Senior/Staff Software Engineer, Testing (U.S. Air Force)

Skylight; United States; Remote; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Disability insurance

Life and AD&D insurance

Professional development budget

Job summary

Skylight, a digital consultancy, seeks a Senior/Staff Software Engineer, Testing for a U.S. Air Force program. Remote across the United States, with travel to bases. You will own test strategy, move from manual to automated regression, and lead four test engineers, ensuring secure, scalable software delivery for government users.

Role emphasizes automation, CI/CD, and collaboration with government partners to embed security and testing best practices into the pipeline.

Qualifications

• Ability to write clean, working, and reusable code.
• Familiar with how to build secure, compliant software and defend against common vulnerabilities.
• Understand the different pieces of software systems and how to fit them together, while keeping performance, reliability, and availability in mind.
• Experience designing test strategy and building automated regression suites for web applications.
• Experience leading testers or a test effort.
• Experience working in a government or regulated environment with formal security authorization (ATO).
• Experience working on cross-functional teams (product, design, engineering, ops) in iterative delivery.

Responsibilities

• Design the test strategy for a portfolio of web applications, and decide pragmatically what to automate first.
• Build automated regression suites and integrate them into the CI/CD pipeline.
• Move the team from manual to automated regression testing, shrinking the time from code freeze to production.
• Lead a shared pool of four test engineers starting in February, and help them grow.
• Communicate release confidence clearly to non-technical stakeholders.
• Pair with and coach government testers and engineers so automated testing sticks after we leave.

Skills

Test automation

Programming

CI/CD

Security awareness

Team leadership

Communication

Tools

Selenium

Cucumber

GitLab CI

Job description

Senior/Staff Software Engineer, Testing (U.S. Air Force)

United States

About Skylight

Skylight is a digital consultancy using design and technology to help government agencies deliver better public services.

We’re at the forefront of a civic movement to reinvent how all levels of government serve families, patients, and many others in today’s digital world.

If you want to play a part in driving this critical movement forward, we’d love for you to join our growing team of public interest technologists.

The work we do matters.

About the job

At Skylight, software engineers design, implement, and maintain software systems to improve government services for users. This software is built to meet the needs of regular users of government services as well as Skylight’s partners in government.

Skylight is partnering with a U.S. Air Force program office that runs a portfolio of civil engineering systems. These systems serve users across civil engineering, security forces, and services, including readiness managers, range personnel, and fire and emergency services. Releases are slow today. Regression testing is manual, security review happens after development finishes, and code freeze to production can take a month or more. We’ll move the program to an outcome-driven model with test automation and security built into the pipeline, starting with migrating the first application onto a DoD software factory. Leadership wants this office to become the model other Air Force offices adopt.

In this role, you’ll own test strategy across the portfolio and lead the move from manual to automated regression, so the team can ship with confidence and say clearly when a release is ready.

What to know going in

Your first 30 days are about working with the Skylight team and government personnel, learning how the program office gets changes to users today, and understanding where testing and security slow things down. This is new work that replaces a traditional support model, so part of the job is coaching your government partners to keep these practices running after we leave. Expect to work alongside government engineers and other contractors, with tools and processes changing as the work gets underway.

This role is contingent on Skylight being awarded the underlying contract. If we’re not awarded the contract, we’ll let you know promptly and discuss whether there are other opportunities that fit.

What you’ll do

• Design the test strategy for a portfolio of web applications, and decide pragmatically what to automate first
• Build automated regression suites and integrate them into the CI/CD pipeline
• Move the team from manual to automated regression testing, shrinking the time from code freeze to production
• Lead a shared pool of four test engineers starting in February, and help them grow
• Communicate release confidence clearly to non-technical stakeholders
• Pair with and coach government testers and engineers so automated testing sticks after we leave

What we’re looking for

• Ability to write clean, working, and reusable code
• Familiar with how to build secure, compliant software and defend against common vulnerabilities
• Understand the different pieces of software systems and how to fit them together, while keeping performance, reliability, and availability in mind
• Understand the importance of always putting users at the center of your work, including thinking through the impact and implications of any code that you write
• Experience designing test strategy and building automated regression suites for web applications
• Experience leading testers or a test effort
• Experience working in a government or regulated environment with formal security authorization (ATO)
• Experience working on cross-functional teams (product, design, engineering, ops) in iterative delivery
• A track record of staying aligned and accountable on remote teams
• A mindset and work approach that aligns with our core values

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with Selenium or behavior-driven test tools like Cucumber, and test case management in Zephyr Scale
• Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD, ideally GitLab CI
• Experience testing COTS-based systems such as Esri or IBM TRIRIGA
• Experience using AI-assisted tools for test generation, paired with disciplined review
• Experience delivering technology in government, regulated industries, or other public-benefit settings

Other requirements

• Some of our available roles are on federal contracts that require a degree or additional years of experience as a substitute.
• All work must be conducted within the U.S., excluding U.S. territories.
• This contract requires U.S. citizenship to be eligible for employment.
• You must be able to obtain a Common Access Card (CAC) and any special access required for this contract.
• You must complete a company background check successfully.

Position type

This is a full-time, exempt position.

Location

This is a fully remote position.

Travel

This role includes occasional travel to Montgomery, AL, and other U.S. Air Force bases.

We’re targeting a start date of November 30, 2026, pending contract award.

We want to give you the most competitive salary possible. After all, you deserve it! To that end, we use the results of our interview process to determine what salary is most appropriate given your current level of seniority. For a Software Engineer at Skylight, the current salary ranges are as follows:

• Associate Software Engineer: $90,000–$125,000
• Software Engineer I: $120,000–$140,000
• Software Engineer II: $135,000–$160,000
• Senior Software Engineer: $150,000–$185,000
• Staff Software Engineer: $170,000–$203,000
• Principal Software Engineer: $180,000–$230,000

Your well-being is important to us, so we focus on supporting you in a variety of ways:

• Medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• Life and AD&D insurance
• Dependent care FSA, healthcare FSA, health savings account
• Dollar-for-dollar 401(k) match up to 10% of your salary with no vesting period
• Flexible paid-time-off policy (generally around 25 days per year), plus 11 paid federal holidays
• Up to 12 weeks paid-time-off for all eligible new birth, adoption, or foster parents
• Performance rewards, including annual salary increase, annual performance bonus, spot bonuses, and stock options
• Annual $2,000 allowance for professional development
• Annual $750 allowance for tech-related purchases
• Annual swag budget of $100 to display your Skylight pride with some merchandise (hoodies, hats, and more)
• Flexible, remote-friendly work environment
• An environment that empowers you to unleash your superpowers for public good

Interview tips

Our process includes a preliminary screen, a skills interview, a behavioral interview, and a reverse interview where you meet your potential team — usually four conversations across two to three weeks. Here are some tips to help you prepare for a successful interview:

• Visit our join page to learn more about how our interview process works.
• Check out our Career Pathways framework to learn more about the different roles within Skylight and the skills needed to do them.

We participate in E-Verify and upon hire, will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you’re authorized to work in the U.S.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, veteran status, or any other category protected by applicable law.

This role requires U.S. citizenship due to federal contract and security requirements. If you’re authorized to work in the U.S. but aren't a U.S. citizen, we encourage you to explore our other open positions that may not have this requirement.

Are you currently subject to any federal or other restrictions (e.g., post-employment, regulatory, IP, non-compete) that could limit your ability to engage in this role? If yes, briefly describe the duration and scope. Otherwise, you may skip.

Would you like to be considered for other relevant openings at Skylight now or in the future? *

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in Skylight’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.