Senior Automated Test Engineer at Leidos in Alexandria

Senior Automated Test Engineer

Location: Gaithersburg, MD

Help ensure Intelligence Community analysts and mission operators have reliable, secure software they can count on when critical decisions need to be made.

Leidos is seeking a Senior Test Automation Engineer to help deliver mission-essential software capabilities that enable intelligence professionals to access critical information, analyze data, and support time-sensitive national security operations. When applications fail, data is inaccurate, or critical services are unavailable, mission execution can be disrupted. Your work will help prevent those failures by identifying defects early, validating critical system functionality, and ensuring new capabilities are ready when our customer needs them most.

As a key member of a high-performing Agile team on the Chinook program, you'll use Playwright to build robust automated tests that validate mission-critical user workflows and Bruno and/or Postman to verify the accuracy, reliability, and security of APIs that connect essential systems and data. You'll work directly with software engineers and mission stakeholders to strengthen software quality, accelerate secure delivery, and reduce the risk of failures in operational environments.

This is more than a test automation role. It's an opportunity to help ensure the technology behind critical intelligence missions works accurately, reliably, and when it matters most.

Position may be performed in the following locations below. Please note Gaithersburg, MD is the program’s primary work location.

• Gaithersburg, MD
• Alexandria, VA
• Chantilly, VA
• Englewood, CO
• St. Louis, MO
• Tucson, AZ

Clearance Level Required:

Active Top Secret/SCI with the ability to successfully pass a Polygraph examination.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, execute, and maintain robust automated test scripts using Playwright to validate web application functionality, user workflows, and regression requirements.
• Develop and maintain automated API tests using Bruno and/or Postman to validate RESTful services, request/response payloads, authentication, error handling, and data integrity.
• Build and enhance scalable test automation frameworks that support functional, integration, end-to-end, smoke, and regression testing.
• Integrate automated test suites into CI/CD pipelines to enable continuous testing, rapid feedback, and early defect detection.
• Collaborate with Agile development teams to define acceptance criteria, identify test scenarios, and implement automated testing strategies within each sprint.
• Participate actively in Agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, daily standups, backlog refinement, sprint reviews, and retrospectives.
• Develop and execute comprehensive test plans, test cases, and test scripts based on user stories, functional requirements, and system specifications.
• Perform API validation, including HTTP methods, status codes, JSON payloads, authorization, authentication, and negative testing scenarios.
• Analyze automated test results, troubleshoot failures, identify root causes, and document defects using Agile tracking tools such as Jira.
• Partner with software developers to improve application testability, identify opportunities for earlier testing, and reduce manual regression testing.
• Establish and promote test automation standards, reusable components, and engineering best practices across the development team.
• Support test data management, environment configuration, and test execution across development, integration, and staging environments.
• Provide technical guidance and mentorship to junior test engineers and contribute to continuous improvement of the team's quality engineering practices.
• Ensure testing activities align with customer security requirements, organizational quality standards, and program delivery objectives.

Basic Qualifications:

• US citizenship is required per contract
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology or related field and 8-12 years of prior relevant experience or Master’s with 6-10 years of prior relevant experience.
• 8+ years of hands-on experience in software test automation, quality engineering, or software development with a strong emphasis on automated testing.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience developing, executing, and maintaining automated UI tests using Playwright.
• Practical experience using Bruno and/or Postman to develop, execute, and validate API tests.
• Strong programming experience with TypeScript and/or JavaScript for test automation development.
• Experience designing and maintaining automated test frameworks for modern web-based applications.
• Strong understanding of RESTful APIs, HTTP methods, JSON, authentication mechanisms, and API validation techniques.
• Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines using tools such as Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, GitHub Actions, or equivalent platforms.
• Experience working on Agile software development teams using Scrum or similar methodologies.
• Experience with source control systems such as Git.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze requirements, develop test scenarios, troubleshoot application issues, and document defects.
• Strong understanding of software testing methodologies, including functional, integration, regression, end-to-end, and negative testing.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work independently, manage competing priorities, and deliver high-quality automation solutions in a fast-paced Agile environment.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience supporting DoD or Intelligence Community programs.
• Advanced experience with Playwright capabilities, including fixtures, page object models, parallel execution, cross-browser testing, and trace-based debugging.
• Experience developing API automation suites with Bruno CLI, Postman Collection Runner, or Newman and integrating them into CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience validating API schemas, complex JSON responses, OAuth 2.0, JWT-based authentication, and role-based access controls.
• Experience with additional automation tools such as Cypress, Selenium, or REST Assured.
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and containerized testing environments.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms such as AWS and automated testing of cloud-hosted applications.
• Experience with SQL and database validation to support end-to-end test scenarios.
• Experience testing microservices-based or distributed applications.
• Familiarity with security testing principles and secure software development practices.
• Experience with test reporting, automation metrics, and quality dashboards.
• Knowledge of Behavior-Driven Development (BDD), Test-Driven Development (TDD), and shift-left testing practices.
• Experience mentoring engineers or serving as a technical lead for test automation initiatives.
• Experience with geospatial applications or GEOINT data.
• Certifications such as ISTQB, CASTP, CAST, CSTE, Security+, or similar.

#Chinook

#NSBA

If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.

Original Posting:

October 14, 2026

Pay Range:

Pay Range $107,900.00 - $195,050.00

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.