Senior Load Performance Test Engineer

Job Description

Program Overview

TechSur Solutions is supporting a federal program delivering a modern, cloud-native application for a Department of Defense end-user community. The application replaces legacy paper-based workflows with a digitized, mobile-first platform deployed on Google Cloud Platform (GKE) within an IL4 authorization boundary. The technology stack includes Angular, Spring Boot (Java), PostgreSQL (Cloud SQL), and a GitLab-managed CI/CD pipeline.

Position Summary

We are seeking a Senior Load & Performance Test Engineer to join our test automation team supporting a high-visibility DoD modernization program. This role carries primary technical ownership of all load and performance testing activities — including Green Doc / RSO approval stewardship — using Grafana k6 OSS. The candidate will also contribute to automated functional testing (Playwright) and unit testing, but the core responsibility — and the reason this position exists — is to design, develop, execute, and report on load and performance tests in a federal cloud environment.

Primary Responsibilities: Load & Performance Testing (k6) — ~60–70% of Time (target)

· k6 Script Development & Execution: Author, maintain, and execute load and performance test scripts in JavaScript/TypeScript using Grafana k6 OSS. All scripts must be version-controlled alongside application source code.

· Test Scenario Design & Orchestration: Design and execute load profiles including baseline/steady-state, peak business load, stress ramp to SLA-breach identification, and soak/endurance testing (spike testing only if authorized under a future Green Doc amendment).

· Transaction Mix Configuration: Define and manage parameterized transaction mixes across inquiry, create/update, reporting, and administrative operation classes — refining based on stakeholder input and production usage patterns.

· Threshold & SLO Definition: Define SLIs/SLOs and collaborate with SRE and product stakeholders to set and evolve performance thresholds that govern automated run pass/fail.

· Performance Diagnostics: Root-cause regressions across the stack — JVM/GC, PostgreSQL query plans, GKE autoscaler and pod-level resource behavior — not just report them.

· Cloud Infrastructure & Deployment: Deploy k6 as a containerized workload (Nix-flake-built image) within GKE, or as a managed VM for manual verification. Work directly with partner cloud/infrastructure engineers on:

o VM provisioning, workload-identity/service-account configuration, and IAM role assignments

o Artifact Registry management and k6 image provisioning

o GCP Secret Manager integration for test user credentials

o Pipeline-triggered execution via GitLab Runner

· Authentication Strategy: Manage identity-provider-based authentication for load-test service accounts, including session management, account-lockout mitigation, and explicit login/logout sequences. Coordinate with partner teams for test user provisioning.

· CI/CD Integration & Execution Governance: Integrate k6 tests into the GitLab pipeline so load runs execute automatically on successful builds/deploys, with environment guards, protected variables, and safeguards against accidental execution against demo/.mil/prod.

· Observability & Reporting: Stream k6 results to the enclave-internal Grafana / Prometheus stack (no external telemetry egress). Define metrics, compile load-testing reports, and present findings to program stakeholders.

· Browser-Based Load Testing: Develop and execute browser-based load testing scripts using k6/browser against Angular frontend endpoints.

· Data Integrity & Recovery: Collaborate with infrastructure engineers on Cloud SQL snapshot/restore strategies before and after load runs to ensure data integrity.

· Service-Stub / Mock-Contract Design: Design and maintain service stubs / contract mocks (WireMock, Hoverfly, or in-process stubs) for upstream systems that are out-of-scope for load, ensuring a defined, auditable test boundary.

· Documentation & Federal Deliverables: Author and maintain Green Docs, RSO approval packages, implementation plans, architecture documents, and tool-selection analyses aligned to federal/DoD documentation standards.

Secondary Responsibilities: Automated Functional & Unit Testing — ~30–40% of Time (target; may flex based on program priorities)

· Playwright Automated Testing: Contribute to the existing Playwright-based automated UI testing framework. Write and maintain E2E test specs in TypeScript, including authentication flows, multi-form testing, and test artifact capture (screenshots, network traffic, accessibility snapshots).

· Unit Testing Support: Support unit-test coverage improvement for backend (JUnit 5 / JaCoCo) and frontend (Jest). Contribute to CI/CD coverage-gate enforcement at established and incrementally increasing thresholds.

· Code Quality: Support SonarQube integration for code quality analysis and coverage visibility.

Required Qualifications

· 5+ years of performance engineering experience, with at least 3 hands-on with Grafana k6 (OSS) for load and performance testing, including script development in JavaScript/TypeScript.

· Strong GCP experience — GKE, Cloud SQL, Secret Manager, Artifact Registry, workload identity, and VPC networking (EKS/AKS experience transferable but GCP strongly preferred).

· Experience deploying containerized workloads on Kubernetes for test execution (ephemeral pods, Docker).

· Proficiency with GitLab CI/CD for automated test execution and integration, including protected variables, environment guards, and pipeline-level governance.

· Experience with Playwright or similar modern E2E testing frameworks (Cypress, Selenium).

· Working knowledge of Grafana/Prometheus for metrics visualization and dashboard creation.

· Demonstrated ability to root-cause performance issues across application, database, and infrastructure layers (not just report them).

· Ability to work collaboratively with cloud engineers and developers to design load-testing infrastructure, resolve authentication challenges, and coordinate environment access.

· Strong documentation skills — prior experience authoring Green Docs, RSO approval packages, or equivalent federal security-review artifacts.

· Active Public Trust clearance (minimum); Secret or IL4-suitability clearance preferred. CAC eligibility strongly preferred.

· U.S. Citizenship required.

Preferred Qualifications

· Experience with Nix / Nix flakes for reproducible build environments.

· Experience with the k6 Kubernetes operator (ephemeral-pod execution pattern).

· Experience with DoD/federal DevSecOps environments (IL4/IL5 enclaves, Platform One, or equivalent).

· Familiarity with Keycloak or similar identity providers for test user management.

· Familiarity with Apigee API management and edge-latency analysis.

· Knowledge of Spring Boot (Java) and Angular application architectures.

· Prior experience with DoD or federal maintenance/logistics systems.

· Familiarity with ATO processes and ability to support security documentation for tool selection.

· Experience with JMeter, Gatling, or LoadRunner in addition to k6.

· Cloud certifications (GCP preferred; AWS or Azure acceptable).

Additional Information

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.