Our client is a well-established business operating within the financial services sector, providing innovative technology solutions to support complex financial operations. They are committed to delivering high-quality software and continuously investing in automation, modern engineering practices and product innovation.

The Opportunity

They are looking for an experienced QA & Automation Team Lead to lead their Quality Assurance function and drive the evolution from predominantly manual testing to a modern, automation-first approach.

This is a hands-on leadership role, ideal for someone who has successfully transformed QA teams, implemented automation strategies and enjoys improving software quality through scalable processes and technology.

You'll lead a team of QA Engineers while remaining technically involved, helping shape testing frameworks, embedding quality into development workflows and championing continuous improvement across the engineering function.

What They're Looking For

• Leading the transition from manual testing to automated testing.

• Managing and mentoring QA Engineers.

• Defining QA strategy, automation frameworks and testing standards.

• Embedding quality into Agile development and CI/CD pipelines.

• Remaining hands-on with automation, debugging and technical problem solving.

• Driving continuous improvement across software quality processes.

Key Responsibilities:

Team Leadership

• Lead and mentor a team of QA Engineers.

• Conduct regular one-to-ones, performance reviews and development planning.

• Allocate work, prioritise testing activities and ensure effective team delivery.

• Foster a collaborative, accountable and high-performing QA culture.

• Support recruitment, onboarding and capability development.

QA Strategy & Quality Ownership

• Own and evolve the overall QA strategy.

• Define testing standards, release criteria and quality processes.

• Ensure appropriate test coverage across new features and regression testing.

• Review requirements early to identify quality risks and improve testability.

• Act as the key quality representative across Engineering and Product teams.

Test Automation & Delivery

• Lead the design and implementation of automated testing frameworks.

• Define testing strategies covering functional, integration, API, end-to-end and non-functional testing.

• Improve regression coverage and maintainability of automation suites.

• Integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines.

• Support hands-on testing activities where required.

Reporting & Continuous Improvement

• Develop quality metrics and meaningful QA reporting.

• Monitor defect trends, release quality and testing effectiveness.

• Identify opportunities to improve tooling, processes and delivery practices.

• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across the QA function.

AI & Innovation

• Explore practical applications of AI within software testing.

• Evaluate tools that improve automation, productivity and test coverage.

• Encourage experimentation with AI-assisted testing approaches.

• Stay up to date with emerging QA technologies and industry trends.

Collaboration

• Work closely with Product Managers, Software Engineers, Business Analysts and stakeholders.

• Promote a quality-first culture throughout the software development lifecycle.

• Communicate testing progress, quality risks and release readiness effectively.

• Support User Acceptance Testing where appropriate.

Essential Experience

• Proven experience leading a QA team.

• Demonstrated success transitioning organisations from manual to automated testing.

• Strong experience designing and maintaining automated test frameworks.

• Experience defining QA strategies for complex software products.

• Strong understanding of Agile development methodologies.

• Experience with API, integration, regression and end-to-end testing.

• Knowledge of CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices.

• Excellent analytical, communication and stakeholder management skills.

• Ability to balance quality, delivery timelines and commercial priorities.

Desirable Experience

• Experience within financial services, fintech or another regulated industry.

• Knowledge of trading systems, electronic markets or complex financial platforms.

• Experience with Playwright, Cypress, Selenium or similar automation tools.

• Exposure to AI-assisted software testing solutions.

• Performance, resilience or security testing experience.

• Previous experience within a scaling technology business.

For more information on this role, apply now!