Principal Test Automation Engineer in Leicester

We are a digital insurance provider with ambitious plans to become the best and biggest in the UK market. Over the past few years, we have made significant investments in our data and tech capabilities, particularly within our CIO function. Our CIO team is at the forefront of driving innovation and ensuring our technology infrastructure supports our ambitious goals. We have nurtured our 4Cs culture, fostering collaboration, creativity, and continuous improvement.

We are proud of the journey we are on as a company and know that our continued success will rely on the contribution of our talented colleagues. The CIO team plays a crucial role in this journey, working on cutting-edge projects that enhance our digital presence and improve customer engagement.

We provide insurance to nearly four million customers, but we know there is even bigger opportunity out there. If you are excited about joining us and think you have some of what we are looking for, even if you are not 100% sure, we would love to hear from you. Our CIO team is always looking for passionate individuals who are eager to make a difference and contribute to our success.

• Provide automation capabilities that support the Scrum Teams to deliver on the Automation Only approach, reducing the percentage of tests that cannot be automated through designing and implementing extensions/adjustments to the Automation Frameworks.
• Identify new opportunities to enhance/extend our test automation capabilities with new and/or updated tooling, supporting the evaluation, decision making, implementation and maintenance of these tools.
• Manage the ongoing maintenance of the tooling to meet the growing demand, increasing performance and allowing the Scrum Teams to test early and often on a continuous basis.
• Provide capabilities to support the provision of timely and accurate Test Automation MI for all Scrum Teams, which includes quality measures where possible supporting continuous improvement.
• Define, implement and maintain test automation best practices and drive proactive collaboration and engagement within Scrum Teams and the wider QA community through the Centre of Excellence as well as regular Brown Bag sessions and other means of engagement.
• Mentor all direct reports, junior staff, and new joiners to achieve the necessary competencies to progress.

• Proficient practical experience working in a Testing Automation role.
• Extensive experience working in an agile environment.
• Transformational leadership skills being able to influence decision making and implement new tools, processes and procedures in support of the company's vision.
• Good mentoring skills to support direct reports in their ongoing development.

• Proficient knowledge of at least one agile methodology (e.g. Scrum, Kanban, SAFe).
• Familiar with backlog and test case management in a system of record such as Jira or Octane.
• Excellent knowledge using declarative Gherkin to capture business rules, run as automated tests with Cucumber.
• Strong coding skills to implement automated tests in one or more of Java, JavaScript, Typescript, C#.
• Comfortable with source control using GitHub.
• Skilled in user interface automation with Selenium, Selenium Grid, Playwright or Cypress.
• Ability to implement tests against API either in code or via tools such as SoapUI, Postman.
• Good understanding and experience using continuous integration platforms such as AzureDevOps or Jenkins (or equivalent).

Join us and you will find a different way of doing things. We call it the 4Cs. We focus on getting it right for our colleagues, customers, company, and community. As one of our colleagues, you will be helping to drive our growth, so in return, we will give you all the support, training and development you need. Not to mention plenty of recognition and rewards, and the scope to voice your ideas and put them into practice.

• Flexible working – we champion a flexible hybrid working approach.
• Competitive bonus scheme - all colleagues are eligible for our annual 4Cs performance bonus.
• Physical wellbeing – private medical insurance (PMI) provided.
• Financial wellbeing – life assurance cover, income protection, and matched pension contributions up to 10%.
• Mental wellbeing programme – access to mental health resources and support.
• 27 days annual leave + bank holidays, with the option to buy or sell one of your weeks.
• Access to health care cash back plans, dental plans, discounted health assessments, and more.

Hastings Group is an equal opportunities employer which means we treat people fairly. We welcome applications from all suitably skilled persons regardless of their gender, age, race, disability, ethnic background, religion/belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or marital/family status. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone has the opportunity to succeed.