Systems Engineer / Test Engineer (Junior–Mid)

We are looking for an early-career systems engineer who likes figuring out what a system actually needs to do and then proving that it does. You’ll sit down with the operators who use DoD mission systems every day, turn what they tell you into clear, testable requirements, and write the test procedures that operators and developers use to verify each release. Just as important, you’ll explain why a request should or shouldn’t be built, and stand behind that recommendation. Our purpose is singular - to optimize warfighter performance through information technology.

We hire for talent and drive over years on a résumé. Strong recent graduates are encouraged to apply. You have…

• A clear, structured voice. You can walk someone through a problem - the situation, the options you weighed, what you decided, and the result so operators, engineers, and leaders follow it the first time.
• A curious mind. You want to understand how a system is really used, not just how it was designed.
• A good ear and good judgment. You listen for what operators need versus what they ask for, weigh it against technical constraints and the backlog, and can tell a customer “not now” while pointing them to a better path.
• An ownership mindset. When something is blocked, you go find the person who can unblock it instead of waiting.
• A dedication to detail. A vague requirement becomes a bug or a dispute later, so you pin it down now.
• A focus on the craft. You want to go deep in systems engineering and software requirements, test, and how software actually gets built.
• An open mind. You welcome feedback on your work and want to grow as an engineer.

We have…

• A devotion to making technology work for the warfighter. We help operators work faster, better, and smarter.
• An affinity to action. We’d rather start, learn, and iterate than wait for the perfect plan.
• A drive for continuous improvement. We look for better ways to solve old problems, for our customers and ourselves.
• Senior engineers who mentor. You’ll learn requirements and test practice alongside experienced test leads and SMEs.

What you’ll do… Requirements elicitation and decomposition Run discovery with operators, subject matter experts, and government leads, through interviews, site visits, and demos, to understand mission workflows, pain points, and what would make a capability acceptable to them.

• Decompose customer-expressed and contract requirements into clear, atomic, testable requirements, breaking large asks into smaller parts that can be weighed against effort to implement.
• Trace requirements across subsystems and interfaces (APIs, data exchanges, connected systems) and assess the ripple effect of each change.
• Capture non-functional requirements (the “-ilities”): performance, reliability, security, and operation in degraded or disconnected (DDIL) conditions.
• Maintain requirements traceability from source (operator input, PWS, user stories) through design and test. Operator input and prioritization
• Capture every operator or customer request as a data point: log it in the backlog, link it to existing requirements, and track it to a decision.
• Weigh requests against mission value, technical constraints, and the existing backlog; recommend build, defer, or decline, and explain why.
• Reconcile conflicting inputs from different operators or stakeholders and bring a recommended resolution to the team.
• Close the loop with operators on what was decided and when. Documentation
• Document requirements, use cases, and operational workflows in formats operators and developers both understand.
• Write user stories with measurable acceptance criteria, including Given-When-Then (Gherkin) scenarios.
• Use quick prototypes or mockups (including AI-assisted ones) to confirm intent with operators and show developers the target outcome, without dictating how they build it.
• Produce supporting artifacts: workflow and system diagrams, Technical Exchange Meeting (TEM) minutes, and test reports. Test planning and execution
• Write step-by-step test procedures and scripts that operators and developers can follow to verify functionality.
• Execute and support functional, regression, integration, and user acceptance testing (UAT) for software releases.
• Record results, log defects with clear reproduction steps, and verify fixes.
• Help automate repeatable testing: write simple scripts for test data and log checks, turn manual procedures into automated test cases and BDD step definitions, and add them to the GitLab CI/CD pipeline with the test lead.
• Contribute to functional security test cases (authentication, access control) under the guidance of the test lead. Collaboration
• Work alongside developers, test leads, cybersecurity staff, and program management in an Agile environment.
• Coordinate across multiple organizations and drive communication plans that keep responses and deliverables on schedule.
• Participate in sprint planning, TEMs, and customer reviews; brief findings clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Help developers reproduce and isolate defects by reading logs and tracing system behavior to narrow the root cause.
• Contribute technical writing to proposals as opportunities arise.
• 0–4 years of experience in systems engineering, requirements analysis, software testing, or quality assurance. Internships, co-ops, and capstone projects count.
• Hands-on work on a software project (professional, academic, or personal) where you can clearly describe the product, the team’s roles, and your part in it.
• Experience gathering requirements from end users or stakeholders and writing them as clear, testable. statements with measurable acceptance criteria.
• Experience writing test cases or test procedures and executing functional or regression testing.
• Basic debugging skills: reproducing an issue, reading logs or error output, and narrowing down the cause.
• Basic scripting in at least one language (e.g., Python, Bash, JavaScript) to automate repetitive tasks such as test data setup or log parsing.
• Familiarity with the software development lifecycle, Agile/Scrum, and a backlog or defect-tracking tool (e.g., Jira, GitLab Issues, Azure DevOps).
• Strong, structured written and verbal communication; able to explain a recommendation and the tradeoffs behind it.
• Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related technical field; or equivalent experience (e.g., military operator or technical background).
• U.S. citizenship and an active DoD SECRET clearance, or the ability to obtain one.
• Ability to work hybrid across BluestoneLogic HQ, DISA at Fort Meade, MD, and remote.

Preferred qualifications Don’t disqualify yourself if you don’t have these. We come from varied backgrounds, and many of us started without these preferred qualifications. Program and system experience

• Exposure to command and control, situational awareness, logistics, or customer resource management systems.
• Familiarity with commercial C2 platforms such as Palantir Maven Smart System or Anduril.
• Prior work supporting DISA, a Combatant Command, or another DoD program office. Tools and methods
• Exposure to test automation frameworks (e.g., Selenium, Cypress, Robot Framework, JUnit), including writing test scripts, or BDD tools (Cucumber, SpecFlow, Behave), including writing the step definitions behind Gherkin scenarios.
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, especially GitLab CI/CD, including adding automated tests to a pipeline.
• Basic API testing experience (e.g., Postman, REST APIs), including writing automated API test cases.
• Familiarity with DoDAF architecture views (e.g., OV-1, SV-1) or SysML/MBSE tools. MIL-STD documentation, technical data packages (TDPs), or engineering change proposals (ECPs) are a good foundation.
• Familiarity with security testing concepts.
• Experience with virtualization, containers (e.g., Docker), or cloud environments, and with deployment automation scripts (e.g., Bash, Ansible) for installs, updates, and rollbacks.
• Experience working on classified networks (e.g., SIPRNet). BluestoneLogic, LLC · Systems Engineer / Test Engineer (Junior–Mid) Page 4
• Certifications such as ISTQB Foundation, INCOSE ASEP, or CompTIA Security+. Also valued
• Coursework or applied work in systems architecture methods, such as design structure matrices (DSM) or tradespace and trade studies.
• Programming experience beyond scripting (e.g., Java, Python, JavaScript, SQL), plus the judgment to use existing tools, APIs, and open-source components before writing custom code.
• Experience using AI tools to accelerate customer research or prototype a capability.
• Experience as a product owner or analyst managing a backlog for real users.
• Experience supporting proposals or writing technical volumes.