At a Glance
- Tasks: Ensure high-quality digital experiences through testing across web, mobile, and backend platforms.
- Company: Join the Financial Times, a leading news organisation known for integrity and quality.
- Benefits: Enjoy generous leave, medical cover, gym memberships, and a hybrid work model.
- Other info: Collaborative culture with opportunities for career growth and innovation.
- Why this job: Make a real impact on journalism while growing your skills in a supportive environment.
- Qualifications: Experience in manual testing and a passion for quality assurance.
The predicted salary is between 40000 - 50000 £ per year.
About Us
The Financial Times is one of the world’s leading news organisations, globally recognised for its authority, integrity and accuracy, with a mission to deliver quality information and services worldwide. At the FT, curiosity thrives and ambitious thinking is rewarded. Here, you’re given the chance to reach millions, create work that matters and deliver impartial journalism in a polarised world. In our warm, collaborative culture, you’ll connect with a diverse community of experts who support your growth, career aspirations and wellbeing. Your future at the FT will be filled with opportunities that challenge and inspire you. With no fixed path, you’ll discover new skills and forge a career that can take you anywhere. Build a newsworthy career at the FT.
Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
We believe in the power of unique perspectives and want all voices in our organisation to be heard, respected and valued. A supportive workplace is one where employees feel they can be themselves and operate to their full potential. We are committed to removing barriers for everyone, with a focus on addressing those faced by underrepresented groups.
The Role
We’re looking for a detail-oriented Quality Assurance (QA) Engineer who is passionate about delivering reliable, high-quality digital experiences to millions of FT readers worldwide. You’ll play a key role across two of our customer facing teams, ensuring our products are robust and performant. Helping us maintain the premium experience expected across our web, mobile, and backend platforms. Working across web, mobile, APIs, and backend services, this role is initially centred around hands-on manual and exploratory testing, while also offering the opportunity to help shape and grow our automation capabilities over time. We’re looking for someone who enjoys understanding how products work end-to-end, is proactive in identifying risks and edge cases, and is excited by the opportunity to evolve testing practices through tooling, automation, and continuous improvement. Improving collaboration between product, engineering, and design, and supporting a culture of shared ownership for quality across the teams.
What You’ll Do
- Own quality for features from refinement through to release, helping define testable acceptance criteria and appropriate test coverage.
- Perform manual, exploratory, smoke, and regression testing across web, mobile, API, and backend systems.
- Create and maintain clear test plans, test cases and defect reports.
- Use tools such as Postman, browser developer tools to investigate issues and support release decisions.
- Support production issues and customer-reported bugs by working closely with your scrum teams.
- Identify opportunities to automate repetitive, high-value, or regression-heavy scenarios.
- Help evolve QA practices, tooling, and automation capabilities across the team.
- Identify opportunities to improve testing efficiency and release confidence through automation and smarter testing approaches.
- Contribute to automated test coverage using tools such as Playwright, Selenium, Appium, or similar frameworks.
- Communicate quality risks, test coverage, and release readiness clearly to stakeholders across engineering and product.
Contribute to Team Delivery
- Participate actively in agile ceremonies including refinement, planning, retrospectives, Scrum, and Kanban processes.
- Advocate for quality throughout the development lifecycle by helping shape clear acceptance criteria and testable user stories.
- Contribute to release readiness discussions by communicating risks, trade-offs, and test coverage clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Work collaboratively across engineering, product, and support teams to foster a strong culture of quality ownership.
What You’ll Bring
- Strong experience in manual, exploratory, smoke, regression, and functional testing within agile teams.
- A good understanding of QA methodologies, risk-based testing, and shift-left quality practices.
- Experience testing web, iOS, Android, APIs, and integrated systems.
- Hands-on experience with API testing tools such as Postman or equivalent.
- Ability to design pragmatic test strategies and comprehensive test cases across different scenarios.
- Strong analytical skills, with the ability to spot risks, gaps, and edge cases early.
- An interest in automation and a desire to grow skills in tools such as Playwright, Selenium, Appium, or similar.
- Good communication skills and confidence working across engineering, product, and support teams.
