Senior Load Performance Test Engineer

TechSur Solutions is a digital services company whose mission is to enable digital transformation for our customers to improve quality and efficiency. Based in the DC metropolitan area, TechSur specializes in advanced cloud services, modernization for both IT structures and applications, leveraging Agile development, and Data Analytics. Since we were formed in August of 2016, we have supported multiple impactful and exciting government programs.

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, 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 Google Cloud Platform 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 Google Cloud Platform experience — GKE, Cloud SQL, Secret Manager, Artifact Registry, workload identity, and VPC networking (EKS/AKS experience transferable but Google Cloud Platform 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 (Google Cloud Platform preferred; AWS or Azure acceptable).

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