Senior Test Engineer

At Ardent, we hire people who want more than a job — they want to serve a mission that matters. Our teams support the federal government’s most critical national security and defense priorities, helping protect the nation, strengthen resilience, and advance the technologies and capabilities that keep America secure. For veterans, cleared professionals, and purpose-driven innovators, Ardent is a place to continue serving alongside a team that understands the importance of the mission and the people behind it.

We also know top talent has choices, which is why we back our mission with benefits and flexibility that stand out: competitive pay, comprehensive health coverage, flexible PTO, federal holidays off, tuition reimbursement, professional development support, wellness stipends, and a culture that values and rewards hard work, dedication, and adaptability. If you want to build something meaningful, while enjoying the kind of flexibility and support that you need to do your best work — Ardent is where your next mission begins.

Ardent is seeking a Senior Test Engineer to join our team.  

This is a hybrid role reporting to Washington DC 1 - 2 days a week.

Position Description:

Ardent is seeking an experienced Senior Test Engineer to support the design, development, and execution of advanced testing strategies within complex enterprise environments.

In addition to core testing responsibilities, this role evaluates and recommends automation testing frameworks and strategies, and designs and develops automated testing tools to support scalable, repeatable, and standards-compliant testing practices. The Senior Test Engineer ensures replicability of test results and adherence to established quality standards across environments. This role also supports estimation of software testing costs and schedules, and is responsible for installing, configuring, and maintaining automation testing frameworks across multiple environments, including development, pre-production, and production.

The ideal candidate will have deep experience in test automation, framework development, and enterprise-level quality assurance practices in support of mission-critical systems.

Responsibilities and Duties:

• Evaluate and recommend automation testing frameworks and testing strategies.
• Design, develop, and implement automated testing tools and solutions.
• Ensure test processes and results are replicable and compliant with established standards.
• Estimate software testing effort, cost, and schedule for project planning purposes.
• Install, configure, and maintain automation testing frameworks across multiple environments (development, pre-production, production).
• Develop and execute automated test scripts to validate system functionality and performance.
• Collaborate with development, engineering, and DevOps teams to integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines.
• Identify, document, and track software defects and support resolution efforts.
• Ensure test coverage aligns with system requirements and quality objectives.
• Support continuous improvement of testing processes, tools, and methodologies.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree or Master's degree.
• Bachelor's degree plus ten (10) years of specialized experience or Master's degree plus eight (8) years of specialized experience.
• Experience in software testing with a focus on automation frameworks and tools.
• Strong understanding of test automation design, development, and implementation.
• Experience estimating testing effort, cost, and scheduling for software projects.
• Hands-on experience installing, configuring, and maintaining automated testing frameworks across multiple environments.
• Experience with Dev, Pre-Prod, and Production testing environments.
• Strong knowledge of software testing methodologies and quality assurance best practices.
• Experience working in Agile or iterative development environments.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills.

Due to the nature of the work we support, all candidates in consideration for this role must be willing to undergo the government issued background investigation process.

Ardent is an equal opportunity employer. We will not discriminate in employment, recruitment, advertisements for employment, compensation, termination, upgrading, promotions, and other conditions of employment against any employee or job applicant on the bases of race, color, gender, national origin, age, religion, creed, disability, veteran's status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or any other basis protected by state, local, or federal law.