Staff QA Engineer

Metrea delivers effects-as-a-service to national security partners across five domains and more than a dozen mission areas. These include airborne ISR, electronic warfare, secure communications, aerial refueling, special air missions, aerial firefighting, and advanced simulation. We own the whole stack: designing, building, and operating turnkey capabilities that give our partners decisive, asymmetric advantage against rapidly evolving threats.

Our operating model is built around three interlocking pillars. The Support Groups provide a global shared-service – spanning people, finance, platform, operations, legal, and engagement. This frees up our Core Groups, who develop and own mission capabilities end-to-end, to focus entirely on delivery. The Market Groups apply a regional lens, ensuring that our agile and adaptable capabilities remain aligned to the wicked problems that matter most to our partners across the Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific.

At the heart of our model is a simple but powerful idea: be a true partner with skin in the game. Our partners need effects, not just equipment. By owning the full stack – from the lab to the field – we are able to drive a continuous cycle of innovation that keeps our partners ahead. It's a fast-moving, intellectually demanding environment where talented people are given real responsibility, work on problems that matter, and contribute to an enterprise that is growing quickly and deliberately.

Headquartered in Washington, DC, with facilities across the United States, the United Kingdom, as well as Continental Europe and Asia-Pacific.

This role sits within the Digital and Synthetic Group (D&S). The D&S Group is committed to providing mission-driven information solutions that seamlessly bridge the digital and physical realms. Leveraging cutting-edge technologies and advanced platforms, we empower operational readiness and elevate situational awareness across diverse domains—including air, maritime, and space.

Metrea is seeking a dynamic, curious, and highly-motivated Staff QA Engineer to join our software development team, building software solutions that provide geospatial data processing and visualisations. Candidates should have strong experience with the software development lifecycle, and extensive skills and knowledge in quality engineering. The position involves helping to drive product delivery, in collaboration with Product Managers, Software Engineers and other QA Engineers.

Metrea is a people-first organisation and candidates should have strong communication skills and a desire to proactively elevate their team through continuous knowledge sharing, collaboration, feedback, and mentorship.

Assist the team with refinement of user stories, through a testing lens

Define test strategy for complex products and projects

Work with product and engineering to clarify acceptance criteria

Scope and write test cases

Estimate test effort associated with user stories

Execute manual software tests

Help define and execute the team's test strategy

Create and maintain test plans and appropriate documentation

Create and maintain automation scripts

Support other testers and developers with broader system testing

Champion Quality Engineering best practices

Coordinate and collaborate with Testers across teams

Practical experience of hands-on software development and / or QA testing

Ex tensive ex perience of using and testing web, windows desktop, and command line applications

Experience leading and defining test strategy for complex products and projects

Enthusiasm for team delivery in an Agile environment

Drive to learn constantly and further your knowledge

Strong organisational skills, proactive approach to task admin and docs

Meticulous attention to detail

Shift-left approach to testing and willingness to participate throughout the whole lifecycle of user stories

Interest and ability in upskilling less experienced QA Engineers

Great interpersonal skills, able to confidently communicate issues confidently to both technical and non-technical team members

The employee will have the legal right to work in the UK and will be able to produce right to work documentation.

Metrea is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or other characteristics protected by law.

This is a full-time non-exempt position with typical working hours of Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Hours and work shifts may change in accordance with department and business needs.

This job operates in an office setting.

Some travel to other Metrea offices will be required.

At Metrea, our single core value is Rooted in Humility, and our four cornerstone attributes are Entrepreneurial, Systematic, Discerning, and Over-Deliver. These form what we call our Teammate Firmware. Just like technical firmware connects software and hardware, our Firmware is the constant interface between our mission and our people. It defines how we show up, how we work together, and how we solve complex problems.

Our team Firmware creates a web-like, hyper-collaborative, dynamically hierarchical way of working that helps us adapt quickly, communicate openly, and distribute decision-making to where expertise actually lives. It enables groups to self-organize around hard problems, shift fluidly as priorities evolve, and operate with the trust, curiosity, and discipline required in a complex mission space. This foundation allows us to deliver elegant, effective solutions and uphold our purpose: protecting our precious inheritance.