At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead test automation strategy and mentor QA engineers across digital teams.
- Company: Join a forward-thinking tech company focused on quality engineering.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, flexible working, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Dynamic work environment with excellent career advancement opportunities.
- Why this job: Make a real impact by shaping quality standards in innovative digital services.
- Qualifications: Experience in automation frameworks and strong leadership skills required.
The predicted salary is between 63000 - 77000 £ per year.
We are seeking an experienced Senior Test Engineer to define and drive the overall test automation strategy across multiple digital delivery teams. In this role, you will provide technical leadership, set quality standards, and ensure the delivery of resilient, accessible, and secure digital services. You will act as the technical authority for quality engineering, establishing modern automated test frameworks from scratch, overseeing complex data and non-functional testing, and embedding continuous quality gates within modern CI/CD pipelines.
Key Responsibilities
- Strategic Leadership & Governance
- Define Strategy: Set the strategic direction for test engineering across product teams, establishing robust, risk-based testing strategies and clear quality metrics.
- Technical Guidance: Provide technical leadership and mentorship to embedded QA engineers, raising team capability and promoting engineering best practices.
- Delivery Oversight: Lead testing activities across parallel workstreams, ensuring quality, time, and cost objectives are met.
- Escalation & Defect Management: Act as the primary technical point of escalation for complex issues, environmental blockers, and risk management (RAID).
- Stakeholder Alignment: Develop tailored test approaches and executive reporting mechanisms to gain alignment with senior business and technical stakeholders.
- Quality Engineering & Continuous Improvement
- Framework Architecture: Design, build, and maintain scalable, reusable automation frameworks for UI, API, and backend data flows using modern languages (TypeScript, Python, Java, or C#).
- Data & ETL Testing: Oversee end-to-end data testing strategies across complex, large-scale data environments, validating data transformations, schema integrity, and ETL pipelines (e.g., Informatica, Oracle, SQL).
- Non-Functional Testing (NFT): Embed usability, accessibility (WCAG 2.2 standards), security, stability, and capacity testing early into the development lifecycle.
- Tooling & Infrastructure: Select appropriate test technical tools, define test infrastructure approaches, and optimize execution times to reduce technical debt.
- Standardisation & Collaboration: Drive standardisation by sharing reusable automation libraries across teams, aligning cross-team dependencies, and promoting a culture of experimentation.
- Key Competencies & Capability Profile
- Problem Solving & Critical Thinking: Ability to investigate complex process problems, absorb large amounts of conflicting technical information, and formulate actionable recommendations.
- Test Planning & Governance: Expert-level knowledge of system and acceptance test planning, coordinating both functional and non-functional specifications.
- Non-Functional & Risk Management: Skilled in designing and executing non-functional testing techniques, evaluating risk profiles, and prioritising defects based on severity.
- Delivery Methodologies: Proficient in Agile/Scrum and BDD environments; adept at helping teams visualize outcomes, manage priorities, and deliver against Minimum Viable Products (MVPs).
- Technical Landscape Mastery: Deep understanding of cloud environments (AWS/Azure), containerisation (Docker), microservices architecture, and modern digital technology boundaries.
Essential & Desirable Criteria
- Essential Requirements:
- Clearance: Active UK Security Clearance (SC Cleared) or immediate eligibility for SC transfer.
- Automation Expertise: Proven experience building UI and API automation frameworks from scratch using tools such as Playwright, Cypress, Selenium, or Pytest.
- ETL & Database Testing: Hands-on experience working in large-scale data environments, writing complex SQL queries, and validating data pipelines (experience with Informatica PowerCenter and Oracle databases).
- CI/CD & Infrastructure: Experience integrating automated test suites into modern CI/CD deployment pipelines (e.g., Azure DevOps, GitLab CI, Jenkins, AWS).
- Test Leadership: Demonstrated track record of mentoring QA engineers, driving standardisation, and defining end-to-end test strategies.
Test Engineer Senior in Birmingham employer: Randstad Technologies Careers
At Randstad Technologies, we pride ourselves on being an excellent employer by fostering a collaborative and innovative work culture that empowers our employees to thrive. Located in Harlow, we offer competitive benefits, opportunities for professional growth, and the chance to work on impactful projects with leading clients. Join us to be part of a dynamic team where your contributions are valued and your career can flourish.
Contact Details:
Randstad Technologies Careers Recruitment Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Test Engineer Senior in Birmingham
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We think you need these skills to ace Test Engineer Senior in Birmingham
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Randstad Technologies Careers.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Randstad Technologies Careers and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!
Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!
How to prepare for a job interview at Randstad Technologies Careers
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Randstad Technologies Careers uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.
