Senior Test Automation Engineer in Newcastle upon Tyne

• Senior Test Automation Engineer Contract
• Department: Digital, Data and Cloud

Job Description

You may have been working as a Test Engineer, Software Engineer in Test, or Test Analyst who writes Java the way most people write emails - fluently, without thinking twice.

You are as comfortable designing and building an automation framework from scratch as you are executing a test plan, and you take genuine pride in the quality of the test code you produce, not just the coverage it achieves.

You will be part of an agile delivery team helping clients achieve meaningful business transformation, embedded alongside developers and product owners with a shared responsibility for quality.

Java-based test engineering is at the core of this role.

Responsibilities

• Designing, building, and maintaining Java-based automation frameworks from the ground up, producing test code that is structured, reusable, version-controlled, and maintainable to the same standard as production code.
• Delivering automated test coverage across functional, cross-browser, API, integration, and acceptance testing layers, with overnight regression runs that the team can rely on.
• Building and extending API test suites using frameworks such as Karate or REST-assured, validating service contracts, data integrity, and integration behaviour.
• Defining and executing test strategies, plans, and scripts across agile delivery cycles, with clear traceability from requirements through to test coverage.
• Supporting development teams to write and automate tests that guide development, including contributing to test-driven and behaviour-driven approaches where appropriate.
• Performing front-end cross-browser functional testing, exploratory testing, system integration testing, and user acceptance testing as the engagement requires.
• Accurate defect recording, monitoring, and root cause analysis, feeding quality data back into the team to drive continuous improvement.
• Reviewing and improving test environments, CI/CD pipeline integration, and test processes to maintain high quality standards across the delivery lifecycle.
• Providing test estimates and contributing to planning sessions with a realistic, evidence-based view of testing effort.

Qualifications

• Strong, demonstrable Java skills – core requirement; ability to build, review, and own Java-based test automation frameworks.
• Proven experience designing and implementing automation frameworks using Java, with hands‑on knowledge of tools such as Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, or Karate, and the judgement to pick the right one for the context.
• Solid experience delivering automated test coverage across functional, cross-browser, API, integration, and acceptance testing, ideally with overnight regression pipelines as part of normal delivery rhythm.
• Practical experience with API testing using Java-based frameworks, including contract tests, request/response behaviour validation, authentication flows, and data consistency across integrated services.
• Comfortable working across both automated and manual testing disciplines; knowing when to automate and when not to, and doing both well.
• Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines and maintaining quality gates that give the team genuine confidence in each release.
• Worked in agile or scrum delivery environments, understanding how testing fits within sprints and how to keep pace with a fast-moving development team.
• Clear communication skills, with the ability to report on test progress, coverage gaps, and defect trends in a way useful to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Resident in the UK for five or more years with no more t
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