Software Engineer (Testing)

About Nava

Nava is a consultancy and public benefit corporation working to make government services simple, effective, and accessible to all. Since 2013, federal, state, and local government agencies have trusted Nava to build transformative digital services to help people access public benefits. Meeting our mission is an opportunity to restore trust between people and public institutions. We focus on populations that are the least protected because the stakes are higher.

As a client services company, we work with government agencies to improve how people apply for benefits, navigate their health care, and more. We bill for our time, selling our expertise and problem-solving methodology to government clients. Our clients hire us to help improve their products and services so that their users and beneficiaries have a better customer experience.

These end-users—the humans who benefit from our work—are at the core of everything we do. We research beneficiaries’ needs to help our government clients better deliver on their missions, providing everyone at Nava opportunities to do meaningful, impactful work.

Position Summary

Nava’s Software Engineer (testing) will work with fellow Nava engineers to design, review, and build well-crafted testing for applications. The incumbent collaborates with government partners and other contractors to architect, implement, and deploy new systems and improvements to existing systems, while working in an agile manner to efficiently deliver new features that meet user needs. The Software Engineer creates efficient tools and processes to automate Nava’s development, testing, and production workflows, routinely participating in an on-call rotation to support production systems and investigate issues when they occur. These responsibilities together support Nava’s culture and mission: Be Active Stewards, Pursue the Root Cause, Think Long-Term, Build Together, Inclusion is Essential and Progress Takes Work.

What you'll do

• Writing and implementing code
• Performing local testing to ensure acceptance criteria have been met
• Writing technical specifications (tech specs) to introduce new functionality or features to the codebase
• Receiving and applying feedback to the codebase before implementation
• Reviewing pull requests to identify needs prior to merging
• Providing feedback to teammates on pull requests for collaboration on proposed changes
• Implementing and testing updates for design systems such as web designIdentifying and proposing solutions to blockers encountered with the work
• Collaborating with internal and external engineers via engineering huddles 
• Attending standup meetings to discuss project updates and status
• Participating in refinements to estimate level of difficulty for each ticket
• Participating in biweekly retrospectives (retros) to discuss sprint efficiencies or inefficiencies 
• Participating in sprint demo meetings to demonstrate work completed or in progress
• Sharing expertise with others by providing feedback to designers, project managers, and other engineers to develop solutions and priorities
• Serving as a resource to peers on Nava’s culture and expectations
• Participating in Engineering critiques with other teams to provide and receive feedback on work performed
• Interfacing with clients to provide project updates and propose solutions

Required skills

• Technologies: Ruby on Rails
• 4+ years of professional experience testing
• Experience architecting an automated testing plan for individual systems and full product experience, including testing tools and rollout plans
• Be able to collaborate cross-functionally and with multiple scrum teams to ensure a robust automated strategy for all relevant types of testing to ensure only high-quality products are delivered with minimal manual overhead
• Meaningful experience working on web-based systems, both front-end and back-end
• Experience working on large-scale applications and systems
• An adaptive, empathetic, collaborative and positive mindset
• Ability to think holistically around engineering issues
• Knowledge of engineering fundamentals
• Expertise developing well-crafted software
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, technical and otherwise
• Experience with modern web development frameworks
• Self-directed, requiring minimal supervision
• Ability to work with others on a team
• Previous experience as a software engineer
• Aptitude for giving and receiving feedback

Desired skills:

• RSpec, Capybara, Cypress
• Experience collaborating with infrastructure teams, to build out initial infrastructure and architecture for the automated testing solution while balancing quick-wins with long-term need
• Strong with communicating with stakeholders from a variety of backgrounds to ensure the automated testings strategy is understood and meets project needs
• Experience onboarding a team of automated testing engineers to build out a robust and maintainable automated testing suite

Other requirements

All roles at Nava require the following:

● Must be legally authorized to work in the United States and meet any other requirements for government contracts for which they are hired.

● Candidates who are offered a job with Nava must possess work authorization that does not require sponsorship by their employer for a visa now or in the future.

● May be subject to a government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information or applicants who are eligible for security clearances.

Perks working with Nava

● Competitive benefits: We prioritize your well-being, offering highly competitive medical, dental, and vision benefits.

● Generous time off: Enjoy 20 days of accrued PTO, 12 paid federal holidays, 5 floating holidays, and unlimited sick leave.

● Annual discretionary bonus: Paid annually to eligible employees. When Nava does well, you do well.

● Parental leave: Receive 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave and weekly meal deliveries during your leave.

● Employee wellness program: Access our comprehensive Employee Wellness Program.

● Virtual doctor visits: Enjoy zero copay virtual doctor visits through UHC.

● Fertility support: Benefit from fertility support and treatment options.

● Sabbatical leave: We offer a sabbatical leave program.

● 401k contributions: We match 4% of your salary in 401k contributions.

● Flexible work arrangements: We offer flexible work arrangements to suit your needs.

● Home office setup: Receive assistance with your home office setup and a monthly phone allowance.

● Utilities reimbursement: Get a monthly partial reimbursement for utilities (where applicable).

● Learning and development: Access our comprehensive learning and development program.

● Tuition and Professional development budget: Receive a prorated annual tuition and professional development budget and a LinkedIn Learning license.

● Equity stock options: Benefit from equity stock options.

● Employee referral program: Participate in our employee referral program.

● Commuter benefits: Enjoy commuter benefits.

● Insurance coverage: Receive short and long-term disability insurance, as well as life and accidental death insurance.

● Inclusive culture: Join our diverse, inclusive, highly collaborative, and vibrant culture that supports remote work.

Location

You can work in a hybrid work arrangement from one of Nava’s offices in NYC, DC, or San Francisco. We also have fully remote options if you reside in one of the following states:

Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, DC, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin.

*If you are not living in one of the states listed above, unfortunately, you will not be considered for a position at this time. 

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Nava PBC equal opportunity employer that is deeply committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, age, gender, religious or political beliefs, national origin or heritage, marital status, disability, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, genetic information, pregnancy, status as a protected veteran or any characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion not only reflects our values as a public benefit corporation but also enriches our ability to do our work. Learn more about where we are today and hope to be by 2025.

Please contact the recruiting team at [email protected] if you would like to request reasonable accommodation during the application or interviewing process.

We participate in E-Verify. Upon hire, we will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. This role requires you to work from the contiguous United States.