Lead Qa Engineer

Compass Group UK & Ireland Ltd; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 75,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Compass Group UK & Ireland Ltd. is seeking a senior Lead QA Engineer to shape and lead the quality strategy across Digital & Technology.

You will drive automation-first testing, coach engineers, and collaborate with Product, Software Engineering, Platform Engineering, SRE and Service Operations to ensure reliable, scalable digital products ready for release. This senior, hands-on role sets the technical direction for quality and embeds quality throughout the product lifecycle, across multiple

Qualifications

• Significant experience in software testing, automation and quality engineering.
• Experience leading QA within agile, product-led or DevOps environments.
• Strong knowledge of automation frameworks, API and end-to-end testing.
• Experience integrating automated testing into CI/CD pipelines.
• Ability to define test strategies for complex products or platforms.
• Experience leading defect investigations and improving quality outcomes.
• Strong technical leadership, coaching and stakeholder management skills.
• Strategic mindset combined with a willingness to remain hands-on.

Responsibilities

• Define and deliver our quality engineering strategy and roadmap.
• Lead the development of scalable test automation frameworks and standards.
• Coach QA Engineers and build a strong quality engineering community.
• Embed automated quality gates into CI/CD pipelines.
• Establish risk-based approaches to functional and non-functional testing.
• Challenge requirements, designs and acceptance criteria to identify risks early.
• Oversee release assurance and production-readiness evidence.
• Lead complex defect investigations and root cause analysis.
• Use quality metrics and defect trends to drive improvement.
• Evaluate AI-assisted testing tools and emerging quality practices.

Skills

Software testing

QA leadership

Automation frameworks

CI/CD testing

Test strategy

Defect investigations

Stakeholder management

Hands-on leadership

Strategic mindset

Job description

Lead QA Engineer

Location: Parklands, Birmingham
Working pattern: Hybrid
Contract: Permanent
Salary: Competitive salary and benefits

Lead quality engineering at Compass Group UK & Ireland

We're building a modern, in-house quality engineering capability and are looking for an experienced Lead QA Engineer to shape and lead our approach across Digital & Technology.

This is a senior, hands-on role where you'll set the technical direction for quality engineering, lead our move towards automation-first testing and embed quality throughout the product lifecycle.

Working across multiple product squads, you'll provide technical leadership to QA Engineers and collaborate with Product, Software Engineering, Platform Engineering, SRE and Service Operations to ensure our digital products are reliable, scalable and ready for release.

What you'll be doing

• Defining and delivering our quality engineering strategy and roadmap
• Leading the development of scalable test automation frameworks and standards
• Coaching QA Engineers and building a strong quality engineering community
• Embedding automated quality gates into CI/CD pipelines
• Establishing risk-based approaches to functional and non-functional testing
• Challenging requirements, designs and acceptance criteria to identify risks early
• Overseeing release assurance and production-readiness evidence
• Leading complex defect investigations and root cause analysis
• Using quality metrics and defect trends to drive improvement
• Evaluating AI-assisted testing tools and emerging quality practices

What we’re looking for

• Significant experience in software testing, automation and quality engineering
• Experience leading QA within agile, product-led or DevOps environments
• Strong knowledge of automation frameworks, API and end-to-end testing
• Experience integrating automated testing into CI/CD pipelines
• The ability to define test strategies for complex products or platforms
• Experience leading defect investigations and improving quality outcomes
• Strong technical leadership, coaching and stakeholder management skills
• A strategic mindset combined with a willingness to remain hands-on

Experience in performance, resilience, security or accessibility testing would be advantageous.

Why join us?

Compass Group UK & Ireland serves millions of meals across business, education, healthcare, sport and defence.

You’ll join our quality engineering capability at an exciting stage of its development, with the opportunity to establish modern standards, influence how products are built and create a measurable impact across the organisation.

If you're a senior quality engineering leader who combines strategic direction with hands‑on technical expertise, we'd love to hear from you.