Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) Secret Clearance required

Security Clearance: Active Secret clearance required (Interim ok)

Travel Requirement: Up to 10%

Citizenship: US Citizenship required

Sherpa 6 builds mission-critical software systems for the Department of Defense and select commercial customers the kind of software where quality isnt optional. Were looking for an experienced SDET to join a collaborative engineering team and help us scale modernize and mature our automated testing capabilities across a portfolio of high-impact applications.

This is a role for someone who thinks like a developer tests like an adversary and cares deeply about quality at every layer of the stack.

Responsibilities:

• Analyze software design documents user stories and acceptance criteria to develop comprehensive test strategies for new and existing features
• Design build and maintain scalable automated test frameworks converting manual test cases into reliable maintainable automation
• Integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines to enable continuous regression testing and fast feedback loops
• Partner closely with software developers architects and product stakeholders to identify testability gaps and shift quality left in the SDLC
• Investigate triage and resolve issues within the test automation framework improving reliability coverage and execution speed over time
• Contribute to a culture of quality across the engineering organization advocating for best practices in test design code review and defect management
• Participate in Agile ceremonies and cross-team collaboration to ensure testing is never a bottleneck

• 3 years of Software Development or Test Automation experience.
• Bachelors degree in Computer Science Software Engineering or a related technical field
• Hands-on experience with Playwright and TypeScript or strong Selenium/Java experience.
• Experience working within CI/CD pipelines (GitLab CI Jenkins or equivalent).
• Familiarity with containerized environments using Docker.
• Experience with Agile delivery frameworks and ticketing tools such as Jira or Rally.
• Strong analytical problem-solving and communication skills.
• Experience working with agentic AI tools in a development or QA context particularly for test generation code review or pipeline automation.
• Apply Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) practices to oversee AI-generated test cases ensuring human review validation and approval before and after automated execution

What Sets Exceptional Candidates Apart:

• Familiarity with LLM integration patterns such as RAG MCP (Model Context Protocol) or multi-agent orchestration workflows.
• Front-end back-end or mobile development experience especially with modern SPA frameworks (React Angular Vue).
• Experience with API testing frameworks alongside UI automation.
• Prior exposure to Selenium/Appium migration projects understanding what breaks when you move frameworks and how to manage it safely.
• Extreme uncompromising attention to detail you notice what others miss and you care deeply about why.
• Active Secret security clearance

About Sherpa 6

At Sherpa 6 we love to solve problems and provide the best solutions for our customers. Our approach to a problem is to find a user-focused and design-driven solution that is simple yet functional and effective. We are a group of enthusiastic forward-thinkers who are excited to build amazing solutions with bleeding-edge technology. We hire people who are forward thinkers passionate about what they do love to collaborate and want to constantly learn. We enjoy what we do and were not afraid to put the extra effort in to accomplish the mission; call us Sherpas. As a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business we know what it means to serve. We have made it our mission to be the leaders in solutions that protect and give our Warfighters the edge they need when put into harms way.

Background/Drug Screening

Successful completion of a pre-employment background & drug screening will be required as a condition of hire.

ADA

Sherpa 6 will make reasonable accommodations in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act 1990.

EEO/AA

Sherpa 6 does not discriminate based on race color national origin sex religion age disability sexual orientation gender identity veteran status height weight or marital status in employment or the provision of services and is an equal access/opportunity/affirmative action employer.

Benefits

We offer a competitive benefits package covering the cost of medical for you and your family; we also offer dental vision health and wellness benefits and a generous retirement savings plan. We believe that our employees can manage their workload and their personal life therefore we extend a generous PTO policy. This allows our employees to balance their lives as they see fit.

Salary Range

The proposed salary range is reflective across all Sherpa 6 locations years of experience and skill levels. Salary negotiations will be based on a host of factors including but not limited to your geographic location prior experience relevant skills education and certifications.