Test Engineer

About the role - Overview

Astuco is recruiting Test Engineers to prove out a Federated Mission Networking (FMN) Spiral 6 data-centric interoperability pilot on a major UK Defence programme. Two positions are available.

This is the assurance seat. You'll design the tests, run them, and produce the evidence that takes the solution through acceptance - reaching across infrastructure, security, identity and information-exchange components, from first test design through to Authority-witnessed demonstration, inside secure and regulated Defence environments.

Responsibilities

• Write, maintain and run the test scripts that underpin verification, validation and acceptance.
• Help shape and then deliver the Validation and Verification (V&V) plan.
• Build out scenarios covering functional and non-functional behaviour, integration, interoperability and regression.
• Test across the stack - infrastructure, security, identity, policy enforcement and interoperability.
• Prove interoperability between the platform, partner systems and FMN-aligned services.
• Confirm that coalition information sharing, policy-based controls, auditability and traceability all behave as designed.
• Exercise Federated Identity and Access Management (FIAM), Public Key Infrastructure and trust services.
• Keep the documentation set current: plans, scripts, procedures, evidence packs and reports.
• Raise and track defects through investigation, root cause and closure.
• Help build and validate the test and demonstration environments themselves.
• Work shoulder to shoulder with architects, engineers and security specialists to get the solution integrated and proven.
• Hold the evidence trail needed for assurance, compliance, acceptance and audit.
• Support FMN Spiral 6 compliance checks and Authority-witnessed demonstrations.
• Write up outcomes, lessons identified and recommendations coming out of validation.
• Improve the test process, tooling and methodology as you go.
• Deliver to the programme's timelines, quality bar, configuration management discipline and security rules.

Candidate Requirements - Essential

• Active SC clearance, and willingness to undergo DV.
• A solid test engineering background - planning, script writing, execution and reporting.
• Producing the full documentation set: plans, scripts, procedures, defect and test reports, evidence packs.
• Functional, non-functional, integration and regression testing.
• Backing validation and acceptance inside complex enterprise or infrastructure estates.
• Integration testing and proving services end to end.
• Testing infrastructure, networking, security or identity management solutions.
• Identity and Access Management concepts - authentication, authorisation and role-based access control.
• Public Key Infrastructure, digital certificates and certificate-based trust.
• Testing where security or regulatory constraints apply.
• Sharp analytical and troubleshooting skills, clear communication, and the flexibility to re-prioritise against a moving schedule.
• Delivery inside Agile or structured environments; competent across MS Office.

Candidate Requirements - Desirable

• Interoperability testing in Defence, NATO or coalition settings.
• Knowledge of Federated Mission Networking standards, FMN Spiral 6 above all.
• Validating data-centric interoperability or information-sharing capabilities.
• Federated identity solutions in practice.
• Data-centric security concepts, policy enforcement tooling and metadata-driven handling controls.
• PKI implementations and certificate-based authentication services.
• Virtualised environments - VMware, VDI, multi-tenancy.
• Exposure to military or Defence Digital information systems.
• Test management and collaboration platforms (JIRA, Confluence).
• Formal verification, validation, demonstration and acceptance activity.
• Certification such as ISTQB Foundation or Practitioner, Security+, or VMware VCP.
• Familiarity with Agile (SAFe) and Waterfall delivery.