Quality Assurance Specialist – Fed Gov

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in New Mexico.

📋 Description

• Lead quality assurance, interface testing, regression testing, and operational support for enterprise engineering systems and interface pipelines.

• Establish test plans, validation protocols, and quality assurance frameworks for system upgrades and software integrations.

• Coordinate functional, performance, and regression testing across engineering application releases.

• Oversee O&M readiness, deployment checklists, cutover execution, and continuous integration pipelines.

• Ensure application interfaces and data transfers comply with baseline security and operational guidelines.

• Support PLM application upgrades, pre-release validation, user acceptance testing coordination, and post-deployment verification.

• Develop and execute test plans, diagnose issues, and validate fixes with development teams, system integrators, and engineering stakeholders.

• Monitor systems, optimize performance, and support deployed tools while identifying efficiency improvements and proactively resolving issues.

• Troubleshoot, diagnose, and resolve software issues, serving as an escalation point for complex technical problems affecting system availability or data integrity.

• Document test results, defect reports, and quality metrics according to laboratory standards and regulatory compliance requirements.

• Collaborate with DevOps and infrastructure teams to implement and refine CI/CD pipelines.

• Participate in change control boards and configuration management activities.

• Maintain knowledge of testing tools, automation frameworks, and enterprise software QA best practices.

• Support enterprise engineering IT systems at Sandia National Laboratories for PLM, ALM, and Digital Thread systems.

⛳️ Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or Engineering.

• 5–10 years of experience for Senior level or 10–15 years for Principal level in QA, test automation, or IT O&M management.

• Relevant professional certifications such as ISTQB, CSTE, or equivalent are highly desirable and may be considered in lieu of some educational requirements.

• Experience in DOE, DoD, or federal enterprise IT environments requiring formal compliance testing and controlled release management.

• Familiarity with operational constraints, security protocols, and quality standards for national laboratory or defense contractor environments.

• Experience with classified or controlled unclassified information (CUI) systems.

• Functional exposure to PTC Windchill, PTC CodeBeamer, Azure DevOps, Jira, Jenkins, or adjacent ALM/DevOps platforms.

• Experience with automated testing frameworks such as Selenium, TestNG, JUnit, or similar is strongly preferred.

• Experience with Git, SVN, Python, PowerShell, or Bash for test automation is strongly preferred.

• Ability to develop comprehensive test strategies and execute complex test scenarios.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with demonstrated root-cause analysis and corrective-action experience.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Active or prior DOE Q or L security clearance, or demonstrated ability to obtain such clearance, preferred.

• Experience with PTC Windchill PLM, PTC CodeBeamer ALM, or comparable enterprise engineering systems preferred.

• Experience with JMeter, LoadRunner, or similar performance testing tools preferred.

• Familiarity with Agile/Scrum methodologies preferred.

• Knowledge of NIST 800-53, CMMC, or similar cybersecurity frameworks preferred.

• Background in mechanical, electrical, or systems engineering preferred.

• Experience with SQL Server, Oracle, or PostgreSQL and data validation/integrity testing preferred.

• Prior National Laboratories, NNSA facilities, or nuclear weapons complex experience preferred.

• Eligible for facility access credentials.

• U.S. citizenship required for clearance eligibility.

• Successful completion of background investigations, site-specific safety training, and annual security refresher courses required.

• Compliance with laboratory safety protocols, security procedures, and professional conduct standards.

🏝️ Benefits

• RESPEC is 100% employee-owned.

• Access to state-of-the-art computing facilities and engineering laboratories.

• Standard business hours with occasional flexibility for scheduled maintenance windows, system deployments, or critical issue resolution.

• Tobacco-free workplace.

• Confidential handling of applicant information according to EEO guidelines.