Principal Software Integration, Test, & Automation Engineer

Title:
Principal Software Integration, Test, & Automation Engineer

Belong. Connect. Grow. with KBR!

KBR's National Security Solutions team provides high-end engineering and advanced technology solutions to our customers in the intelligence and national security communities. In this position, your work will have a profound impact on the country's most critical role - protecting our national security.

KBR's Digital Research, Engineering, Acquisition, and Materiel Management Team (DREAMM Team) provides comprehensive Systems Engineering, Digital Engineering, Model Based Systems Engineering, Modeling & Simulation, Data Analysis, DevSecOps, technical solution development, and training capabilities, serving our DoD customers. With a wide range of services and contract options, the DREAMM Team is dedicated to ensuring excellence in every aspect of our customer's Digital Transformation journey, including strategy and implementation plan development, technical execution, and training and development courses. This commitment ensures smooth and manageable design, implementation, test and deployment of technical solutions, streamlined processes, and digital methods and approaches.

Why Join Us?

• Innovative Projects: KBR's work is at the forefront of engineering, logistics, operations, science, program management, mission IT and cybersecurity solutions.

• Collaborative Environment: Be part of a dynamic team that thrives on collaboration and innovation, fostering a supportive and intellectually stimulating workplace.

• Impactful Work: Your contributions will be pivotal in designing and optimizing defense systems that ensure national security and shape the future of space defense.

Job Summary

Are you ready to apply your technical leadership where it delivers real mission impact?
As a Principal Software Integration, Automation, and Verification Engineer, you will tackle complex system-level challenges spanning distributed software architectures, data ingestion and management, automation, diagnostics, and continuous integration in support of advanced Department of Defense capabilities. You will operate at the intersection of software architecture, system integration, automation, and verification, helping shape how complex systems are designed, built, tested, and delivered.

In this role, you will lead the development of integration frameworks, automation tooling, and verification capabilities that enable scalable, mission-critical systems to operate reliably across diverse environments. You will play a key role in driving automation and verification into CI/CD pipelines, enabling continuous delivery, rapid iteration, and early defect detection. Through automation-driven reporting and observability solutions, you will provide critical visibility into software health, integration status, and system performance, supporting informed engineering and program decisions.

You will collaborate closely with systems engineers, software developers, test engineers, and government stakeholders, fostering a culture of engineering rigor, innovation, and accountability.

Join our team at KBR supporting the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and contribute to the development, prototyping, and transition of next-generation defense capabilities. If you thrive in dynamic environments, enjoy solving hard integration problems, and want to shape how complex systems are engineered and delivered, we invite you to bring your expertise and help define the future.

The successful candidate for this position brings a deep and diverse technical background, including software architecture, systems integration, automation and CI/CD, distributed and cloud-based systems, diagnostics and troubleshooting, and mission-critical software development. This role supports AFRL research and development efforts focused on rapidly prototyping, integrating, and transitioning advanced capabilities, ensuring that software systems are scalable, verifiable, and operationally effective.

Key Responsibilities:

• Performs all activities associated with the design, development, implementation, maintenance, configuration management, and quality control of automated software test and verification frameworks for scientific and engineering applications.
• Designs, builds, maintains, and expands software automated test and verification capabilities spanning unit, integration, and system-level validation to verify software functionality, integration, and performance against documented requirements.
• Analyzes customer and system requirements and translates them into automated requirement verification, functional, and integration test strategies.
• Develops and executes integration tests to ensure software components integrate and operate together successfully across distributed and modular architectures.
• Designs and implements test integrations, diagnostic utilities, and tooling to isolate defects, debug software versions, and support root-cause analysis across development and test environments.
• Implements automated reporting of test execution results to databases, dashboards, and Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) artifacts, ensuring traceability between requirements, tests, and outcomes.
• Integrates automated testing capabilities into CI/CD pipelines using Python, GitLab, and associated DevSecOps toolchains to enable continuous verification and regression testing.
• Installs, configures, operates, maintains, and adapts architecture, integration, automation, and baseline documentation to enable automated generation of technical documentation, test reports, and software baselines.
• Performs internal testing of software products and automated test frameworks; responds to and resolves discrepancies against documented requirements, standards, and verification criteria.
• Generates and updates technical documentation defining test frameworks, verification approaches, software baselines, and configuration management artifacts in accordance with department standards.
• Evaluates vendor-provided tools, libraries, and test frameworks; provides recommendations regarding adoption, integration, or replacement.
• Participates with software, systems, and test engineering teams in the design, development, and utilization of scientific and engineering data processing systems, with emphasis on verification, validation, and integration.
• Provides technical analysis related to the design, development, and implementation of test automation infrastructure, diagnostic software, and verification utilities.
• Participates in the development of engineering test strategies, devices, and systems, including support to integration labs and system-level test environments.
• As a technical lead, plans and organizes tasking, supports multiple concurrent efforts, provides technical direction, and contributes to the management of project resources as assigned.

Work Environment:

• Location: On-site at Wright Patterson AFB, OH, with some work at KBR location in Beavercreek, OH
• Travel Requirements: Minimal 0-20%
• Working Hours: Standard

Required Qualifications:

• BA/BS degree in mathematics, engineering, computer science, or other related technical field.
• Minimum of 8 years of progressive, related experience in software engineering, test engineering, or automated verification of scientific or engineering systems.
• Demonstrated experience designing, developing, and maintaining automated software test frameworks.
• Demonstrated experience writing integration tests, functional tests, and requirement-based verification tests for complex software systems.
• Proficiency in Python for test development, automation, and tooling.
• Experience integrating automated testing into CI/CD pipelines using Git-based workflows (e.g., GitLab CI).
• Experience analyzing software discrepancies, debugging integration issues, and resolving defects against documented requirements.
• Experience generating and maintaining technical documentation and software baselines in accordance with established standards.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a DOD Secret clearance

Desired Qualifications:

• MA/MS degree in mathematics, engineering, computer science, or other related technical field.
• Experience supporting Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) environments, including automated reporting or traceability between tests and system models.
• Experience developing automated test result reporting to databases, dashboards, or analytics tools.
• Experience with DevSecOps practices and continuous verification in regulated or mission-critical environments.
• Familiarity with MkDocs or similar static documentation generation frameworks for automated technical documentation.
• Experience supporting system integration labs, hardware-in-the-loop, or distributed test environments.
• Experience evaluating and integrating third-party or vendor-provided test tools and frameworks.
• Prior experience providing technical leadership, mentoring junior engineers, or owning test infrastructure used by multiple programs or teams.
• Experience working in aerospace, defense, scientific, or other highly engineered system domains.

Ready to Make a Difference?

If you're excited about making a significant impact in the field of space defense and working on projects that matter, we encourage you to apply and join our team at KBR. Let's shape the future together.

KBR Benefits

KBR offers a selection of competitive lifestyle benefits which could include 401K plan with company match, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, AD&D, flexible spending account, disability, paid time off, or flexible work schedule. We support career advancement through professional training and development.

Belong, Connect and Grow at KBR

At KBR, we are passionate about our people and our Zero Harm culture. These inform all that we do and are at the heart of our commitment to, and ongoing journey toward being a People First company. That commitment is central to our team of team's philosophy and fosters an environment where everyone can Belong, Connect and Grow. We Deliver - Together.

KBR is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, union status and/or beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.