At a Glance
- Tasks: Design and build scalable automation frameworks while collaborating with teams to enhance testing practices.
- Company: Join Holland & Barrett, a leader in health and wellness with a focus on quality.
- Benefits: Enjoy health benefits, discounts, learning opportunities, and a supportive work culture.
- Other info: Diverse and inclusive workplace committed to personal and professional growth.
- Why this job: Make a real impact by shaping quality strategies in a modern engineering environment.
- Qualifications: Strong software engineering background and experience in building automation frameworks.
The predicted salary is between 55000 - 65000 £ per year.
About the Role
We're at an exciting moment in our engineering journey. As we modernise our platforms and ways of working, we’re also re‑introducing what 'good' looks like for quality at Holland & Barrett. We’re moving from traditional testing approaches towards a modern, engineering‑led quality strategy: unit testing, contract testing, component testing, integration testing, E2E flows, synthetics, and strong observability across our microservices. We’re looking for a Senior SDET who is hands‑on, highly technical, and passionate about setting teams up for long‑term success. In this role, you’ll build the frameworks, tools, and practices that empower engineers to write and maintain their own tests — with you acting as the subject‑matter expert, coach, and quality advocate who helps them get there. This is a high‑impact role within our eCommerce Engineering organisation (web and mobile). You’ll collaborate closely with engineers, designers and product teams to embed a test‑first mindset and raise the bar for reliability, delivery confidence, and customer experience.
What you’ll do
- Design, build, and maintain scalable automation frameworks that are easy for engineers to use and extend.
- Partner with teams to introduce modern microservices testing approaches across unit, contract, component, integration and E2E layers.
- Lead the shift toward engineers owning their tests by providing guidance, examples, and hands‑on pairing to help teams adopt best practices confidently.
- Collaborate with Engineering and DevOps to evolve CI/CD pipelines and embed automation earlier in the lifecycle.
- Improve observability around testing and reliability, integrating logs, traces, metrics, synthetics, and alerts to increase confidence in releases.
- Promote good testing principles and high‑quality engineering practices across teams; become a trusted voice for quality.
- Act as a consultant‑style partner to squads, helping them design testable systems and adopt pragmatic approaches to automation.
- Support a culture where quality is shared by everyone, not a separate phase or team.
- Demonstrate excellent attention to detail and help others develop the same discipline.
What you’ll bring
Essential- Strong software engineering background in any language.
- Proven experience building automation frameworks from scratch.
- Solid understanding of microservice testing approaches: unit, contract, component, integration, and E2E.
- Experience with tools such as Playwright, Cypress, JUnit, WireMock, or similar.
- Strong CI/CD knowledge (GitLab CI, Jenkins, etc.) and familiarity with Infrastructure‑as‑Code and cloud‑native environments (containers, Kubernetes).
- Understanding of observability (Grafana, Datadog, Prometheus, OpenTelemetry, etc.) and how it supports quality and testing.
- Ability to explain technical concepts clearly to different audiences.
- A collaborative style, with experience driving culture change or elevating quality practices across multiple squads.
- Experience writing in JavaScript/TypeScript, Java, Kotlin or Go.
- Experience with React Native test automation.
- Experience testing AI/ML systems.
- Exposure to building internal developer platforms or quality‑focused tooling.
- Experience in software engineering, SRE, DevOps, or developer experience teams.
Our tech stack
- Languages: JavaScript/TypeScript, Java/Kotlin Spring Boot, Go
- Frontend: React, React Native
- Infrastructure: AWS, Kubernetes, GitLab CI/CD
- Testing: Playwright, BrowserStack
- Architecture: Microservices
A note on applying
We know that great people don’t always see themselves in every requirement. If this role inspires you and you believe your skills and experience could make a positive impact here, we’d really love to hear from you. Please apply, even if you don’t meet every single requirement.
