QA Lead

Socket.dev; Kentucky; Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

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 automated testing, and ensure high performance, security, and reliability through RMF and NIST 800-53 aligned processes.

The role requires extensive DevSecOps experience, experience with CI/CD pipelines, and hands-on automation using tools like Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, SAST/DAST, and SonarQube.

Qualifications

• US Citizen or eligible for federal clearance
• 10+ years of QA/Test Automation Engineering experience, including 5–7 years in DevSecOps environments
• Bachelor's degree in IT/Engineering/CS or related field; master's preferred
• Hands-on experience with modern test automation tools and CI/CD platforms such as Jenkins and GitHub Actions

Responsibilities

• Define and execute QA strategies for federal IT systems across development and operations
• Lead test automation, performance, and security testing within CI/CD pipelines
• Ensure RMF and NIST 800-53 compliance across all systems
• Mentor junior engineers and guide the QA team on testing best practices
• Coordinate with government customers and program leadership to report SLA/KPI metrics
• Drive shift-left testing and data-driven quality metrics across projects
• Collaborate with developers, security engineers, and DevOps for secure delivery

Skills

QA leadership

Test automation

Security testing

Root cause analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in IT/Engineering/CS

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Jenkins

GitHub Actions

GitLab CI

SAST/DAST

SonarQube

Job description

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

• US Citizen
• 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.