Lead QA Engineer

Lead QA Engineer

Location: London, EC3V
Working Pattern: Hybrid
Contract: Permanent
Salary: £60,000
Hours: Monday to Friday, 9:00am – 5:00pm

The Opportunity

We are seeking an experienced Lead QA Engineer to join a growing Technology team and take technical ownership of the QA approach across the delivery lifecycle.

This is a hands-on leadership role where you will combine test strategy, automation, technical testing and team leadership to ensure high-quality products and reliable releases.

Working closely with the QA Manager, Software Engineers, Product Managers, DevOps and wider business stakeholders, you will establish effective testing standards, drive automation and champion a risk-based, shift-left approach to quality.

The role will also play an important part in introducing and embedding AI-assisted testing technologies to improve test coverage, efficiency and the overall quality of delivery.

Key Responsibilities

* Define and lead the QA strategy, automation approach and quality objectives for assigned products and releases.

* Translate business and technical requirements into effective, risk-based test strategies.

* Champion shift-left testing and ensure requirements and acceptance criteria are testable and traceable.

* Lead test planning, test design and hands-on execution across the delivery lifecycle.

* Perform and oversee functional, integration, regression, smoke, exploratory and acceptance testing.

* Design, review and maintain high-quality test cases, scripts and test data.

* Own and develop the test automation strategy, prioritising high-value and business-critical coverage.

* Develop, review and maintain automated tests and reusable automation frameworks.

* Work closely with DevOps and engineering teams to integrate automated testing and quality gates into CI/CD pipelines.

* Introduce and utilise AI-assisted testing tools, including AI-supported test generation, self-healing automation, synthetic test data and defect analysis.

* Investigate complex test failures and defects, supporting root-cause analysis and resolution.

* Provide technical leadership, coaching and mentoring to QA Engineers.

* Work collaboratively with developers, architects, product teams and business stakeholders to identify and manage quality risks.

* Produce clear reporting on test coverage, execution, defects, risks and release readiness.

* Drive continuous improvement across QA processes, automation coverage, efficiency and quality metrics.

About You

You will be an experienced QA Engineer, Senior QA Engineer or Lead QA Engineer with a strong technical background and a passion for delivering high-quality software.

You should have experience in:

* Manual and automated software testing.

* Developing and maintaining automated test frameworks.

* Web, mobile and API testing.

* Functional, integration, regression and exploratory testing.

* CI/CD pipelines and DevOps environments.

* Agile development methodologies and ceremonies.

* Risk-based and shift-left testing approaches.

* Test management, defect tracking and reporting.

* Diagnosing complex technical issues and supporting root-cause analysis.

* Coaching, mentoring or providing technical guidance to other QA professionals.

Experience or an interest in AI-assisted testing tools and technologies would be highly desirable, particularly where these can be used to improve automation, coverage and testing efficiency.

You will also need excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to explain technical quality risks clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.

What You Can Expect

This is an excellent opportunity to take a leading role in shaping the organisation's QA strategy, automation capability and quality culture.

You will have the opportunity to remain hands-on technically while influencing standards, mentoring colleagues and introducing modern testing practices and technologies.

If you are an experienced Lead QA Engineer looking for a role where you can make a genuine impact on testing strategy, automation and software quality, we would love to hear from you.

Apply today for further information and to be considered for this opportunity