Automation Test Lead - Contract

Rate: £430/day
Location: London, UK
Work Mode: Hybrid (50% office attendance)
Clearance: Active SC Clearance (Mandatory)
Domain: Payments/Banking/Financial Services

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced Automation Test Lead to lead quality engineering initiatives for a large-scale payments transformation programme. The successful candidate will be responsible for defining and driving automation testing strategy, leading a team of SDETs and Test Engineers, and ensuring high-quality delivery across critical payment processing platforms.

This role requires strong leadership capabilities, hands-on automation expertise, and proven experience within payments environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and implement the overall test automation strategy across multiple workstreams.
• Lead, mentor, and manage a team of SDETs and Automation Test Engineers.
• Establish automation frameworks, best practices, and quality standards.
• Collaborate with Product Owners, Business Analysts, Developers, Architects, and Delivery Managers.
• Oversee test planning, execution, reporting, and defect management activities.
• Drive API, integration, UI, regression, and end-to-end automation testing.
• Ensure quality controls are Embedded throughout the SDLC and CI/CD pipeline.
• Support release management and production readiness activities.
• Monitor testing metrics and provide regular progress updates to stakeholders.
• Identify testing risks and implement mitigation strategies.

Required Skills & Experience Essential

• Active SC Clearance.
• Extensive experience leading test automation teams in Agile environments.
• Strong hands-on experience with:
  • Java or C#
  • Selenium WebDriver
  • REST Assured
  • API Automation Testing
  • Jenkins, Azure DevOps, or GitLab CI/CD
  • TestNG, JUnit, or equivalent frameworks
• Strong understanding of QA governance and test strategy development.
• Experience with microservices-based architectures.
• Excellent stakeholder management and leadership skills.

Domain Experience

• Proven experience within Payments environments.
• Knowledge of payment processing systems and transaction workflows.
• Experience working with:
  • Faster Payments
  • CHAPS
  • BACS
  • Open Banking
  • ISO 20022 (desirable)

Desirable

• ISTQB Advanced Certification.
• Experience working within government, banking, or regulated environments.
• Performance testing exposure using JMeter, Gatling, or LoadRunner.