Lead Quality Automation Engineer

Our client is a well-established recruitment and talent solutions firm that has been supporting organisations across financial services, professional services, and the commerce and industry sectors since 2005. They are committed to fostering equal opportunities, with diversity, inclusion, and fairness forming a fundamental part of both their client engagements and internal workplace culture.

They also place strong emphasis on candidate support, guiding professionals through every stage of the hiring process. Their experienced consultants work closely with individuals to help them secure roles that align with their skills, career ambitions, and long-term goals.

Role Description:

• We are seeking an experienced Lead Quality Automation Engineer to join our growing Quality Engineering practice in Leeds. 
• This role is suited to a highly technical Quality Engineer who enjoys solving complex engineering challenges while working directly with clients across multiple industries. 
• You will play a key role in designing automation solutions, driving engineering best practices, mentoring team members, and helping organisations modernise their quality engineering capabilities. 
• As a Lead Quality Automation Engineer, you will remain hands-on with automation development while providing technical leadership across delivery teams. 

Responsibilities: 

• Design, develop and maintain scalable automated testing frameworks for enterprise applications.  
• Deliver high-quality automation solutions using modern testing tools and object-oriented programming languages.  
• Work collaboratively with software engineers, architects, product owners, and business stakeholders throughout the software development lifecycle.  
• Champion Shift-Left Quality Engineering practices by embedding testing early in the development process.  
• Analyse application source code to identify defects, improve test coverage, and support overall software quality.  
• Contribute to Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines to enable efficient automated testing.  
• Apply AI-assisted engineering tools and Generative AI technologies to improve testing efficiency and engineering productivity.  
• Provide technical leadership, mentoring, and guidance to junior engineers and project teams.  
• Support clients in adopting modern Quality Engineering practices and continuous improvement initiatives.  
• Participate in technical discussions, solution design, and engineering governance activities.  

Requirements:

• Proven experience in Quality Engineering and Test Automation within enterprise environments.  
• Hands-on experience developing and maintaining automation frameworks.  
• Strong programming experience in one or more object-oriented languages such as Java, Python, C#, JavaScript, or TypeScript.  
• Experience with modern automation frameworks such as Playwright, Selenium, or equivalent.  
• Experience working with cloud platforms including AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform.  
• Good understanding of Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) principles.  
• Experience working with AI productivity tools such as GitHub Copilot, Claude, or similar technologies.  
• Strong understanding of software development lifecycle (SDLC) and Shift-Left Testing methodologies.  
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills with the ability to work directly with clients.  
• Demonstrated ability to work independently while managing multiple priorities.  

Preferred Qualifications 

• Commercial experience implementing Generative AI solutions within Quality Engineering.  
• Experience working within consulting or professional services organisations.  
• Knowledge of Agentic AI concepts.  
• Familiarity with LangChain and LangGraph.  
• Experience mentoring engineers and providing technical leadership.  
• Exposure to both public and private sector projects.  

Personal Attributes 

The successful candidate will demonstrate: 

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.  
• Excellent verbal and written communication abilities.  
• Adaptability in fast-paced consulting environments.  
• A continuous learning mindset with evidence of ongoing professional development.  
• A collaborative approach with the ability to influence technical and non-technical stakeholders.  

Working Arrangement 

• This role follows a hybrid working model with an expectation of approximately two to three days per week onsite, depending on client requirements. 
• Some travel to client locations may be required. 

Security Requirements 

• Candidates must either hold Security Clearance (SC) or be eligible to obtain SC Clearance in accordance with UK Government requirements.