Senior/Principal Automation Engineer - Secret Clearance Required

Sherpa 6, Inc.; Northern (KY); Remote; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Fully Remote

Job summary

Sherpa 6, Inc. is seeking a Senior/Principal Automation Engineer for a fully remote role requiring an Active Secret clearance.

You will lead the design of scalable test automation across web, Android, and Windows, building agentic AI-enabled testing capabilities and prototypes with a focus on quality, reliability, and speed. Reporting to the Quality Engineering Manager, you will collaborate with software teams to drive end-to-end testing, develop MVPs, and integrate them into GitLab CI/CD

Qualifications

• 5+ years of QA or Test Engineering with hands-on test system design.
• 1–2+ years of practical experience using agentic AI coding tools (e.g., Claude Code) in real tasks.
• Significant hands-on contribution to building or rearchitecting a test automation framework.
• Hands-on testing across unit, integration, API, end-to-end, plus linting and static analysis.
• Experience automating tests across web, mobile, and/or desktop platforms.
• BS in CS, SE, or related field (required by contract).
• Experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines (GitLab preferred).
• Strong written and verbal communication; ability to influence across teams.

Responsibilities

• Design and own scalable test automation frameworks for web, Android, and Windows products.
• Partner with software teams to evolve end-to-end testing across the organization.
• Define and champion our agentic AI approach to quality and testing practices.
• Deliver AI-enabled testing solutions and reference implementations.
• Translate requirements into automation designs and actionable quality plans.
• Collaborate with development and platform teams to bake in automation from day one.
• Contribute to quality standards and metrics with practical examples.
• Provide guidance across multiple Agile teams as we scale testing.
• Stay ahead of tooling trends and translate them into improvements.
• Communicate complex designs clearly across teams.

Skills

QA Engineering

Automation design

Clear communication

Quality mindset

Education

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science or Software Engineering

Tools

Selenium

Playwright

Appium

GitLab CI

Job description

All Jobs > Senior/Principal Automation Engineer - Secret Clearance Required

Senior/Principal Automation Engineer - Secret Clearance Required
Fully Remote

Description

Job Location: Remote

Security Clearance: Active Secret clearance required (Interim ok)

Travel: As needed

Sherpa 6 is seeking a Senior or Principal Automation Engineer who wants to build, innovate, and shape the future of how we deliver world class, mission critical software. This is an individual contributor role reporting to the Quality Engineering Manager, focused on leading the technical transformation of our Quality Engineering organization as we roll out agentic AI across our testing strategy — with a strong emphasis on human-in-the-loop solutions that keep engineers in control of the process.

You’ll work in a continuous feedback loop with the software organization: collecting input, designing and developing scalable automation frameworks across web, Android, and Windows, and shipping working reliable MVPs — deployed through modern GitLab CI/CD pipelines — that you refine based on real team usage and feedback. You’ll help set the standard for how our Quality Engineers use AI to design tests, increase coverage, and review code, personally building the prototypes and reference implementations the broader organization adopts and relies on. If you take pride in creating systems that raise the bar for quality, reliability, and speed, you’ll fit right in.

Responsibilities

• Design and own scalable, maintainable test automation frameworks that support our web, Android, and Windows products.
• Partner closely with software teams to build and evolve our end to end testing stack across the entire organization.
• Help define and champion our agentic AI approach to quality — contributing to the patterns, guardrails, and best practices that enable AI assisted test design, automated test generation, and code review.
• Work directly with teams to understand their needs, then deliver solutions using our current tools or by building new agentic AI capabilities when gaps appear.
• Create prototypes and reference implementations that make it simple for Quality Engineers to adopt new frameworks and workflows.
• Translate program and product requirements into automation design and a clear, actionable quality approach.
• Collaborate deeply with development and platform engineering to ensure automation, coverage, and quality are built in from day one.
• Contribute to quality standards and metrics — from automation expectations to AI usage guidelines — and demonstrate them through working examples.
• Provide technical support and guidance across multiple Agile teams and programs as we scale our testing ecosystem.
• Stay ahead of emerging tools and industry trends, and turn them into practical improvements that elevate our quality engineering capabilities.
• Communicate technical designs, system flows, and decisions clearly and effectively across teams.

