Automation Test Engineer

We’re looking for a talented Automation Test Engineer to play a key role in delivering high-quality, reliable systems across the Newcastle Building Society Group. Working as part of an agile Scrum team, you’ll lead the planning, design and execution of testing activities across the full software development lifecycle. You’ll be instrumental in ensuring our products meet the highest standards—helping to deliver value to our customers through robust, well-tested solutions.

A core focus of the role is driving test automation. You’ll design, build and maintain automated test frameworks and scripts, using the right tools and techniques to maximise test coverage while keeping solutions lean and efficient. From functional and regression testing through to performance, API and GUI testing, you’ll ensure quality is embedded throughout the development process.

Day-to-day, you’ll:

• Collaborate closely with Product Owners, developers and the wider team to define user stories, acceptance criteria and test strategies
• Develop and maintain automated test solutions using tools such as Playwright, Selenium, Appium or SpecFlow within a TDD/BDD environment
• Analyse requirements and system changes, identifying risks and opportunities for automation
• Co-ordinate and execute testing activities within sprints, ensuring delivery aligns to goals
• Carry out both manual and automated testing across web, mobile and API-based systems
• Review, debug and enhance test scripts to improve reliability and performance
• Validate defects and verify fixes to ensure high-quality releases

You’ll also act as a champion for testing best practice—supporting the testing community, mentoring colleagues, and continuously improving our QA processes through new tools, techniques and ways of working. This is a fantastic opportunity to shape how automation is used across our technology landscape while working in a collaborative, forward-thinking agile environment.

You should be a passionate and detail-oriented test professional with a strong focus on automation and quality. You enjoy working closely with others in agile teams and take pride in building robust, scalable testing solutions.

You’ll likely bring:

• Strong experience in test automation, using tools such as Selenium, Playwright, Appium or similar within a .NET environment
• Programming skills in C# and experience writing clean, maintainable test code
• Experience working in Agile environments (Scrum/Kanban) and contributing to sprint activities
• Hands-on experience with TDD/BDD approaches and automated testing frameworks
• Experience testing RESTful APIs (manual and automated)
• Familiarity with tools such as JIRA, Git/TFS and Visual Studio
• A solid understanding of testing methodologies and best practices across the SDLC
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to identify risks, troubleshoot issues and improve test coverage
• The confidence to challenge constructively and influence quality standards across the team
• Clear communication skills, with the ability to explain test results, defects and technical concepts to a range of stakeholders

You’re proactive, curious and continuously looking to improve, whether that’s refining automation frameworks, exploring new tools, or helping others build their skills. You enjoy sharing knowledge, mentoring colleagues and contributing to a culture where quality is everyone’s responsibility.

The Newcastle Building Society Group comprises of Newcastle Building Society, Manchester Building Society, Newcastle Financial Advisers and Newcastle Strategic Solutions. Our purpose, connecting our communities with a better financial future inspires and directs our activities. The Group provides traditional financial services, helping people own their own home, plan and manage their finances and operate a 32-branch network across the North-East, North-West, Cumbria and Yorkshire. Our Strategic Solutions subsidiary owns the UK’s leading savings management platform and provides managed technology services to new challenger banks and other established providers.

As an inclusive employer and member owned mutual, we aim to reflect the diverse communities we serve and encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds. We believe everyone should feel valued, respected, and celebrated for who they are, we want colleagues to feel this is a place they belong. A place to be you.

As well as receiving a competitive annual salary based on above-market pay scales, our reward package includes:

• A 35 hour weekly contract
• 25 days holiday each year plus bank holidays (increasing with length of service - pro rata)
• Bonus Scheme (paid annually) - On target 5%, up to 10% depending on performance
• Colleague mortgage scheme and access to our financial advisors
• Pension scheme – up to 9% employers’ contribution
• Life assurance (4x salary) and income protection
• Access to a range of wellbeing benefits, including medicash scheme
• Electric car salary sacrifice scheme
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Above statutory family leave entitlement - 3 months full pay, 3 months half pay regardless of gender or route to parenthood
• An extra day’s holiday for your birthday
• The option to buy and sell holidays
• Two paid volunteering days each year
• A broad range of learning and development opportunities
• Access to a range of high street and online discounts
• Access to a range of discounted/subsidised gym memberships nationwide
• A wide range of recognition initiatives to recognise and reward great performance

Recognising there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to recruitment, we’re committed to ensuring every candidate has the opportunity to showcase their full potential throughout the recruitment process. We strive to make our processes as accessible as possible, if there are any ways in which we can provide support or make adjustments, we would love to discuss this with you.