Senior Test Automation Engineer - Playwright in Somerset

Hybrid: 1 day in Office / 4 days home

Location: Somerset

Salary/Package: £48k - £58k

• Health Cash Plan
• Access to a Benefits Portal and Employee Assistance Program
• EV Car and Cycle to work scheme
• Flexible weekly wellbeing time
• Dedicated Volunteering Time
• 25 days holiday rising to 30, plus Bank Holidays
• Comprehensive induction and training program

General: Our client is the UK's leading provider of electronic and paper document distribution services, providing service to the NHS, Local Government, and a wide range of Commercial organisations. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone to join our Testing Team in a rapidly growing company.

Role: As a Senior Test Automation Engineer, you will provide technical leadership in the design, development, and evolution of scalable, maintainable, and secure test automation frameworks. You will collaborate with the Testing Manager on the technical direction of our testing strategy, mentor team members, and contribute to high-quality software delivery aligned with business goals. In this senior, hands-on technical position, your expertise will influence how we test, innovate, and grow.

Profile: You are passionate about advancing your career in Test Automation and take pride in delivering robust, efficient, and maintainable automation solutions. Colleagues describe you as analytical, collaborative, and detail-oriented. You have a strong understanding of data security principles and their importance in modern testing environments.

Duties: This role is responsible for providing technical leadership with the design, development, and maintenance of test automation frameworks and strategies within the Testing Team. The primary activities are:

• Framework Development and Tooling: Lead the design, development, and maintenance of scalable and secure test automation frameworks with Playwright and TypeScript. Drive enhancements and refactors to ensure long-term maintainability and performance. Contribute to internal tooling and libraries to extend test capabilities.
• Testing Strategy and Planning: Collaborate with the Testing Manager to define and evolve test strategies aligned with delivery milestones and business priorities. Collaborate cross-functionally to ensure technically sound and feasible test coverage. Mentor team members on reusable test design patterns and strategic approaches.
• Automation Strategy and Technical Direction: Set strategic guidelines for automation vs. manual testing. Co-author the automation roadmap and align test architecture with product goals. Evaluate and pilot emerging tools and technologies to drive innovation.
• CI/CD Integration & Test Reporting: Engineer and maintain CI/CD pipelines with optimised test stages and quality gates. Define and track key quality metrics and share insights.
• Mentoring and Coaching: Mentor team members in technical excellence, communication, and career development. Deliver structured training and foster a culture of continuous learning. Leverage escalations as opportunities to coach team members, promote ownership, and drive process improvements.

Essential Experience:

• Demonstrated expertise in Playwright with TypeScript, ideally gained through working on complex automation projects in a senior or lead capacity.
• Proven experience designing and building scalable test automation frameworks covering frontend, backend, and API layers.
• Deep understanding of CI/CD pipelines and test integration.
• Experience with secure coding and testing practices.
• ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL).
• Strong experience with agile methodologies, preferably Scrum, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Strong leadership, mentoring, and coaching skills.
• Proven ability to work without supervision, but communicate progress.
• Excellent organisational skills.
• Accurate and have a keen eye for detail.
• Clear and confident communication style, both written and verbal, and comfortable communicating at all levels.
• Follow structured written procedures.
• Be flexible and greet change positively.
• Always manage confidential information sensitively.

Desirable Experience:

• Understanding of a range of test automation frameworks, such as Cypress, Selenium, or equivalent tools.
• Integrating test automation results with test management and reporting tools such as TestRail, or equivalent tools.
• A higher level ISTQB certification (e.g., Advanced Test Automation Engineer).
• Comfortable challenging the status quo and demonstrate a critical-thinking mindset.

Working Relationships: You will work closely with the Development and Product Teams to perform all planned and reactive tasks, escalating to the Testing Manager when potential issues are identified.

Special/Additional Working Conditions: You will be working at our Head Office in Wellington, Somerset. Travel to our Bristol and Milton Keynes offices may be required in exceptional circumstances to support our teams in these locations. All offices are fully air-conditioned with a modern and spacious open-plan layout. The Head Office is situated close to J26 of the M5 where there is free on-street parking.