Lead Test Automation Engineer

ABOUT THE ROLE

In this role, you will join a strategic quality engineering initiative for a UK specialist bank focused on lending and savings products for SMEs and individuals. The goal is to establish QA processes and testing frameworks, lead multiple QA teams, and drive the adoption of AI-powered quality engineering practices that improve delivery efficiency, product quality, and scalability.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Define and implement end-to-end QA processes, testing frameworks, and quality standards to ensure reliable product delivery across multiple streams
• Lead and scale several QA teams, driving quality initiatives, delivery predictability, and continuous improvement across manual and automated testing practices
• Collaborate closely with product managers, program managers, developers, UX specialists, and business stakeholders to align testing strategy with business goals
• Create and maintain test strategies, test plans, quality metrics, dashboards, and reporting mechanisms for large-scale releases and sprint activities
• Assess existing manual test assets, identify automation opportunities, and expand automated testing coverage using modern tools and frameworks
• Build AI-empowered quality engineering processes, including testing AI Agents with minimal human intervention where appropriate
• Coordinate testing activities across multiple teams, including integration, API, functional, performance, and regression testing efforts
• Research, evaluate, and introduce new tools, technologies, and quality practices while contributing to feature development, maintenance, and architectural discussions

REQUIREMENTS

• Proven experience leading QA teams of up to 12-15 engineers and coordinating testing activities across multiple teams and projects
• Strong expertise in software testing methodologies, Test Strategy creation, Test Planning, quality metrics, estimation, and release planning
• Hands-on experience with Azure, Postman, JMeter, Playwright, BrowserStack, integration testing, API testing, and test automation practices
• Practical experience on building QA processes and automation frameworks from scratch in modern Agile environments
• Experience in implementing AI-driven testing solutions and creating testing AI Agents with minimal human-in-the-loop involvement
• Strong understanding of quality engineering best practices, risk management, and continuous improvement approaches
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to work effectively with senior stakeholders and cross-functional teams
• Analytical, self-driven, and decision-oriented mindset with strong problem-solving capabilities and attention to detail