Requirements

We know great engineers come from many paths — if you’re a strong automation-minded engineer with a security clearance and an AI forward mindset, we’d love to talk.

• Active Secret security clearance (Interim accepted under contract requirements).
• 5+ years of experience in QA or Test Engineering, including hands-on ownership of test system design — not just execution. Prior "Senior" or "Lead" title not required if you’ve been the de facto technical go-to for your team’s automation approach.
• 1–2+ years of practical, hands-on experience using agentic AI coding tools (such as Claude Code or similar), with genuine enthusiasm for applying AI to real engineering tasks — paired with the judgment to validate AI output, not rely on it blindly. We’re looking for real usage, not familiarity from a demo or a single trial.
• Significant hands-on contribution to building or substantially rearchitecting a test automation framework — whether as the sole owner or as a lead contributor on a team effort.
• Hands on experience across multiple layers of testing: unit, integration, API, end to end, plus linting and static analysis.
• Experience automating tests across more than one platform (web, mobile, and/or desktop).
• Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a closely related field (required by contract).
• Practical experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines (GitLab CI preferred, but equivalents welcome).
• Solid understanding of software design patterns and foundational architectural principles.
• Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction and drive adoption of frameworks, tools, or best practices across engineering teams.
• Familiarity with modern requirements and issue management tools (Jira, Jama, Rally, or similar).
• Clear, effective communication skills — written, verbal, and cross-team.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-moving, collaborative environment where teams build quickly and iterate often.

Qualities of Exceptional Candidates

• A consultative, problem solving mindset — someone who can sit with a team, uncover the true challenge, and design an elegant, effective solution.
• Experience with modern automation frameworks like Selenium, Playwright, Appium, or comparable tools for web and mobile testing.
• Any hands on development experience (frontend, backend, or mobile) that strengthens your ability to write robust, meaningful tests.
• A track record of introducing new tools or processes to engineering teams and driving successful adoption.
• Prior title or experience as an Architect, Staff Engineer, or technical lead — not required, but a strong plus.
• Relentless attention to detail and a commitment to producing work that is precise, reliable, and easy for others to build on.

About Sherpa 6:

At Sherpa 6 we love to solve problems and provide the best solutions for our customers. Our approach to a problem is to find a user-focused and design-driven solution that is simple yet functional and effective. We are a group of enthusiastic forward-thinkers who are excited to build amazing solutions with bleeding-edge technology. We hire people who are forward thinkers, passionate about what they do, love to collaborate and want to constantly learn. We enjoy what we do and we’re not afraid to put the extra effort in to accomplish the mission; call us Sherpas. As a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, we know what it means to serve. We have made it our mission to be the leaders in solutions that protect and give our Warfighters the edge they need when put into harm's way.

Background/Drug Screening:

Successful completion of a pre-employment background & drug screening will be required as a condition of hire.

ADA:

Sherpa 6 will make reasonable accommodations in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act 1990.

EEO/AA:

Sherpa 6 does not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, height, weight, or marital status in employment or the provision of services and is an equal access/opportunity/affirmative action employer.

We offer a competitive benefits package, covering the cost of medical for you and your family; we also offer dental, vision, health and wellness benefits and a generous retirement savings plan. We believe that our employees can manage their workload and their personal life, therefore we extend a generous PTO policy. This allows our employees to balance their lives as they see fit.

Salary Range:

The proposed salary range is reflective across all Sherpa 6 locations, years of experience, and skill levels. Salary negotiations will be based on a host of factors including but not limited to your geographic location, prior experience, relevant skills, education, and certifications.