Automation Test Engineer - AI

Location: London, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester

Salary: Competitive (based on experience)

Level: CL9 – Consultant

Security & Eligibility

Please note: Any offer of employment is subject to satisfactory BPSS and SC security clearance. Applicants must have a continuous 5‑year UK address history (no periods of 30 consecutive days or longer outside the UK) and declare that they are a British passport holder with no dual nationality at the time of application.

The Role

As an AI Quality Engineer, you will act as a proactive consultant, embedding a Shift‑Left and AI‑first mindset across the entire SDLC. You will build intelligent, scalable automation solutions, drive the adoption of AI‑powered testing tools, and modernise the testing lifecycle for secure public‑sector clients.

Key Responsibilities

• Embed Shift‑Left & AI‑Assisted Quality practice by engaging in quality discussions during requirements and design phases, test case generation and risk identification to prevent defects before development begins.
• Execute Intelligent Exploratory Testing, designing and performing advanced exploratory testing charters augmented by AI‑driven insights and heuristics to identify risks, edge cases and hidden defects in complex architectures.
• Develop and maintain modular, reusable automated test frameworks (e.g., Playwright, Selenium, Cypress) incorporating AI‑assisted script generation, self‑healing automation, and ML‑based optimisation.
• Leverage Cloud & AI‑Integrated Test Infrastructure in AWS/GCP to execute cloud‑native and distributed test execution, manage test data pipelines, and monitor logs and quality signals within CI/CD pipelines.
• Drive Agentic AI in Testing by designing, implementing and experimenting with autonomous test agents, AI‑driven defect prediction, root‑cause analysis, test suite prioritisation and continuous learning systems.
• Improve client delivery with AI insights by identifying bottlenecks in delivery pipelines and recommending strategic QA improvements to enhance deployment speed, quality and stability.
• Maintain strategic interlock across teams by collaborating independently with cross‑functional teams and stakeholders to strengthen feedback loops.

Skills & Experience

• 2+ years of experience in Quality Engineering or Technical Testing roles.
• Shift‑Left expertise, engaging early in the SDLC (e.g., Three Amigos) with exposure to AI‑assisted requirement/test analysis.
• Manual & Exploratory Testing experience, preferably enhanced with data‑driven or AI‑supported techniques.
• Strong OOP knowledge and proficiency in Java or Python.
• Hands‑on experience with automation frameworks such as Playwright, Selenium, or Cypress.
• Experience with AI‑augmented testing tools (e.g., self‑healing automation, LLM‑assisted scripting or debugging).
• API testing experience using REST APIs and tools like Postman.
• Ability to manage workstreams and collaborate effectively with minimal supervision.

Desirable Skills (Competitive Edge)

• Cloud proficiency (AWS or GCP, e.g., S3, EC2, Lambda, GKE).
• Agentic AI exposure: autonomous testing agents, AI‑driven test orchestration, prompt engineering for QA use cases.
• Familiarity with AI tooling ecosystem (LLMs such as GPT‑based tools, AI test platforms with self‑healing frameworks, intelligent test optimisation tools).
• Data‑driven QA experience using test analytics, predictive quality metrics, or AI dashboards.
• Continuous learning mindset with demonstrated curiosity and experimentation with AI in QA.

Benefits

Competitive basic salary plus an extensive benefits package: up to 25 days’ vacation per year, private medical insurance, and an additional three days leave for charitable work. Flexibility and mobility are required; onsite time with clients and partners will be necessary to deliver first‑class services.