Job Description:

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.