Lead Software Development Test Engineer (SDET) in London

About Us: The company is an engineering consultancy bridging Quality Engineering, Cloud Platforms and Developer Experience. We help enterprises reliably bring high-impact digital products to market faster, cheaper, and safer, working with technology leaders facing complex business challenges. We take as much pride in our people, culture and work-life balance as we do in making better software. We’re not just making better software. We’re making the making of software better. Collaborative, entrepreneurial and dedicated to problem solving, we bring the step change our customers need to sustain innovation. Our values challenge us to do the best we can for the company, our customers and most importantly our team. This is an opportunity for you to build the organisation from the ground up, use your voice to drive change and help transform organisations and problem domains.

Job Role: We are looking for a highly skilled Lead Software Development Test Engineer (SDET) with expertise in test automation framework development. This role requires a strong technical foundation in automation, testing, and CI/CD practices as well as excellent communication and client engagement skills.

As a Lead SDET, you will not only guide and mentor internal teams but also serve as a client-facing consultant, working closely with customer stakeholders to:

• Understand their business and technical challenges
• Recommend and implement quality engineering strategies
• Propose and drive adoption of modern technologies, frameworks, and testing methodologies
• Help shape test automation roadmaps and best practices tailored to the client's environment

The ideal candidate should have experience working in CI/CD environments, be proficient in shift-left testing strategies, and have hands-on experience with cloud platforms (AWS preferred), Docker, and Kubernetes. The candidate should be self-driven, a strong problem solver, and capable of contributing to multiple projects simultaneously.

Key Responsibilities:

• Architect and implement API automation and consumer-driven contract tests (e.g., Pact).
• Integrate test frameworks into Jenkins/GitLab CI, Kubernetes/EKS pipelines.
• Partner with product and dev teams to define “shift-left” quality requirements.
• Advocate best practices in test automation, performance, and reliability.
• Implement shift-left testing strategies to enhance test efficiency and early defect detection.
• Collaborate with developers, DevOps, and product teams to integrate testing into CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions preferred).
• Build and maintain automated test pipelines in a cloud-based environment (AWS preferred).
• Work with Docker and Kubernetes to create test environments and deploy applications for testing.
• Perform performance, security, and reliability testing as part of an end-to-end test strategy.
• Troubleshoot test failures, analyze root causes, and provide insights for improvement.
• Participate in code reviews, test planning, and strategy discussions to enhance software quality.
• Ensure adherence to QA best practices and contribute to process improvements.

Required Skills & Experience:

• 9+ years SDET experience with Selenium/WebDriver, RestAssured or similar.
• Expertise in consumer-driven API testing (Pact, CDC).
• Strong coding skills in Java, TypeScript, or Python.
• Hands-on with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP) and infrastructure as code (Terraform).
• Familiarity with Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD, GitOps.
• Passion for quality engineering and continuous improvement.

Working at the company: We have grown from six founders to 180+ people across five countries in three years, and what sets us apart isn't the pace, it's how we grow. Real flexibility, in practice. We trust you to perform at your best and still have a life outside of work, with genuine hybrid working, a home office budget, an open feedback culture where your voice shapes decisions, and time off when life needs it (birthday included).

When the company wins, you win. We offer profit share so success is shared, meaningful recognition for great work, and benefits that look after you and your family, including private healthcare, competitive salary benchmarking, and a confidential employee assistance program covering counselling, mental health support, and financial wellbeing.

A community you'll genuinely want to be part of. Interest based communities like running and book clubs, Women in Tech group, monthly socials, and cross regional events bring people together across the company. An inclusive, collaborative culture where you don't need to conform to succeed, where people support one another and feel comfortable being themselves.

Where meaningful work meets real growth. You will tackle complex, real world problems at the forefront of platform engineering, AI, security, and scalable systems. Your growth is supported by learning budgets, Udemy access, a clear career framework, internal mobility, and thought leadership opportunities that take your impact beyond the company.

At the company, we believe diverse perspectives lead to better outcomes, and inclusion creates the conditions for everyone to thrive. We are proud to have built a family friendly working environment and have many employees who have caring responsibilities alongside work. We welcome applications from people who require flexibility and will be happy to discuss needs on an individual basis.

We are committed to fostering a culture where all team members feel respected, supported, and empowered to do their best work. We celebrate individuality and our differences and understand that some differences may mean that you require changes made to the interview process. We are happy to cater to your needs to make the interview accessible, if this is something you require please let us know.