Principal Test Automation Engineer in Birmingham

The Senior Test Automation Architect is responsible for defining, driving and governing the end-to-end test automation strategy across enterprise programs and portfolios. The role focuses on architecting scalable reusable automation solutions enabling DevOps and CICD integration, mentoring automation teams, and ensuring measurable business value through high quality efficient test automation. This role works closely with Program Test Managers, Solution Architects, DevOps teams, product owners and business stakeholders to align automation initiatives with business outcomes.

Hybrid working: The places that you work from day to day will vary according to your role, your needs, and those of the business; it will be a blend of Company offices, client sites, and your home; noting that you will be unable to work at home 100% of the time.

Job Role:

• Define and own the enterprise-wide test automation strategy aligned with business, programme, and technology objectives.
• Design and maintain scalable, modular, and reusable automation frameworks for UI, API, integration, and backend testing.
• Evaluate and recommend automation tools, frameworks, and technologies based on application architecture and testing needs.
• Establish automation standards, guidelines, and architectural blueprints across all projects.
• Architect and implement automation frameworks using industry-leading tools such as Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, REST Assured, and Appium.
• Ensure automation frameworks support cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-environment testing.
• Enable data-driven, keyword-driven, and behaviour-driven test automation approaches where appropriate.
• Define reusable libraries, utilities, reporting structures, dashboards, and integration patterns.
• Integrate automation suites with CI/CD pipelines including Jenkins, GitLab CI, and Azure DevOps.
• Drive shift-left testing and continuous testing practices across delivery teams.
• Ensure seamless automation execution across on-premises, cloud, and containerised environments.
• Collaborate with DevOps teams to optimise test execution speed, stability, and scalability.
• Define automation coverage strategies across functional, regression, API, integration, performance, and security testing.
• Drive automation coverage metrics and continually identify opportunities to improve coverage, efficiency, and ROI.
• Optimise test execution cycles to reduce duration and infrastructure costs through parallel execution and smart test selection.
• Define automation KPIs, metrics, and reporting models to assess effectiveness and quality.
• Monitor automation stability, defect leakage, maintenance effort, and enforce automation quality gates across releases.
• Provide insights and recommendations to programme leadership to improve quality outcomes.
• Drive adoption of advanced and emerging automation techniques such as AI/ML-assisted test generation, self-healing automation, model-based testing, and service virtualisation.
• Research, pilot, and integrate emerging QA tools and technologies into the automation roadmap.
• Mentor and guide automation architects, leads, and engineers to enhance capability and maturity.
• Review automation designs, coding standards, and implementation quality.
• Identify skill gaps and recommend targeted training and upskilling plans for automation teams.
• Promote best practices in coding standards, version control, and framework design.
• Collaborate with Programme Test Managers, Solution Architects, and Product Owners to align automation roadmaps with business needs.
• Provide automation leadership during project initiation, planning, and solution-design phases.
• Support critical delivery phases and manage automation-related risks, issues, and escalations.
• Engage with vendors and partners for tool evaluation, procurement, and implementation support.

Job Skills:

• Strong expertise in designing enterprise-level automation strategies and frameworks.
• Deep hands-on experience with leading automation tools such as Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, REST Assured, and Appium.
• Strong knowledge of CI/CD integration, DevOps pipelines, and shift-left testing.
• In-depth understanding of UI, API, integration, and backend automation concepts.
• Ability to define automation standards, reusable libraries, and scalable framework architectures.
• Proficiency in automation coverage planning, optimisation, and ROI analysis.
• Experience implementing advanced techniques like AI/ML-driven test automation, model-based testing, and self-healing frameworks.
• Strong leadership skills with capability to mentor, guide, and upskill automation teams.
• Strong stakeholder-management skills to collaborate with architects, product owners, managers, and vendors.
• Excellent communication and documentation skills with the ability to articulate automation architecture and strategy.
• Ability to manage automation risks, escalations, and dependencies across large programmes.
• Experience supporting multi-project delivery environments with complex testing landscapes.

We are a Disability Confident Employer. Capgemini is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer (Level 2) under the UK Government’s Disability Confident scheme. As part of our commitment to inclusive recruitment, we will offer an interview to all candidates who declare they have a disability, and meet the minimum essential criteria for the role. Please opt in during the application process.

Make It Real (what does it mean for you):

You’d be joining an accredited Great Place to work for Wellbeing in 2024. Employee wellbeing is vitally important to us as an organisation. We see a healthy and happy workforce a critical component for us to achieve our organisational ambitions. To help support wellbeing we have trained ‘Mental Health Champions’ across each of our business areas, and we have invested in wellbeing apps such as Thrive and Peppy.

You will be empowered to explore, innovate, and progress. You will benefit from Capgemini’s ‘learning for life’ mindset, meaning you will have countless training and development opportunities from thinktanks to hackathons, and access to 250,000 courses with numerous external certifications from AWS, Microsoft, Harvard Manage Mentor, Cybersecurity qualifications and much more.

You will be joining one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies®, as recognised by Ethisphere® for 13 consecutive years. We live our values by making ethical business choices every day. Working ethically is at the centre of our culture at Capgemini, meaning you will be helping to create a future we can all be proud of.

Why you should consider Capgemini:

Growing clients’ businesses while building a more sustainable, more inclusive future is a tough ask. When you join Capgemini, you’ll join a thriving company and become part of a collective of free-thinkers, entrepreneurs and industry experts. We find new ways technology can help us reimagine what’s possible. It’s why, together, we seek out opportunities that will transform the world’s leading businesses, and it’s how you’ll gain the experiences and connections you need to shape your future. By learning from each other every day, sharing knowledge, and always pushing yourself to do better, you’ll build the skills you want. You’ll use your skills to help our clients leverage technology to innovate and grow their business. So, it might not always be easy, but making the world a better place rarely is.

About Capgemini:

Capgemini is an AI-powered global business and technology transformation partner, delivering tangible business value. We imagine the future of organisations and make it real with AI, technology and people. With our strong heritage of nearly 60 years, we are a responsible and diverse group of 420,000 team members in more than 50 countries. We deliver end-to-end services and solutions with our deep industry expertise and strong partner ecosystem, leveraging our capabilities across strategy, technology, design, engineering and business operations. The Group reported 2024 global revenues of €22.1 billion.