Software Quality Assurance Engineer

Catalist; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 85,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, Vision

401(k) Safe Harbor Plan

Transit benefits

Remote work options

Professional development stipend

Vacation and holidays

Job summary

Catalist in Washington, DC is seeking a Software Quality Assurance Engineer to drive testing strategies, build automated frameworks, and ensure reliability across web and JVM-based applications.

You will collaborate with product, data, and engineering teams, write test plans, maintain regression suites, perform cross-browser testing, and log defects in Jira while flexible hours and occasional evenings/weekends are needed.

Qualifications

• 5+ years experience with test automation and QA for JVM or web products.
• Experience with web application testing and API validation.
• Proficient in SQL to verify data and test scenarios.
• Hands-on test automation in Java and REST APIs.
• Familiar with Playwright, Cypress, Selenium, or WebdriverIO.
• Knowledge of Postman/REST Assured for API testing.
• Strong debugging and bug-tracking using Jira.
• Willingness to work evenings or weekends as needed.
• Background check required.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end testing across sprint cycles (functional, integration, regression, performance).
• Collaborate with Client Services, Data, and Tech teams to shape verifiable requirements.
• Create test plans and test cases from product requirements and specs.
• Maintain automated regression suites for Catalist software products.
• Develop and maintain test documentation.
• Provide quality feedback to drive production releases.
• Identify, log, prioritize, and track bugs in Jira with dev teams.

Skills

Test automation

Java/JVM

Web API testing

Python scripting

Playwright

Cypress

Selenium

WebdriverIO

SQL querying

Bug tracking (Jira)

Test plan development

Automation framework development

Tools

Playwright

Cypress

Selenium

WebdriverIO

Postman

REST Assured

Job description

For over 20 years, Catalist has been a leader in civic data and data science innovation. Our mission is to provide progressive organizations with the data, software, and services needed to better identify, understand, and communicate with the people they need to engage and mobilize. Our clients include the largest, most influential organizations in the U.S. active in civic engagement, advocacy, and political campaigns.

Catalist is home to a dedicated, creative team of technologists, data scientists, and campaign experts committed to using our talents and technology to nurture a vibrant and growing progressive community.

We are seeking a skilled and detail-oriented Software Quality Assurance Engineer to ensure the quality, reliability, and performance of our applications. In this role, you’ll work closely with developers, product managers, and users to define testing strategies, design automated testing frameworks, and ensure high reliability across our software products.

This position reports to the Director of Tools Support & Integrations and works closely with the Client Services, Data, and Tech teams.

This position is included in our CWA bargaining unit.

Core Duties & Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end testing efforts across sprint cycles, including functional, integration, regression, and performance testing
• Work closely with Client Services, Data, and Technology teams staff to understand and shape functional software requirements towards verifiability
• Create comprehensive test plans and test cases from product requirements and technical specs
• Create and maintain automated regression test suites for functional testing of Catalist software products
• Develop and maintain test documentation
• Provide feedback on software product quality that drives production release
• Identify, log, prioritize, and track bugs using modern project tools (e.g., Jira), collaborating directly with dev teams toward quick resolutions
• Must be able to adjust working schedule (occasional evenings and weekends) as workload demands
• Must be able to work independently and have a passion for finding bugs

Requirements

• 5+ years experience with test automation and quality assurance with JVM and/or web-based software products
• Experience with web application testing and web-based API testing
• Experience with at least one RDBMS - PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, MS SQL Server, etc.
• Hands-on experience developing test automation scripts for web-based applications, Java applications, and REST APIs
• Conversant skill in Python scripting and coding
• Strong experience with automation frameworks like Playwright, Cypress, Selenium, or WebdriverIO, as well as API testing tools (Postman, REST Assured)
• Ability to write automation test code for functional testing of JVM applications
• Conversant understanding of Java and JVM application architecture, including build and deployment processes
• Experience with testing on multiple browsers and platforms (Chrome, Safari, Firefox)
• Familiar with performing validation, regression, and "smoke tests" lower down the application stack
• Sufficient familiarity with SQL to be able to query databases directly to confirm/disprove application functionality and to provision appropriate test scenarios
• Demonstrated ability for organizing and creating test cases and test plans to show coverage and track progress and project health
• Background check required

Preferred Skills & Abilities

• Knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, GCP) and containerized setups (Docker)
• Experience with columnar or NoSQL databases (Vertica, Greenplum, RedShift, HBase, Cassandra, etc.)
• Experience with cloud-based performance testing tools
• Conversant understanding of modern web application architecture and components
• Experience with React
• Experience with continuous integration tools like Jenkins or Bamboo
• Experience with deployment and enterprise use of Redhat / CentOS Linux platforms

$85,000 - $95,000 a year

Benefits

Medical, Dental, Vision, Prescription Drug

Catalist offers Medical, Dental, Vision, and Prescription Drug coverage for eligible staff and their eligible dependents. Catalist’s Medical plan is a comprehensive PPO program including Prescription Drug coverage with 85% of the premium paid by Catalist. We also offer an HDHP plan with HSA eligibility. Dental and Vision coverage is provided at no cost to employees.

Group Term Life Insurance and Long-Term & Short-Term Disability Coverage

Group Term Life Insurance and Long-Term and Short-Term Disability coverage is available for eligible staff. These benefits are provided at no cost to Catalist employees.

401(k) Safe Harbor Plan

A 401(k) Safe Harbor Plan is available to eligible staff with a 3% contribution from Catalist from the date of hire. Employees may contribute pre-tax or post-tax from their salary up to the legal limits set forth by the IRS.

Medical and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)

Catalist offers an FSA Program that gives eligible staff the ability to pay out-of-pocket medical/dental/vision/child care expenses from pre-tax earnings.

Transit Benefits

Catalist also makes available a Transit benefit FSA program to eligible employees using pre-tax contributions with a company match.

Professional Development and Remote Work Expenses

Eligible employees may be reimbursed up to $750 each year for professional development / education and $500 for remote work expenses.

Student Loan PayDown or SaveUp

Catalist offers a Student Loan PayDown and College SaveUp benefit for eligible staff.

Vacation, Personal Leave, Sick Leave Benefits

Catalist offers generous vacation benefits to all eligible staff. Eligible employees also receive:

- 15 Paid Holidays (16 in Presidential Inauguration years)

- Personal Days

- Sick Leave

- Parental Leave

Hybrid Office/Remote Work

Certain positions at Catalist are eligible for Office/Remote Hybrid or full Remote status.