Senior SDET

Senior Software Engineer in Test (Contract) - Manchester | Automotive Giant We’re partnering with a leading automotive organisation to hire multiple Senior Software Engineers in Test for a major digital programme across a cloud-based, connected data platform. This isn’t a traditional testing role. This is about owning quality from day one – not testing at the end. What makes this role different? Automation-first mindset – focused on bug prevention over bug detection A mature engineering environment where testing is embedded into delivery Opportunity to shape test strategy and influence architecture Part of a collaborative test community, sharing best practices across teams The kind of problems you’ll solve: Improving and maintaining existing automation suites Embedding testing directly into CI/CD pipelines (not siloed test stages) Driving testability in design and refinement sessions Moving teams from reactive testing to proactive quality engineering Enhancing defect triage and cross-team quality processes Supporting integration with third-party systems and services What we’re really looking for: This is a genuinely senior role. We need engineers who: Think test-first, not "test after build" Have experience embedding tests into CI/CD pipelines Can influence engineers on testability and quality practices Bring strong opinions on modern testing approaches Understand backend/API and distributed systems Tech environment: Python + Java-based services CI/CD (GitLab or similar) Backend-focused (no UI-heavy testing) The role: Driving quality strategy across squads Mentoring engineers and contributing to continuous improvement Collaborating closely with engineering and SRE teams Location