Senior QA Engineer

Senior QA Engineer

London – Hybrid (Mon/Tues/Thurs in office)

£50,000–£70,000 + Benefits

We’re working with a fast‐growing technology organisation in London that is hiring its first Senior QA Engineer. This is a high‐impact opportunity where you’ll take full ownership of quality across a complex, data‐driven web platform. You’ll combine hands‐on testing with strategic input, defining the QA function as the business scales.

The Opportunity

• Full ownership of QA across the entire product
• Highly influential role as the first dedicated QA hire
• Work closely with engineering leadership to shape how software is built and released
• Initial workload is a 50/50 split between manual and automation, with automation increasing over time
• Improve reliability, reduce production issues, and elevate engineering best practice

What You’ll Be Doing

• Define and implement an end‐to‐end QA strategy
• Lead testing across a complex web platform, covering UI, API, integrations, and data‐driven features
• Build, maintain and evolve automated tests using Playwright and Cucumber
• Carry out manual functional, regression and exploratory testing
• Ensure automated tests integrate cleanly with CI/CD pipelines
• Partner with engineers and product teams to clarify requirements and acceptance criteria
• Act as a quality advocate, improving testing culture across the team
• Introduce new tools and approaches where appropriate
• Support reduction of the existing bug backlog and technical debt

What We’re Looking For

• Strong experience as a QA / Test Engineer focused on web‐based products
• Proven ability to shape or build QA processes and strategy
• Solid technical experience with:
• Playwright for automation
• Cucumber/Gherkin or similar BDD frameworks
• End‐to‐end testing of complex workflows
• API testing (e.g., Postman, REST‐assured)
• Comfortable performing both manual and automated testing
• Able to articulate how you’ve improved quality, reliability, and process in previous roles
• Strong communication skills and confidence in championing quality

Nice to Have:

• Experience as the first or only QA in a team
• Background testing analytics, BI tools, or data‐heavy systems
• Experience reducing large bug or technical‐debt backlogs
• Familiarity with agile, iterative delivery environments

Why This Role?

• Impact: Define what “good” looks like for QA
• Ownership: Autonomy to shape tooling, processes and strategy
• Growth: Opportunity to influence engineering practices and help scale a QA function over time
• Environment: Modern tech, collaborative team, and a product relied on by well‐known clients

Work Setup & Benefits

• Hybrid working: 3 days in office (Mon/Tues/Thurs)
• Flexible hours with core time of 10am–5pm
• Additional remote‐working allowance
• Regular socials and a supportive, collaborative team culture
• Extra annual leave benefits and wellbeing perks