Job Title: Lead Automation Tester / Test Lead
Location: Taunton, UK (Hybrid – 1 to 2 Days travel a week)
Job Type: Contract – Outside IR35
Clearance Required: Active SC Clearance
Must have Skills: Playwright, C#
Job Description
We are looking for an experienced Lead Automation Tester / Test Lead to drive a modern, outcome‑focused quality engineering strategy within Azure‑hosted enterprise systems in a secure, regulated UK environment.
The Role
This is not a “test everything” role. We’re seeking a pragmatic quality leader who understands how smart automation:
- Improves delivery performance
- Reduces change risk
- Accelerates business value
You will define and lead automation and quality strategies aligned to modern engineering practices and DORA metrics, ensuring quality enables—rather than slows—delivery.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead a risk‑based automation strategy across functional, integration, and performance testing
- Align quality practices to DORA metrics (Lead Time, Deployment Frequency, Change Failure Rate, MTTR)
- Design scalable automation frameworks using Playwright and K6
- Embed fast, reliable automation into Azure DevOps CI/CD pipelines
- Promote test pyramid best practices and avoid brittle UI automation
- Define meaningful quality metrics beyond code coverage
- Drive continuous improvement through data‑driven quality insights
Required Experience
- Proven experience leading automation strategy in enterprise environments
- Strong knowledge of modern test automation principles (CI‑first, test pyramid, contract testing)
- Hands‑on experience with Playwright and K6
- Strong Azure DevOps CI/CD experience
- Clear understanding of DORA metrics
- Experience working in secure or regulated environments