Test & Validation Engineer

The Leidos Health & Civil Sector is seeking a Test & Validation Engineer Lead to support the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Cancer Institute (NCI) Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology (CBIIT) Business Information Technology Solutions Development and Integration Services (BITSDIS) 2 program.

** This posting is for future business not yet awarded **

The Test and Validation Lead will establish and manage the programs quality engineering strategy to ensure systems meet functional performance security interoperability accessibility and regulatory requirements while supporting NCIs mission of advancing cancer research.

Working closely with the Program Manager Technical Lead Software Engineering Lead Government stakeholders and technical Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) the Test and Validation Lead will develop comprehensive validation strategies that integrate quality throughout the system development lifecycle. The successful candidate will lead multidisciplinary testing teams and promote modern quality engineering practices that support Agile delivery DevSecOps and continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD).

Key Responsibilities

• Lead all verification validation and quality engineering activities across enterprise applications cloud platforms AI/ML solutions and biomedical informatics systems.
• Develop and maintain the programs Test and Evaluation Master Plan (TEMP) Validation Strategy Quality Management Plan and automated testing framework.
• Define test strategies acceptance criteria and validation methodologies for functional integration system regression performance security usability interoperability and user acceptance testing.
• Collaborate with Government stakeholders business analysts software engineers AI/ML engineers and SMEs to ensure requirements are fully testable and traceable from design through deployment.
• Oversee automated testing using CI/CD pipelines and DevSecOps practices to improve software quality and release efficiency.
• Lead validation of AI and machine learning solutions including model verification performance evaluation explainability bias assessment reproducibility drift monitoring and ongoing model quality.
• Ensure software and AI systems comply with NIH HHS NIST Section 508 privacy cybersecurity and applicable federal quality standards.
• Direct defect management root cause analysis corrective actions and continuous quality improvement initiatives.
• Develop quality metrics dashboards and executive reports to communicate testing progress release readiness and overall system quality to Government leadership.
• Mentor quality engineers and foster a culture of continuous improvement automation and engineering excellence.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science Information Systems Engineering or related field. Masters degree preferred.
• Eight (8) or more years of progressively responsible experience relevant to the position.
• Demonstrated experience supporting NIH HHS CMS or other Federal civilian agencies.
• Experience supporting large Federal IT modernization or systems integration programs.
• Experience implementing automated testing frameworks and integrating quality engineering into Agile and DevSecOps environments.
• Experience working in Agile development environments and with DevSecOps practices.
• Strong understanding of software quality assurance methodologies requirements traceability risk-based testing and defect lifecycle management.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to obtain and maintain required Federal suitability or security requirements.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust / ADPII Clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Microsoft Azure Azure DevOps Kubernetes REST APIs Git CI/CD and cloud-native architectures.
• Knowledge of Section 508 NIST guidance FISMA and Zero Trust principles.
• Relevant professional certifications appropriate to the role (e.g. PMP Scrum AWS/Azure Security ISTQB).

Desired Characteristics

• Strong customer focus and mission orientation.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams in a collaborative environment.
• Commitment to quality innovation and continuous process improvement.
• Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and executive audiences.

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The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline onlyand not a guarantee of compensation or salary. 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.