Automation Test Engineer

You may have been working as an Automation Test Engineer or Software Engineer in Test with a track record of building automation‑first testing capabilities in cloud‑native or containerised environments. You are not just someone who writes test scripts - you design frameworks, make informed tooling decisions, and understand how automated testing fits into secure, regulated delivery at every layer of the stack. You will work closely with platform engineers, developers, security specialists, and architects to ensure that testability, quality, and compliance are built into the platform from day one. The environment is air‑gapped Google Distributed Cloud - tooling choices matter, constraints are real, and the assurance bar is high.

You may also get involved with:

• Defining and implementing an automation‑first test strategy covering platform, infrastructure, and application layers, with tooling choices suited to air‑gapped GDC environments where standard cloud connectivity cannot be assumed.
• Designing and building automated test suites across multiple levels: unit and component, integration and system, infrastructure and configuration validation, and smoke, regression, and deployment verification tests.
• Integrating automated testing into CI/CD pipelines to enable continuous testing on code and Infrastructure‑as‑Code changes, with automated quality gates and clear failure feedback.
• Validating Infrastructure‑as‑Code using automated testing and policy‑as‑code approaches, including Kubernetes‑based platforms with a focus on configuration correctness, resilience, and upgrade and rollback scenarios.
• Embedding security testing, policy validation, and compliance evidence generation into delivery pipelines in collaboration with DevSecOps engineers.
• Building reusable test capabilities that application teams can use to self‑serve quality assurance across the platform.
• Producing automated test reports and dashboards that give teams and stakeholders clear, actionable visibility of quality and risk.
• Participating in design and architecture sessions to ensure testability is considered early, not retrofitted.
• Supporting defect triage, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement across delivery teams.

Qualifications:

• Strong hands‑on experience as an Automation Test Engineer or Software Engineer in Test, with a proven record of building automated test capabilities in cloud‑native or containerised environments from the ground up.
• Practical experience integrating test automation into CI/CD pipelines – GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, or similar – and setting quality gates that teams actually trust and act on.
• Proficiency in at least one automation language – Python, Java, or Go – to a standard where you can engineer tests as versioned, maintainable, production‑quality code.
• Experience with test frameworks across API testing (pytest, REST‑assured, Postman/Newman) and UI testing (Playwright, Selenium), with the judgement to pick the right tool for the context.
• Solid understanding of the test pyramid, shift‑left testing, and continuous testing principles, and how to apply them in a DevSecOps environment.
• Experience testing systems built on GCP or equivalent cloud platforms, including Kubernetes and containerised workloads.
• Understanding of Infrastructure‑as‑Code with Terraform or similar, and how to validate it through automated testing and policy‑as‑code approaches.
• Awareness of secure software delivery, configuration drift, misconfiguration risk, and what it means to generate audit and compliance evidence through testing.
• Experience working in secure, regulated, or government delivery environments.
• Clear communication skills and the ability to present test results, risks, and quality findings to both technical teams and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Based within commuting distance of London and available to work on‑site at the client office three days per week.
• Resident in the UK for five or more years with no more than 30 days per year out of the UK to meet Security Clearance (SC) eligibility, or currently holding SC or above. Willingness to undergo Developed Vetting (DV) is required for this role.
• Experience with policy‑as‑code tools, performance and resilience testing, or air‑gapped and restricted network environments would be a strong advantage.
• Google Cloud or testing‑related certifications are also welcome.

Benefits:

• Share in our success with our Quarterly Performance‑Related Profit Share Scheme, where employees collectively benefit from a share of our company's profits.
• Strong Career Progression & mentorship coaching through our Strength in Balance & Leadership schemes with a dedicated quarterly Pathways Career Development programme.
• Flexible/remote working – we are tremendously understanding of life events and people's individual circumstances and offer flexibility to help achieve a healthy work‑life balance.
• Financial wellbeing initiatives including pension, private healthcare cover, life assurance, financial advice and an employee discount scheme.
• Employee wellbeing schemes including gym discounts, bike‑to‑work, fitness classes, mindfulness workshops, employee assistance programme and much more.
• Generous holiday allowance, enhanced maternity/paternity leave, marriage/civil partnership leave and special leave policies.
• Educational assistance, incentivised certifications, and accreditations, including AWS, Microsoft, Oracle, and Red Hat.
• Reward schemes including Version 1's Annual Excellence Awards & 'Call‑Out' platform.
• Environment, Social and Community First initiatives allow you to get involved in local fundraising and development opportunities as part of fostering our diversity, inclusion and belonging schemes.

Version 1 is an equal opportunities employer.