Senior Test Director

Leidos; Virginia (IL); Hybrid; USD 116,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Leidos is seeking a senior testing leader to define and execute enterprise testing strategies for a NATO-secured cloud modernization project. You will drive automated testing across ECS, CPS, IaaS, DevOps, and SMC, acting as the technical authority for test engineering and release readiness.

You will lead cross-functional teams, collaborate with engineers and customer stakeholders, and ensure quality through Agile practices, defect management, and rigorous validation before delivery.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required with 10–15 years of experience; master's with 8–12 years acceptable.
• Active NATO Secret clearance (or higher) required.
• Experience leading enterprise test automation/QA teams for large-scale infrastructure and cloud modernization.
• Experience developing test strategies, master plans, and quality management processes.
• Experience coordinating system integration, performance, security, and customer-acceptance testing.
• Experience leading Agile teams using Jira (story refinement, backlog, sprints, releases).

Responsibilities

• Lead planning, coordination, and execution of automated enterprise testing for SDDC modernization.
• Develop and maintain the programme Test Strategy, Master Test Plan, and release validation.
• Lead functional, integration, interoperability, regression, performance, security, and acceptance testing.
• Establish testing standards, methodologies, and governance across the program.
• Provide technical direction and mentorship to multidisciplinary test teams.
• Collaborate with Chief Engineers, Platform/Network/DevOps to validate integrated capabilities.
• Manage testing backlog, acceptance criteria, and release planning in Agile environments.
• Monitor metrics, blockers, and dependencies to ensure predictable delivery.

Skills

Test automation leadership

Enterprise testing strategy

Agile testing leadership

Jira backlog management

Defect management & release readiness

Mentoring multi-disciplinary teams

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/IT/Engineering

Active NATO Secret clearance (or higher)

Tools

Jira

Xray

Zephyr

Azure DevOps Test Plans

Job description

Description

Join the Leidos Homeland Sector and contribute to a high-impact international program delivering secure, next-generation private cloud capabilities within a NATO-secured environment. This senior-level role offers the opportunity to provide technical leadership for the planning, coordination, and execution of enterprise testing activities supporting a Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC).

You will define and execute the overall test strategy to validate Enterprise Core Services (ECS), Client Provisioning Services (CPS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), DevOps, and Service Management Control (SMC) capabilities, ensuring solutions meet functional, performance, security, interoperability, and customer acceptance requirements. Serving as the technical authority for test engineering, you will drive integration testing, system validation, defect management, and release readiness while maintaining alignment with program objectives and NATO quality standards.

Working closely with Chief Engineers, Product Owners, Scrum Masters, developers, and customer stakeholders, you will lead multidisciplinary test teams and support the delivery of high-quality solutions through Agile engineering practices.

This position offers an exciting opportunity to work directly with international customers and technical partners, with approximately 25% travel to The Hague, Netherlands, and other NATO locations as needed to support solution integration, implementation, testing, and customer acceptance. It is an ideal opportunity for a senior engineering leader interested in advancing mission-critical cloud capabilities while gaining valuable international program experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead the planning, coordination, and execution of automated enterprise testing activities supporting VMware private cloud SDDC modernization initiatives.
• Develop and maintain the programme Test Strategy, Master Test Plan, and release validation approach supporting Enterprise Core Services (ECS), Client Provisioning Services (CPS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), DevOps, and Service Management Control (SMC).
• Lead functional, system integration, interoperability, regression, performance, security, and customer acceptance testing activities.
• Establish testing standards, methodologies, quality gates, and engineering processes across the programme.
• Lead multidisciplinary test teams, providing technical direction, mentoring, workload prioritization, and engineering oversight.
• Collaborate with Chief Engineers, Platform, Network, Firewall, Backup & Recovery, DevOps, and application engineering teams to ensure complete validation of integrated enterprise capabilities.
• Provide technical leadership for Agile testing activities by managing the testing backlog, refining user stories, defining acceptance criteria, and prioritizing testing activities in alignment with programme objectives.
• Develop and maintain the programme testing roadmap, ensuring test milestones, dependencies, environments, and release activities are accurately reflected within Jira.
• Identify, manage, and resolve cross-functional testing blockers and technical dependencies impacting programme delivery.
• Partner with Scrum Masters and Product Owners to support backlog refinement, sprint planning, sprint reviews, release planning, and programme increment planning activities.
• Monitor engineering quality through Jira dashboards, Agile metrics, defect trends, and test coverage to ensure predictable delivery and continuous improvement.
• Oversee defect management throughout the software development lifecycle, ensuring timely triage, prioritization, root cause analysis, and resolution.
• Coordinate development, configuration, and validation of representative test environments supporting system integration and customer acceptance.
• Ensure all testing activities comply with NATO security policies, programme quality standards, and engineering governance.
• Develop and maintain test documentation including test strategies, plans, procedures, test cases, traceability matrices, defect reports, and test completion reports.
• Support infrastructure modernization initiatives, technical planning, customer demonstrations, and proposal development activities.

