Lead QA

WARACLE; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading digital technology consultancy in London is looking for a Lead QA for a short-term contract. You will be responsible for establishing and championing the QA strategy and practices within a financial services project. The role requires strong experience in implementing test automation architectures and managing stakeholder expectations. This position allows for hybrid working and offers a competitive day rate.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in a Lead QA or Senior QA role.
• Deep expertise in defining and implementing test automation architectures.
• Ability to report on quality metrics in product KPIs context.

Responsibilities

• Establishing test strategies across squads.
• Defining and enforcing test automation coding standards.
• Leading QA squads and being accountable for QA delivery outcomes.

Skills

Test automation strategy

Risk assessment

Stakeholder management

Performance testing

Security testing

Accessibility testing

Job description

Waracle is a world-class digital technology consultancy and home to a diverse, smart, curious and ambitious community of specialists in technology-driven transformation.

We work with ambitious clients to help them solve their biggest business and customer challenges. We help our clients to innovate and create intelligent digital products and services. We thrive on complex challenges and deliver business-critical IT transformation projects, moving seamlessly from strategy, design and delivery to operations.

Waracle is looking for a Lead QA to join our team on a short-term contract for 3 months. The Lead QA role will require hybrid working from the London office.

As a Lead QA, you will be the go-to quality expert, responsible for defining, establishing, and championing the overarching QA strategy, standards, and practices within a financial services project. You will use your expertise to resolve conflicts, manage stakeholder expectations, and lead QA workstreams to guarantee successful, high-quality delivery outcomes.

Key aspects of this role

• Establishing test strategies across squads and facilitating risk workshops to ensure cross-platform consistency.
• Defining and enforcing test automation coding standards and architectural patterns for a squad.
• Implementing quality gates in CI/CD pipelines to enforce standards and defining squad-level automation strategy.
• Defining and championing the Non-Functional Requirement (NFR) strategy (performance, security, accessibility) for a squad, ensuring appropriate coverage and standards.
• Implementing improvements to environment stability and test data management processes across squads.
• Leading QA squads or workstreams and being accountable for QA delivery outcomes at the project level.
• Advising stakeholders persuasively with evidence-based QA recommendations, managing expectations around scope, priorities, and timelines, and resolving conflicts.

Job requirements

What you will bring:

• Proven experience in a Lead QA or Senior QA role, establishing and scaling QA strategies across multiple teams or platforms.
• Deep expertise in defining and implementing test automation architectures, CI/CD quality gates, and NFR testing (e.g., performance, security).
• Ability to report on quality metrics in the context of product KPIs and business objectives.
• Proven track record of implementing improvements to environment stability and test data management (TDM) processes across multiple teams.
• Strong background in risk assessment, mitigation planning, and adjusting QA scope under delivery constraints.
• Proven ability to advise and influence senior stakeholders persuasively with evidence-based QA recommendations and manage expectations around scope, priorities, and timelines.

The recruitment process you can expect for this role is an initial call with your dedicated Talent Acquisition Partner who will chat with you about Waracle, what you are looking for in a new position, the day rate for the role and the project. After that, you'll be invited to a two-stage interview process where you have an opportunity to find out more about the role and showcase your skills and experience. Your Talent Acquisition Partner will guide you through the whole process to your first day with us.

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, gender, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.