Quality Assurance Lead

ROLE OVERVIEW //

We are seeking an experienced Quality Assurance (QA) Lead to join the Technology Department. The role sits within the Quality Assurance team which is a part of the Technology department and the wider Business Services function based at the firms’ head office in London.

The successful candidate will sit alongside QA Leads within the Quality Assurance team, with clear accountability for technical QA excellence, automation strategy, and external partner oversight. The role owns the technical quality capability for projects, ensuring that delivery teams and third parties meet defined standards for automation, performance, data quality, and AI-enabled testing.

This role requires strong experience in QA methodologies, test automation, and extensive experience working with enterprise-wide business systems and integrations. The Test Lead reports into the Quality Assurance Manager.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES //

The key responsibilities of this role are set out below and there may be others which are not listed. You may be required on occasion to work outside our normal working hours of 9:30am to 5:30pm.

Test Management:

• Lead and manage the end-to-end QA process for the project capability including planning, design, execution, and closure.
• Review design requirements and provide effective feedback for creation of test scenarios – additionally drive requirement traceability between requirements and test cases.
• Develop and maintain the test strategy, test plans, and test cases for the project, ensuring alignment with project requirements and timelines.
• Ensure all test activities are well-documented, tracked, and reported, adhering to the organisation's quality standards.

Technical Leadership:

• Own and evolve the technical QA strategy - covering automation, AI, performance, data, and non-functional testing
• Define and maintain technical QA standards, patterns, and guardrails for all project and platform testing.
• Act as the technical authority for QA tooling, frameworks, and test architecture decisions.
• Own and evolve the AI QA roadmap, identifying where AI can improve test effectiveness, efficiency, coverage, and insight. Additionally, leading the evaluation, piloting and adopting of AI-enabled QA tools and techniques.

Stakeholder Management:

• Collaborate with project managers, business analysts, and other stakeholders to understand project requirements and objectives.
• Communicate test progress, risks, issues, and mitigations to stakeholders in a timely and transparent manner.
• Act as the primary QA contact for third-party vendors, coordinating testing efforts and ensuring vendor deliverables meet the required quality standards.

Test Automation and Tools:

• Own and drive of the Playwright C# test automation framework and drive improvements in best practice and future implementation.
• Drive and develop the implementation of enterprise test automation tools to automate the regression pack for desktop-based applications and enterprise systems, such as M365 and Azure Integration Services.
• Manage and optimise the use of Azure DevOps to enable test automation within CI/CD pipelines, increasing speed to market and reducing deployment risks.
• Ensure the team stays current with the latest test automation tools and techniques, driving continuous improvement in testing practices.

Third-Party and Vendor Management:

• Provide technical oversight and governance for all QA activities delivered by third-party partners and professional services providers
• Coordinate and oversee testing efforts involving third-party applications, ensuring seamless integration and high performance.
• Ensure third-party automation and testing solutions align with internal standards and are transferable, maintainable, and reusable.
• Review and approve vendor test plans, ensuring they meet project requirements and quality benchmarks.
• Act as the escalation point for technical QA risks and quality concerns relating to external delivery.

Reporting and Documentation:

• Prepare and deliver regular test status reports, highlighting key metrics, test coverage, defects, and progress towards milestones.
• Ensure comprehensive documentation of test cases, defects, and testing procedures to support knowledge transfer and future project phases.
• Conduct post-implementation reviews and retrospectives, documenting lessons learned and recommendations for future projects.

CANDIDATE PROFILE //

Candidates for this position must have:

• Minimum of 5-7 years of experience in Quality Assurance, with at least 3 years in a lead or management role.
• Strong automation coding capability (preferably in C#, .Net)
• Solid understanding of CI/CD, DevOps practices, and modern SDLCs.
• Extensive experience in working across complex enterprise systems, integrations and managing third-party vendors.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with an eye for detail and a commitment to quality.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to present complex information clearly and concisely.
• Ability to work under pressure and manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong experience with test automation tools and frameworks – Playwright or Tricentis Tosca
• Experience with Agile and Waterfall methodologies and managing the test lifecycle from project initiation to completion.
• Hands-on experience with ALM/test management tools such as Azure DevOps and TestRail.

We welcome applications irrespective of race, colour, ethnic or national origin, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, belief or marital status