Contract Quality Assurance Engineer

Deerfoot Recruitment Solutions; Hounslow; Hybrid; GBP 61,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

Deerfoot Recruitment Solutions is seeking a Contract Quality Assurance Engineer for a 12-month engagement in Hounslow. This role sits in agile teams delivering flight management software used by airlines worldwide, with a 50/50 hybrid work arrangement.

You will design and automate tests, execute varied test types, validate APIs and data flows, and support CI/CD. Experience in QA, automation tooling (Playwright/Selenium), and aviation knowledge are valued.

Qualifications

• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering or related field.
• 3+ years in QA or software testing in Agile environments.
• Experience building automated tests integrated into CI/CD.
• Strong understanding of APIs, data models and distributed systems.

Responsibilities

• Analyse requirements and design test plans and reports.
• Design, implement and maintain automated tests.
• Execute functional, integration, end-to-end and regression tests.
• Validate workflows, integrations, and data flows across interconnected products.
• Support CI/CD with automated testing and quality checks.
• Investigate defects and drive resolution.
• Collaborate with product, engineering and domain teams.

Skills

QA experience

Automated testing

CI/CD

API testing

AI tools usage

SQL

Programming basics

Education

Degree in Computer Science/Engineering

Tools

Playwright

Selenium

Robot Framework

Cypress

Postman

Jenkins

GitHub Actions

SQL

Kafka

Grafana

ISTQB

Job description

Contract Quality Assurance Engineer - 12-Month Contract | Hounslow (50/50 Hybrid) | Up to £380 per day

Every time an aircraft pushes back from the stand, software has already optimised the load, calculated weight and balance, produced a compliant load sheet and absorbed every last-minute change. You could be the engineer who makes sure that software is right, every single time.

This QA role sits within Agile product teams building mission-critical flight management solutions used by airlines worldwide. You'll work closely with Product Managers, Business Analysts, Architects, Engineers, domain experts, and airline customers, validating complex workflows across multiple systems, integrations, and operational domains. If you want your testing to matter - safety, compliance, on-time performance - this is it. You'll also be encouraged to use AI-assisted tooling for test design, automation, defect investigation and documentation.

What You'll Be Doing

• Analysing requirements and workflows to define test approaches, and producing test plans, test cases, automation assets and quality reports
• Designing, implementing and maintaining automated tests that lift regression coverage and delivery efficiency
• Executing functional, integration, end-to-end, regression and exploratory testing
• Validating workflows, integrations, APIs and data flows across interconnected products and services
• Supporting CI/CD through automated testing and quality validation
• Investigating defects, carrying out root cause analysis and driving issues to resolution
• Collaborating across product, engineering and domain teams to ensure solutions are testable
• Championing improvements in quality, automation maturity and engineering practice, including AI-assisted tools

What You'll Bring

• A degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems or a related field
• 3+ years in QA, Software Testing or Quality Engineering within Agile product development
• Proven experience building and maintaining automated testing for enterprise software, integrated into CI/CD pipelines
• Solid understanding of APIs, integrations, data models, and distributed applications, with experience of complex, interconnected systems
• Self-sufficiency to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced, multicultural environment
• Confidence using AI-assisted tools across test design, automation, and defect investigation (AI-Driven SDLC awareness a plus)
• Desirable: airline or airport operations knowledge (flight ops, weight and balance, load control, baggage or ramp); safety-critical or regulated systems; Playwright, Selenium, Robot Framework, Cypress, Karate or Appium; Postman or SOAP UI; Jenkins and GitHub; JSON, SQL, Kafka or Grafana; performance, resilience or security testing; Python or Java; ISTQB; testing AI-powered or agentic capabilities

Keywords: QA Engineer, Quality Engineer, Test Engineer, Test Automation Engineer, SDET, Senior QA Analyst, API Test Engineer, Playwright, Selenium, Cypress, Robot Framework, Karate, Appium, Postman, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, CI/CD, Python, Java, SQL, Kafka, ISTQB, Agile testing, regression testing, airline operations, load control, weight and balance, aviation software, safety-critical systems.