Functional Tester

AIS (Applied Information Sciences); Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 97,000 - 147,000; Full time

Job summary

Applied Information Sciences in Washington, DC is seeking a Senior QA Engineer to lead functional, regression, and smoke testing across a modern services-based environment. You will plan, execute, and document test activities, ensuring traceability to requirements and acceptance criteria.

The role requires a Top Secret clearance, strong automation and API testing skills, Jira proficiency, and the ability to collaborate with product teams while delivering high-quality features.

Qualifications

• Masters automation frameworks, scripting languages, security testing, test management, and CI/CD integration.
• Ability to perform end-to-end functional, regression, and smoke testing.
• Experience with API testing and Agile delivery.

Responsibilities

• Execute requirement-level functional, regression, and smoke tests and document results.
• Create, document, and maintain test cases, data, and results in Jira or similar tools.
• Validate defects, isolate issues, reproduce failures, and coordinate retest activities.
• Ensure adherence to 508 accessibility requirements.
• Support automated testing efforts with API testing tools and Swagger/OpenAPI validation.
• Maintain end-to-end traceability between requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, and test cases.
• Participate in backlog refinement and clarify requirements with Product Owner and Analysts.
• Provide feedback to developers and product staff on system behavior and risks.
• Support integration testing and data flow verification across services.

Skills

Automation frameworks

Scripting languages

Security testing

Test management

CI/CD integration

Tools

Jira

Swagger/OpenAPI

Job description

Why AIS?

When you join AIS, you’re joining a mission-driven team that’s passionate about making a difference. You’ll work on projects that matter, alongside industry-leading experts, in an environment that fosters innovation, driving client success, and empowering our team to make a lasting impact. As an employee-owned company, we value collaboration, inclusivity, continuous growth, and shared success.

• Employee Ownership: Your contributions directly impact the company’s success, and you share in its achievements.
• Continuous Learning: Access to resources, training, and mentorship to support your professional growth.
• Inclusive Culture: A workplace where diversity is celebrated, and everyone’s voice is valued.
• Mission-Driven Work: Engage in projects that make a meaningful difference for our clients and communities.

Why AIS?

When you join AIS, you’re joining a mission-driven team that’s passionate about making a difference. You’ll work on projects that matter, alongside industry-leading experts, in an environment that fosters innovation, driving client success, and empowering our team to make a lasting impact. As an employee-owned company, we value collaboration, inclusivity, continuous growth, and shared success.

• Employee Ownership: Your contributions directly impact the company’s success, and you share in its achievements.
• Continuous Learning: Access to resources, training, and mentorship to support your professional growth.
• Inclusive Culture: A workplace where diversity is celebrated, and everyone’s voice is valued.
• Mission-Driven Work: Engage in projects that make a meaningful difference for our clients and communities.

What are we looking for?

At AIS, we're looking for more than just skills - we're looking for driven individuals who are passionate about making a difference, eager to grow, and aligned with our core principles.

Working@AIS

At AIS, we are dedicated to providing our employees with diverse opportunities to grow their careers while supporting a variety of impactful projects. For this position, we are seeking a talented individual to join AIS as a Senior QA Engineer.

• Core Knowledge & Skills: Masters automation frameworks, scripting languages, security testing, test management, and CI/CD integration.
• Work & Complexity: Performs end-to-end and performance testing, executes security testing, manages test environments, and ensures compliance.
• Quality & Independence: Maintains high standards, identifies root causes, proactively addresses issues, and operates with high autonomy.
• Teamwork & Communication: Leads team projects, collaborates cross-functionally, mentors juniors, and resolves conflicts.
• Consulting & Engagement: Advises on automation frameworks, best practices, performance testing, and cross-functional collaboration.

As your initial project assignment, you will support the unique needs of our client as a Functional Tester.

AIS is hiring a Functional Tester with a Top Secret Clearance in Washington, DC. In this role you will support the product team by planning, executing, and documenting functional, regression, and smoke testing activities across a modern services-based application environment. This role focuses on validating requirements, ensuring traceability, and supporting high‑quality feature delivery. Candidates should be comfortable executing structured manual testing with some exposure to modern automated testing tools (Swagger/OpenAPI, unit-level testing).

Key Responsibilities

• Execute requirement‑level functional tests, smoke tests, and regression test cycles.
• Create, document, and maintain test cases, test data, and test results in Jira or similar tools.
• Validate defects, isolate issues, reproduce failures, and coordinate retest activities.
• Ensure adherence to 508 accessibility requirements.
• Support automated testing efforts where possible (API testing tools, Swagger/OpenAPI validation, unit test review).
• Ensure end‑to‑end traceability between requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, and test cases.
• Participate in backlog refinement and requirement clarification sessions with the Product Owner and Business Analysts.
• Provide feedback to developers and product staff regarding system behavior, edge cases, and risk areas.
• Support integration testing and verification of data flows across services as needed.

Required For This Opportunity

• Active Top Secret Clearance is required.
• Recommended 5+ years of testing experience.
• Experience performing functional, regression, and smoke testing.
• Familiarity with API testing, Swagger/OpenAPI, and basic automated testing concepts.
• Understanding of Agile delivery and iterative testing approaches.
• Ability to translate acceptance criteria and requirements into clean, repeatable test cases.

Nice To Have Skills

• Prior experience supporting the federal government
• excellent communication skills
• Prior 508 experience

At AIS, we are committed to offering competitive and fair compensation that reflects the skills, experience, and contributions of each team member. The targeted base salary range for this role is $97,000-$147,000 per year. Please note that this range is provided as a guideline and the final offer will be based on several factors, including but not limited to, skillset and competencies, level of experience, education, certifications, and location. We value transparency in our hiring process and are happy to discuss how your unique qualifications align with our compensation structure during the interview process.

Applied Information Sciences does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, religion, color, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other basis. Employment decisions are based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs.