to-end handling.
• Develop and maintain test plans and test cases; write SQL or Unix scripts for test-data generation and test-harness automation.
• Maintain and improve automation frameworks and CI/CD pipelines, and troubleshoot issues in the automation systems themselves.
• Investigate defects across the stack using logs, traffic captures (TCP/HTTP), and the command line; isolate whether a fault is hardware, software, configuration, or network.
• Report and manage defects in Jira; produce test summaries and raise functional, performance, and requirement-discrepancy tickets.
• Collaborate with development and DevOps teams and participate in Agile ceremonies such as daily stand-ups and sprints.

Qualifications
Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field (or equivalent experience), with 2+ years of QA / test experience including test automation.
• Proficiency in C#, Python, Javascript, Typescript, NodeJS.
• Test automation experience with Selenium, Playwright, and Cucumber.
• Strong SQL and relational-database knowledge; able to read a data model and derive test scripts and test data from it.
• Automation focused on API testing with some UI testing, across backend, middleware, desktop, and microservice layers, including SOAP services via SoapUI with basic XML.
• Working knowledge of TCP and HTTP, with the ability to inspect traffic (Wireshark, tcpdump, or curl).
• Comfortable on Ubuntu/Linux, with SQL or Unix/shell scripting for test data and test-harness automation.
• Experience testing integrated hardware and software systems; exposure to media or data validation such as video-frame or image/stream inspection, or a clear aptitude to learn it.
• Able to generate test data, validate results, and report and manage defects in Jira.
• Strong written and verbal communication and problem-solving skills, effective with both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Comfortable in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment, with strong initiative.

Preferred Qualifications

• Test automation for applications running in the cloud (AWS or equivalent).
• Experience across all testing stages: functional, usability, regression, load/stress, and performance.
• Hands-on testing of LPR, biometric/facial recognition, RFID, or other sensor- or camera-based systems.
• Prior software development experience.
• CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins) and containers (Docker).
• Deeper XML experience; familiarity with a BDD or test-framework ecosystem (e.g., pytest, Robot Framework).

Target salary range: $40,001 - $80,000. The estimate displayed represents the typical salary range for this position based on experience and other factors.
SAIC is a premier technology integrator providing full life cycle services and solutions in the technical, engineering, intelligence, and enterprise information technology markets. SAIC is Redefining Ingenuity through its deep customer and domain knowledge to enable the delivery of systems engineering and integration offerings for large, complex projects. SAIC's approximately 15,000 employees are driven by integrity and mission focus to serve customers in the U.S. federal government. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, SAIC has annual revenues of approximately $4.5 billion. For more information, visit saic.com. For information on the benefits SAIC offers, see .