Nice to Have
- Experience contributing to test automation frameworks.
- Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and modern delivery practices.
- Experience with Jira, Confluence, Testmo, BrowserStack, Sauce Labs, or AWS Device Farm.
- Ability to influence QA practices and promote a strong culture of quality ownership across the team.
What’s in it for you?
Our benefits vary by location but we are committed to providing best-in-class perks across all our offices. These include generous annual leave, medical cover, inclusive parental leave packages, subsidised gym memberships and opportunities to give back to the community. Full details of our benefits are available here. We currently operate a hybrid model which requires staff to work onsite 50% of the time, subject to role requirements and regular review. While flexible working requests will be considered, not all patterns are suitable for all roles. We believe this balanced approach supports flexibility and protects our culture, making collaboration and communication easier, building stronger relationships and team cohesion, and supporting peer learning.
Accessibility
We are a disability confident employer and Valuable 500 signatory. Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments/personalisation as part of the application process or to enable you to attend an interview. If you would like to discuss your requirements or have any questions, email talent@ft.com and a member of our team will be happy to help.
Further information
At the FT, we embrace innovation and the use of technology and appreciate that individuals may leverage AI tools as part of their job application process. Whilst we are happy for you to use AI to assist with your application, it is essential that all information provided is authentic and accurately represents your skills, experience, and qualifications. Candidates should be aware that the use of AI throughout the application process may be monitored to ensure a fair and transparent hiring process for all.
QA Engineer in London employer: Financial Times
The Financial Times is an exceptional employer that fosters a warm, collaborative culture where curiosity and ambitious thinking are celebrated. With a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, employees are empowered to be their authentic selves while enjoying generous benefits, including flexible working arrangements and opportunities for professional growth. As a QA Engineer, you will play a vital role in delivering high-quality digital experiences, supported by a diverse community of experts dedicated to your career aspirations and wellbeing.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land QA Engineer in London
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to current or former FT employees on LinkedIn. A friendly chat can give you insider info and maybe even a referral, which can really boost your chances.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for the interview by brushing up on your QA skills. Be ready to discuss your experience with manual testing and automation tools like Playwright or Selenium. Show us how passionate you are about delivering quality!
✨Tip Number 3
Don’t just focus on the technical stuff; be ready to talk about how you collaborate with teams. The FT values a warm, collaborative culture, so share examples of how you've worked with product and engineering teams in the past.
✨Tip Number 4
Finally, apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen. Plus, it shows you're genuinely interested in being part of the FT family. Let’s get you that job!
We think you need these skills to ace QA Engineer in London
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Your Passion for Quality:When writing your application, let us see your enthusiasm for delivering high-quality digital experiences. Share examples of how you've ensured quality in past projects and why it matters to you.
Be Clear and Concise:We appreciate straightforward communication! Make sure your application is easy to read and gets straight to the point. Highlight your relevant skills and experiences without unnecessary fluff.
Tailor Your Application:Don’t just send a generic application! Take the time to tailor your CV and cover letter to the QA Engineer role. Mention specific tools and methodologies from the job description that you’re familiar with.
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 don’t miss out on any important updates during the process!
How to prepare for a job interview at Financial Times
✨Know Your QA Methodologies
Make sure you brush up on your understanding of QA methodologies, especially risk-based testing and shift-left quality practices. Be ready to discuss how you've applied these in past roles, as this will show your depth of knowledge and experience.
✨Demonstrate Your Testing Skills
Prepare to showcase your hands-on experience with manual, exploratory, and regression testing. Bring examples of test plans or cases you've created, and be ready to explain how you identified risks and edge cases in previous projects.
✨Familiarise Yourself with Tools
Since the role involves using tools like Postman, Selenium, and Playwright, make sure you're comfortable discussing your experience with these. If you have any automation experience, even better! Highlight your willingness to learn and grow in this area.
✨Communicate Clearly
Effective communication is key, especially when discussing quality risks and test coverage. Practice articulating your thoughts clearly and concisely, as you'll need to convey complex information to both technical and non-technical stakeholders during the interview.
