Systems Engineer SME (TS/SCI with Poly Required)

GCI, Inc.

• $100K — $130K *
Mclean, VA 22101In-Person
Information Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Today
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Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5-7 years of experience as a Systems Engineer or related field.
  • Strong knowledge of AWS services including EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, API Gateway.
  • Experience with test automation frameworks like Python + pytest or Java + JUnit.
  • Proficient in maintaining automated tests in CI/CD pipelines using tools like GitHub Actions or Jenkins.
  • Familiarity with Agile/Scrum methodologies and version control using Git.
  • Strong debugging skills and experience collaborating with development teams.
  • Active/current TS/SCI with Polygraph clearance and U.S. citizenship.

Responsibilities

  • Test applications deployed on AWS, focusing on major services like EC2 and S3.
  • Design test plans and cases while managing the defect lifecycle and regression testing.
  • Implement test automation strategies in collaboration with CI/CD pipelines.
  • Isolate defects and work with development teams to troubleshoot issues effectively.
  • Execute performance testing to ensure reliability and scalability of applications.
  • Manage test data and create synthetic environments for testing purposes.
  • Communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences regarding testing outcomes.

Benefits

  • Work in a cutting-edge cloud environment with significant AWS exposure.
  • Opportunities for continued education and obtaining relevant certifications.
  • Collaboration with cross-functional teams in a dynamic Agile setting.
  • Involvement in complex projects within highly regulated security environments.
Full Job Description
As a Systems Engineer, a typical day will include the following duties:

WORK REQUIREMENTS:

  • Demonstrated experience testing applications deployed on AWS (at least 1-2 major services such as EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, API Gateway, ECS/EKS, or CloudFront).
  • Demonstrated experience with strong knowledge of QA fundamentals: test planning, test case design, defect lifecycle, regression testing, risk-based testing.
  • Demonstrated experience with test automation experience using one or more frameworks/languages (e.g., Python + pytest, Java + JUnit/TestNG, JavaScript/TypeScript + Playwright/Cypress/Selenium).
  • Demonstrated experience writing and maintaining automated tests integrated into CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions, Jenkins, GitLab CI, or AWS CodePipeline/CodeBuild).
  • Demonstrated experience with version control (Git) and standard SDLC practices (Agile/Scrum).
  • Demonstrated experience with strong defect isolation and debugging skills; can collaborate with developers/DevOps to reproduce issues and validate fixes.


DESIRED SKILLS:

  • Demonstrated experience testing distributed systems/microservices, including asynchronous/event-driven flows (e.g., SQS/SNS/EventBridge/Kinesis).
  • Demonstrated experience with Infrastructure-as-Code exposure (Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, AWS or CDK) and ability to validate deployments or config changes.
  • Demonstrated experience with container platforms and orchestration (Docker, ECS, or EKS/Kubernetes) and testing containerized workloads.
  • Demonstrated experience testing APIs (REST/JSON) using tools such as Postman, curl, or similar; ability to validate status codes, payloads, headers, auth, and error handling.
  • Demonstrated experience with logging or monitoring for troubleshooting test failures (e.g., CloudWatch logs/metrics; or Splunk/ELK).
  • Demonstrated performance and reliability testing experience (load/stress/soak) using tools such as k6, JMeter, Gatling, Locust; familiarity with scaling behaviors in AWS.
  • Demonstrated experience with test data management in cloud environments (synthetic data, masking, seeding, or ephemeral environments).
  • Demonstrated AWS certification (Cloud Practitioner, Developer Associate, SysOps Associate, or DevOps Engineer).
  • Demonstrated experience in complex, high security, regulated environments.
  • Demonstrated experience with excellent written and verbal communication skills with both technical and non-technical audiences.


A candidate must be a US Citizen and requires an active/current TS/SCI with Polygraph clearance.

* Ladders Estimates

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