Required Experience, Skills, and Education

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related discipline with 10–15 years of relevant experience, or Master's degree with 8–12 years of relevant experience.
• Active NATO Secret clearance (or higher).
• Demonstrated experience leading enterprise test automation engineering or quality assurance teams supporting large-scale infrastructure, cloud, or software modernization programmes.
• Experience developing enterprise Test Strategies, Master Test Plans, and quality management processes for complex systems.
• Demonstrated experience managing system integration testing, interoperability testing, performance testing, security testing, and customer acceptance testing.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary testing teams within secure or regulated environments.
• Demonstrated experience leading Agile engineering teams using Jira, including user story refinement, backlog management, sprint planning, roadmap management, dependency tracking, defect management, blocker resolution, and release planning.
• Strong understanding of software development lifecycle (SDLC), systems engineering, Agile, SAFe, and DevSecOps delivery methodologies.
• Experience with enterprise test management and defect management tools such as Jira, Xray, Zephyr, Azure DevOps Test Plans, or equivalent platforms.
• Strong understanding of enterprise infrastructure, cloud platforms, virtualization, networking, cybersecurity, and system integration principles.
• Experience coordinating customer acceptance testing and supporting formal delivery milestones.
• Strong analytical, communication, stakeholder engagement, mentoring, and leadership skills.
• Experience supporting defence, government, or highly regulated development environments.

Preferred Experience, Skills, and Education

• ISTQB Advanced Test Manager, ISTQB Test Management, or equivalent certification.
• PMP, PRINCE2 Practitioner, SAFe Agilist, or Certified Scrum Professional certification.
• Experience supporting NATO environments and compliance frameworks.
• Experience with automated testing frameworks, API testing, performance testing, and security testing tools.
• Experience developing Requirements Traceability Matrices (RTMs) and verification cross-reference matrices.
• Familiarity with continuous testing practices within CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience supporting large-scale infrastructure modernization and enterprise systems integration programs.

If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.

Pay Range

Pay Range $116,350.00 - $210,325.00

Pay Range $116,350.00 - $210,325.00 includes general guideline only and not guarantee of compensation. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.

About Leidos

Leidos is an industry and technology leader serving government and commercial customers with smarter, more efficient digital and mission innovations. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with 47,000 global employees, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $16.7 billion for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2025. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.

Pay and Benefits

• competitive compensation
• Health and Wellness programs
• Income Protection
• Paid Leave and Retirement

Pay and benefits are fundamental to any career decision. That's why we craft compensation packages that reflect the importance of the work we do for our customers. Employment benefits include competitive compensation, Health and Wellness programs, Income Protection, Paid Leave and Retirement. More details are available at www.leidos.com/careers/pay-benefits.

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, ethnicity, age, national origin, citizenship, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, family structure, marital status, ancestry, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law. Leidos will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with relevant laws.

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