Lead QA Automation Engineer

Salary: £? - ? per year

Requirements:

• Experience working in a social housing, housing association, or local-authority housing organisation
• Proven experience in a hands-on QA Automation Lead or Test Lead role
• Strong practical experience setting up test frameworks, writing automated tests, and carrying out testing
• Experience testing complex integrations and enterprise systems, including APIs and data flows
• Experience with relevant tools and technologies such as C#, Postman, REST API testing, Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, or BDD frameworks
• Strong understanding of manual and automated testing, CI/CD pipelines, and DevOps practices
• Experience managing quality across multiple third-party suppliers and full delivery lifecycles
• Excellent communication and influencing skills, including the confidence to challenge stakeholders and drive action
• Experience working in Agile environments such as Scrum or Kanban
• A relevant testing or QA qualification, such as ISTQB, and a degree or equivalent experience in a related field

Responsibilities:

• Define and deliver the test strategy, plans, and quality standards across internal and supplier-led delivery
• Set up, develop, and maintain automated test frameworks, integrating automation into CI/CD pipelines
• Lead and carry out integration, API, functional, and regression testing, and support UAT and performance testing
• Review test cases, automation scripts, coverage, and supplier testing evidence
• Own defect management, prioritise issues according to business risk, and drive resolution
• Coordinate test environments and test data, supporting release-readiness decisions
• Communicate progress, risks, and quality issues to technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Hold suppliers and contractors accountable and handle challenging conversations constructively
• Coach colleagues and improve testing practices across the project

Technologies:

• API
• C#
• CI/CD
• Cypress
• DevOps
• ISTQB
• Support
• Kanban
• Playwright
• Postman
• REST
• Selenium

More:

We are recruiting a technically hands-on Lead QA Automation Engineer / Test Lead for an integration project, combining practical test delivery with supplier and stakeholder management. This is a six-month contract paying up to £550 per day, outside IR35, depending on experience. The role is hybrid, with office attendance on Tuesdays and Thursdays and work from home on the other three days; flexibility is required to meet business needs. The opportunity may suit someone who can lead quality across a complex supplier landscape.

last updated 40 week of 2026