QA Lead

Concept-Plus; Dayton (OH); On-site; USD 120,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Life insurance

Paid time off

11 paid holidays

Performance bonuses

Tuition reimbursement

Unlimited training

Job summary

Concept Plus is seeking a QA Lead to provide senior technical leadership for federal IT systems across development and operations. You will establish QA strategies, drive automation in CI/CD, and ensure RMF/NIST compliance.

The role partners with development, security, and program leadership to deliver secure, reliable, and high-performing systems in both classified and unclassified environments. The QA Lead will oversee test strategies and validation processes across the lifecycle, including

Qualifications

• 10+ years QA/Test Automation Engineering experience; 5-7 years in DevSecOps environments.
• Tier-3 Secret Clearance eligibility required.
• Hands-on with modern test automation tools and CI/CD tooling.

Responsibilities

• Define testing strategies, integrate security tools into CI/CD, and ensure RMF compliance.
• Lead secure design, automation, and execution of CI/CD pipelines with automated security scanning.
• Develop and execute automated testing strategies within Agile DevSecOps frameworks.
• Ensure compliance with RMF and NIST STIGs.
• Mentor junior engineers on DevOps methodologies.
• Coordinate with government customers to report SLA/KPI performance.

Skills

QA leadership

QA automation

DevSecOps

CI/CD integration

Python/Java scripting

RMF/NIST 800-53

Education

Bachelor's in IT/Engineering/CS

Master's degree (preferred)

Tools

SonarQube

SAST/DAST

Jenkins

GitHub Actions

GitLab CI

AWS

Job description

About Concept Plus

Concept Plus is a mission-focused technology solutions provider that transforms IT concepts into impactful solutions for federal agencies. Headquartered in Fairfax, VA, we bring the agility, responsiveness, and customer intimacy of a small business combined with the quality and infrastructure of a larger firm.

Recognized as an award-winning Oracle partner, we have delivered innovative solutions across Defense, Intelligence, Civilian, Health IT, and Tribal sectors. Our highly certified experts build systems that drive efficiency, accelerate modernization, and ensure mission outcomes with certainty.

We offer competitive pay, comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance, paid life insurance, paid time off, 11 paid holidays, performance bonuses, tuition reimbursement, unlimited training, and the opportunity to thrive in a collaborative, flexible, and innovative environment.

Concept Plus is seeking a QA Lead to provide senior technical leadership supporting federal IT systems across development and operational environments. This role is responsible for establishing and executing quality assurance strategies, ensuring the delivery of secure, reliable, and high-performing systems.

The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of federal IT processes and technology stacks, including DevSecOps CI/CD pipelines, Oracle-based systems, and Java applications. Federal systems operate across both classified and unclassified environments, leveraging cloud-based infrastructure, requiring strict adherence to security, compliance, and operational standards.

The QA Lead will define and oversee test strategies, quality standards, and validation processes across the system lifecycle, including functional, integration, regression, performance, and security testing. This role will drive test automation, continuous testing within CI/CD pipelines, defect management, and release quality governance, ensuring mission-critical systems meet performance, security, and reliability expectations.

The QA Lead plays a critical role in enabling shift-left testing, continuous improvement, and data-driven quality metrics, partnering closely with development, infrastructure, and program leadership to support stable operations and successful system modernization.

What you'll do

• Define testing strategies, integrate security tools into CI/CD, and ensure compliance with RMF
• Integrate automated testing (unit, functional, regression, security scanning) directly into CI/CD pipelines.
• Lead the secure design, automation, and execution of CI/CD pipelines, incorporating automated security scanning and QA checks (SAST/DAST, dependency scanning).
• Develop, document, and execute automated testing strategies within Agile DevSecOps frameworks, ensuring compliance with functionality, reliability, and security standards.
• Ensure all systems comply with Risk Management Framework (RMF) and NIST 800-53 standards.
• Integrate automated testing (unit, functional, regression, security scanning) directly into CI/CD pipelines.
• Ensure compliance with federal standards, including RMF (Risk Management Framework) and STIGs (Security Technical Implementation Guides).
• Experience in coding/scripting for automation (e.g., Python, Java).
• Integrate, maintain, and optimize automated test suites (functional, integration, regression, smoke) into DevSecOps pipelines (e.g., Jenkins, GitHub Actions).
• Develop and maintain the Quality Control Plan (QCP) and Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) tracking KPIs and SLA performance ensuring all deliverables meet contract requirements.
• Conduct root cause analysis (RCA) and risk mitigation to reduce recurring defects in high-visibility client systems.
• Lead a QA team, providing technical guidance on test script creation, database queries (SQL), and performance load testing.
• Coordinate with program management, contractors, and government customers to report on SLA and KPI performance metrics.
• Work with developers, security engineers, and DevOps to enable continuous, secure delivery.
• Active mentoring of junior engineers on DevOps methodologies.

Required Qualifications

• Must be able to obtain a Tier-3 Secret Clearance
• 10+ years of QA/Test Automation Engineering experience, with 5-7 years in DevSecOps environments
• Bachelor’s degree in IT, Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field; master’s degree preferred.
• Hands-on experience with modern test automation tools (SonarQube, SAST/DAST) and CI/CD tools (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with Agile development teams of 20+ FTEs and be familiar with Agile methodologies
• Knowledge of Government Quality Requirements, Performance Work Statements (PWS), and Contract Data Requirements Lists (CDRLs)
• 5+ years of software QA experience, with recent experience in a federal Agile environment.
• Experience with AWS cloud services

Concept Plus is an Equal Opportunity Employer. As such, we will give your application full consideration without regard to your race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other classification protected by federal, state, or local law.