QE Automation Lead - Inside IR35 - Up to £850 per day

QE Automation Lead - Inside IR35 - Up to £850 per day

• Hybrid in Central London (3 Days)
• January Start Date
• 12-Month Initial Contract

We're looking for a senior quality engineering leader to run automation across a fast-moving, API-centric platform that processes data in Real Time. You'll lead a team of 20+ engineers, set the automation strategy, and be accountable for how confidently and consistently we release.

You'll work closely with product owners, business analysts and engineering leadership. You'll build a high-performing team that reduces manual regression effort, expands automated coverage and gives delivery squads lasting ownership of quality.

Key responsibilities

People leadership

• Lead, line manage and develop a team of 20+ quality engineers, including objective setting, performance reviews and career progression
• Build team capacity through hiring, onboarding and succession planning
• Coach and mentor engineers and senior team members in automation-first, risk-based testing
• Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement and shared ownership of quality
• Manage resourcing, workload allocation and delivery priorities across multiple squads

Strategy and delivery

• Own the automation roadmap and backlog, prioritising by business impact and technical risk
• Define and govern the test strategy for complex integrations and Real Time data flows
• Set standards for regression, functional, API, integration and end-to-end automation, and ensure they are consistently applied
• Guide the evolution of our established Python-based test framework, staying hands-on where it matters

Release assurance

• Embed automated testing and evidence into CI/CD pipelines and release quality gates
• Use test results and defect trends to identify risks, and report them clearly to senior stakeholders
• Raise the quality and consistency of the evidence used to sign off releases
• Champion reusable patterns, documentation and playbooks across the organisation

Stakeholder engagement

• Partner with engineering, product and delivery leaders to align quality priorities with business goals
• Represent QE in planning, governance and release forums
• Support squads in building sustainable, self-owned testing practices

What you'll bring

• A proven record in software testing, quality engineering or test automation, with credible hands-on experience
• Experience leading, managing and developing large or multi-disciplinary engineering teams
• Strong Python test automation skills
• Strong AWS cloud experience
• Experience extending and maintaining established automation frameworks
• Broad experience across API, integration, functional, regression and end-to-end testing
• Experience with complex integrations and Real Time or high-volume processing environments
• A solid understanding of CI/CD-based automated test execution
• Working knowledge of Git and Jira
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a knack for spotting coverage gaps and quality risks
• Strong communication and influencing skills at all levels
• Background in financial services

Advantageous

• Familiarity with REST APIs, JSON, XML, HTTP, API authentication and SQL/database validation
• Understanding of performance and load testing principles and microservice architectures