What we offer
Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits- Health Cash Plan
- Life Assurance
- Bonus Scheme - Based on company & personal performance
- Virtual GP
- Private Medical care
- FREE at‑home blood test kit
- Holiday Purchase option
- Pension Contribution scheme
- Access to ‘Wellhub' with gyms, studios and wellbeing apps
- 25% Colleague Discount with FREE Standard Delivery
- Exclusive Discounts from a wide range of partners
- £/€50 Annual Product Allowance to spend in store
- Access to a variety of learning opportunities, including Level 2‑5 Apprenticeships, Workshops and our Digital Learning Library AND MORE!
Holland and Barrett is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome diverse perspectives and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all colleagues. We understand that when our colleagues are listened to, respected and valued for who they are, we build an organisation with belonging at its heart – making health and wellness a way of life for everyone.
Holland & Barrett does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms/recruiters. Please do not forward resumes to our job alias, employees, or any other company location. Holland & Barrett is not and will not be responsible for any fees if a candidate submitted by a search firm/recruiter unless otherwise agreed with respect to specific open position(s).
Senior Software Development Engineer in Test employer: 慨正橡扯
Holland & Barrett is an exceptional employer that prioritises employee wellbeing and professional growth, offering a comprehensive benefits package including health plans, bonuses, and discounts. Our collaborative work culture fosters innovation and quality, empowering engineers to take ownership of their testing practices while providing ample opportunities for learning and development. Located in a vibrant environment, we are committed to inclusivity and creating a workplace where every voice is valued, making it a rewarding place to build your career.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Senior Software Development Engineer in Test
✨Tip Number 1
Get your networking game on! Connect with folks in the industry, especially those at Holland & Barrett. Attend meetups or online events where you can chat with engineers and learn more about their culture and projects.
✨Tip Number 2
Show off your skills! If you’ve built any automation frameworks or tools, make sure to have them ready to discuss. Bring examples of your work to the interview to demonstrate your hands-on experience and technical prowess.
✨Tip Number 3
Prepare for a technical challenge! Brush up on your knowledge of microservices testing approaches and CI/CD pipelines. Be ready to explain how you would implement these in a real-world scenario during your interview.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, it shows you’re genuinely interested in joining our team at Holland & Barrett.
We think you need these skills to ace Senior Software Development Engineer in Test
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Your Passion for Quality:When you're writing your application, let your enthusiasm for quality shine through! Talk about your experiences with modern testing approaches and how you've helped teams adopt a test-first mindset. We love seeing candidates who are genuinely excited about making a difference in quality.
Be Specific About Your Skills:Make sure to highlight your technical skills clearly. If you've built automation frameworks or worked with tools like Playwright or Cypress, mention those specifics! We want to see how your background aligns with our needs, so don’t hold back on the details.
Tailor Your Application:Take a moment to customise your application for this role. Reference the job description and connect your past experiences to what we’re looking for. This shows us that you’ve done your homework and are genuinely interested in joining our team.
Apply Through Our Website:We encourage you to apply directly through our website. It’s the best way for us to receive your application and ensures you’re considered for the role. Plus, it makes the process smoother for everyone involved!
How to prepare for a job interview at 慨正橡扯
✨Know Your Tech Stack
Familiarise yourself with the specific tools and technologies mentioned in the job description, like Playwright, Cypress, and GitLab CI. Be ready to discuss your experience with these tools and how you've used them to build automation frameworks or improve testing processes.
✨Showcase Your Collaboration Skills
Since this role involves working closely with engineers, designers, and product teams, prepare examples of how you've successfully collaborated in the past. Highlight any experiences where you’ve driven culture change or elevated quality practices across teams.
✨Demonstrate a Test-First Mindset
Be prepared to discuss how you would promote a test-first approach within teams. Share your thoughts on the importance of unit, contract, component, integration, and E2E testing, and provide examples of how you've implemented these strategies in previous roles.
✨Communicate Clearly
Practice explaining complex technical concepts in simple terms. This is crucial as you'll need to convey ideas to different audiences. Think of scenarios where you've had to break down technical jargon for non-technical stakeholders and be ready to share those experiences.
