QA Engineer (1099 Contractor)

Fearless is seeking a contractor to serve as a QA Engineer. This role will function as a consultant and collaborate with cross-functional Agile teams to ensure that websites and their underlying software function correctly, efficiently, and securely for a federal health care platform serving approximately 11 million monthly users.

About the role

This Quality Assurance role identifies defects, verifies feature implementations, and upholds high-quality standards throughout the software development lifecycle. Working closely with developers, designers, and product managers, the successful candidate builds and executes thorough test plans and champions accessibility and reliability. This position requires candidates to obtain and maintain a federal Public Trust clearance and satisfy all CMS residency requirements.

Responsibilities

• Review project requirements, user stories, and design mockups to understand the scope of testing
• Create detailed test plans for functional, performance, accessibility, usability, and security testing
• Develop and maintain clear test documentation for the team
• Perform manual and automated testing to validate website functionality, including responsive design across devices and browsers
• Execute regression tests to ensure recent code changes have not introduced new issues, and conduct exploratory testing to surface unexpected defects
• Identify and implement Section 508 accessibility standards in testing
• Log and track defects in Jira with detailed, reproducible reports, screenshots, and clear steps to reproduce
• Collaborate with developers to troubleshoot, conduct root cause analysis, and validate fixes
• Collaborate with security teams to conduct basic security tests and identify vulnerabilities
• Participate in Agile ceremonies and risk management assessments, and recommend testing-process improvements

Requirements

• Strong knowledge of QA methodologies, tools, and processes
• Ability to identify and write explicit test scenarios, test plans, and test cases from requirements documents
• Experience identifying and implementing Section 508 accessibility standards
• Experience with JavaScript-based testing (Cypress)
• Experience logging and tracking defects using Jira
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Self-starter, highly motivated, able to work with little or no supervision
• Comfortable working on a highly collaborative, cross-functional team
• Ability to obtain and maintain Public Trust clearance

Nice to have

• Develop and maintain automated tests in Cypress or PHPUnit
• Perform load and stress testing to identify performance bottlenecks using tools such as JMeter or LoadRunner

About Fearless

We're a digital integration consultancy on a mission to build a better tomorrow. At Fearless, we combine technology, people, and organizational development to solve meaningful problems. Through iterative development, we deliver smart, user-friendly solutions that make technology work better—for everyone. What truly sets Fearless apart is our Purple Culture and our commitment to building meaningful partnerships with the people who help us deliver exceptional results.

What Makes Us Purple?

• Contribute to work that creates meaningful impact
• Collaborate with people who value curiosity, innovation, and continuous improvement
• Bring your expertise to challenging and rewarding projects
• Work with transparency, trust, and mutual respect
• Help create solutions that improve the lives of the people who use them
• Join a community committed to equity, inclusion, and belonging

Compensation

Fearless is committed to offering competitive contract rates that reflect the expertise, experience, and value our independent contractors bring to client engagements. Final rates are determined based on experience, qualifications, project requirements, and market considerations. This position is structured as an independent contractor (1099) engagement and is not eligible for employee compensation programs or benefits.

Independent Contractor Requirements

• Completed Form W-9
• Proof of General Liability Insurance
• Certificate of Insurance (COI)
• Compliance with any project-specific customer requirements, including background checks or security clearances, when applicable

Additional documentation may be required depending on the nature of the engagement.

Location

We are currently able to engage 1099 contractors residing in all 50 states. For contractors who may be interested in future full-time employment opportunities with Fearless, please note that our current W-2 employment footprint includes the following 16 states: Alabama, California, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.