Software QA Specialist

Want to create software that makes a difference? At Applied Research Associates (ARA), our goal is to improve our nation's safety, security, and way of life. ARA has been doing cutting-edge modeling and simulation research for decades. Everyone who works here is important, from new faces to those who have worked here since the beginning. Your contribution matters and you'll have the opportunity to make a real-world impact by joining our team!

ARA has an immediate opening for a motivated software QA specialist to support our customer's growth in the areas of engineering, research, and software development. This position offers an opportunity to participate in quality assurance and testing efforts on cutting-edge physics-based modeling and simulation software. Testing these complex applications requires skillfully employing software verification best practices combined with an understanding of the complex physical effects they model and different users' needs. In this position you will be part of the development team, working with developers and engineers to deliver reliable software which produces high-fidelity simulation results with interactive 3D visualization. As part of their growing Quality Assurance team, you will have the opportunity to work on multiple projects, help evolve our standard methodologies, and expand QA into new areas.

As a valued contributor to our software team, your responsibilities will include:

• Work with software engineers to understand the overall technical architecture and how each feature is implemented
• Interpret and report testing results, and be a vocal proponent for quality in every phase of the development process
• Extend and enhance our test framework
• Create test plans and test cases to support new features
• Review user interfaces for conformity and functionality
• Find, isolate, document, regress, and track bugs through resolution
• Team player with excellent communication skills

Due to the work you'll perform and interactions with intelligence community and DoD programs you will need to be eligible to apply for and hold a US security clearance (selected applicants will undergo a security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements at the time of employment). However, if you have held an Active Secret or Top Secret clearance within the last two years we want to talk to you!

Software QA Specialist Required Experience & Skills:

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or a related degree along with 2-4 years of relevant experience. Equivalent professional experience (at least 8 years) will be considered for talented candidates without a degree
• Knowledgeable in testing methodologies in an integrated agile project team
• Ability to code automated tests using Robot, J-Unit, Silk4J or Pytest
• Programming Languages: C++, Java, or Python
• Experience with AWS or other cloud technologies
• This is an on-site position but does allow the option for a hybrid work schedule

Preferred Experience & Skills as a Software QA Specialist:

Above all, we value passion, a desire to learn, and teamwork. We are confident that if you possess the right attitude, work ethic, and skill set you could succeed in the role. In addition to the experience and skills above, if you have any of the following you will be able to accelerate your effectiveness and impact.

• CI/CD tools (Gitlab, Jenkins, or TeamCity)
• Container management technologies (Kubernetes, OpenShift, or Docker)
• Application security (Fortify or SonarQube)
• Automated Testing

Who is ARA?

Do you want to work for a purpose? Applied Research Associates, Inc. (aka ARA) is an employee-owned international research and engineering company. We have been providing technically superior solutions to complex and challenging problems in the physical sciences since 1979. ARA has over 1,700 employee-owners and continues to grow rapidly. Together, our offices throughout the U.S. and Canada provide a broad range of technical expertise in defense, civil, and health technologies, computer software, and simulation, systems analysis, environmental technologies, and testing and measurement.

ARA also prides itself, on having a challenging culture where innovation & experimentation are the norms. The motto, "Engineering and Science for Fun and Profit" sums up the ARA experience. Employee ownership ensures you have a voice in what happens in the company. We are also very proud of our Women's Initiative Network (WIN), whose purpose is to motivate, support, and encourage professional career development for women to maximize career and professional accomplishments.

To find out more about what the Software Enterprise Division has to offer, visit our website at: https://www.ara.com/benefits/

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor's legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)