Sr QA Engineer

Location: Remote – UK (occassional visit to Client office based in London)

Clearance: Active Security Clearance (SC) to work in UK public sector

Employment Type: Full-time, Contract (3 months initially)

Department: Quality Assurance / Test Automation

Reports To: Technical Lead

We are seeking an experienced and security-cleared Senior QA Engineer to ensure the quality, reliability, and performance of complex enterprise and government software systems. The ideal candidate combines deep hands-on testing expertise with strong automation and leadership skills, and thrives in Agile delivery environments that demand precision, collaboration, and accountability.

Key Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end quality assurance for mission-critical software systems, ensuring functional and non-functional requirements are met.
• Design, develop, and maintain automated test frameworks using technologies such as Selenium WebDriver, Cucumber BDD, JUnit, TestNG, Maven, Protractor, and JMeter.
• Plan and execute manual, automated, regression, integration, and load testing activities.
• Work closely with developers, product owners, and business analysts to refine acceptance criteria and define test strategies.
• Lead and mentor junior QA engineers; perform code and test-review sessions.
• Drive adoption of Agile testing practices (Scrum / Kanban) and continuous improvement across QA processes.
• Collaborate with DevOps engineers to integrate automated tests within CI/CD pipelines.
• Produce clear, auditable test documentation, defect reports, and test evidence for secure environments.
• Ensure compliance with UK Government standards, data-protection, and confidentiality policies.
• Participate in MarkLogic-based and other NoSQL/semantic data platform testing initiatives when applicable.

Essential Skills & Experience

• 7+ years’ experience in software testing, including 5+ years in test automation.
• Strong background in building and maintaining Java-based automation frameworks (Selenium, Cucumber, Maven, TestNG, JUnit).
• Experience with API testing (Postman, SoapUI) and performance testing (JMeter).
• Working knowledge of Agile delivery, Scrum ceremonies, and continuous testing.
• Excellent analytical and troubleshooting skills; able to understand software architecture and design effective test strategies.
• Previous experience in secure or regulated domains (e.g. UK Government, Defence, Healthcare, or Financial Services).
• Proven ability to lead testing teams, coach peers, and manage QA deliverables.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills across distributed teams.

Desirable / Nice-to-Have

• Prior experience testing MarkLogic APIs or other NoSQL / semantic database platforms.
• Experience with Selenium and Java based testing frameworks
• ISTQB Foundation / Advanced Certification.
• Experience in CI/CD with Jenkins, Git, or Azure DevOps.
• Awareness of security-testing principles and compliance frameworks.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical discipline.
• Active or transferable Security Clearance (SC) – essential for this role.