Lead Quality Engineer

N BROWN; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading digital retail company in Manchester is seeking a Lead Quality Engineer to guide the QA team, focusing on automation and continuous improvement in testing processes. The ideal candidate will have significant experience in e-commerce and strong leadership skills. This role offers a hybrid working environment, competitive benefits including a pension scheme and mental health support, and opportunities for career development in a collaborative atmosphere.

Benefits

Hybrid working (2 days in the office)

24 days holiday (+ 8 bank holidays)

Annual bonus scheme

Enhanced maternity and adoption leave

Company pension with up to 8% contribution

Mental health support

Colleague discount across all brands

Onsite café with subsidised rates

Life Assurance and Private Medical Insurance

Paid volunteer time

Qualifications

• Proven experience in a QA Lead/Lead Quality Engineer level role.
• Strong understanding of test strategies and risk-based testing.
• Ideally hands-on experience with test automation frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Line-manage and mentor QA engineers.
• Set quality standards and foster a culture of accountability.
• Ensure testing reflects the retail business realities.

Skills

Quality advocacy

Communication skills

Data-driven mindset

Problem-solving

Agile methodologies

Tools

Automation frameworks

CI/CD integration

Job description

We're looking for a Lead Quality Engineer to join our Digital Operations team here at N Brown Group. As one of the two Lead Quality Engineers, you will collaborate on shared objectives and resource management while independently guiding your designated area. This is not a hands‑off role and while your main focus will be owning and driving the end‑to‑end test strategy across our digital products and supporting your squads, there is plenty of opportunity to get involved in the hands‑on testing.

You'll guide an established team of QA engineers, championing automation and continuous improvement, working closely with product, engineering, and delivery teams to ensure every change we release is reliable, secure, performant, and customer‑centric.

About You

You’ll be a quality advocate who cares deeply about the customer experience. A pragmatic leader who can balance speed and quality in a fast‑paced retail environment. Someone excited by innovation, who wants to push how we test, automate, and assure quality at scale across N Brown's digital platforms. We are looking for a creative problem solver who is excited to innovate and push the boundaries of quality assurance at scale.

What will you do as a Lead Quality Engineer at N Brown?

Leadership & Team Development

• Line‑manage and mentor QA engineers, supporting their career development, coaching, and upskilling.
• Set quality standards, provide feedback on test design and coverage, and foster a culture of ownership and accountability.
• Champion collaboration in cross‑functional squads, ensuring QA is involved from discovery through to release.
• Help drive the Test Chapter initiative forward.

Innovation & Continuous Improvement

• Explore and introduce innovative testing approaches.
• Use data and metrics to drive continuous improvement.
• Work with Engineering and Product to experiment with new tools, techniques, and AI‑driven testing where appropriate.

Customer & Retail Focus

• Ensure testing reflects the realities of an omni‑channel retail business, including seasonal trading peaks, promotions, and campaigns.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to understand customer journeys, pain points, and business KPIs, and translate these into meaningful test scenarios.
• Help safeguard site performance and stability during key retail events.

Governance & Standards

• Define and maintain quality gates, test standards, and documentation across squads.
• Support risk assessments and release readiness decisions, clearly articulating quality, risk, and impact to stakeholders.
• Ensure compliance with internal security, data protection, and regulatory requirements in testing practices.

What skills and experience will you have?

• Proven experience in a QA Lead/Lead Quality Engineer level role within e‑commerce, retail, or high‑traffic digital environments.
• Excellent communication skills, able to translate technical quality risks into clear, business‑relevant language.
• Strong understanding of test strategies, test design, and risk‑based testing across web, mobile, and APIs.
• Ideally Hands‑on experience with test automation frameworks (e.g., UI and API automation) and integrating tests into CI/CD.
• Familiarity with modern engineering practices (Agile, Scrum/Kanban, DevOps, microservices, cloud).
• Experience working with cross‑functional squads and influencing without direct authority.
• Data‑driven mindset, comfortable using metrics and analytics to inform decision making and improvements.

What's in it for you?

• Hybrid working (2 days in the office at a minimum)
• 24 days holiday (+ 8 bank holidays)
• Annual bonus scheme
• Enhanced maternity and adoption leave
• Company pension with up to 8% N Brown contribution
• Mental Health support both internally and externally, including access to our wellbeing champions and counselling services
• A range of financial wellbeing support
• Stream – a financial wellbeing tool that helps you track your pay, access earnings early and manage your money with confidence
• Colleague discount across all N Brown brands
• Onsite café with subsidised rates and local restaurant discounts!
• Life Assurance and Private Medical Insurance
• Paid volunteer time – all our colleagues can take a full day paid to volunteer for a charity of their choice

N Brown – who we are and why work for us?

At N Brown, we're committed to building a diverse workforce and creating an inclusive environment that values equality for all. Our vision is that by "championing inclusion", we'll become the most loved and trusted fashion retailer. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging are, therefore, at the heart of our culture.

We're a forward‑thinking digital retailer with a financial services proposition to be proud of. We're customer‑obsessed, serving them through three core brands: JD Williams, Simply Be, and Jacamo. We're experienced, with over 160 years of trading under our belt. We're inclusive, as we believe in fashion without boundaries; and we're sustainable, striving to make as little impact on the planet as possible.

In May 2024 we were delighted to be named one of The Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2024. We work hard to create a happy and inclusive culture for everyone and we're so proud to have made this list – as voted for by our very own colleagues!

Ways of Working

We offer hybrid working which varies across the business depending on the role you're in. Our Head Office is located in the Northern Quarter in Manchester City Centre. So if you are travelling by train, tram or bus we're perfectly located, plus we're surrounded by cool cafes, trendy bars and the best places to eat!

Our working hours are 36.17 per week and our core working hours are between 10am – 4pm. Given we don't have strict working hours you can find the working pattern that’s right for you.

Our promise to you:

We're an equal opportunity employer and value diversity. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, colour, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

What happens when you apply to a role at N Brown?

As soon as we receive your application, we'll send you an email to let you know. We always aim to come back to you as soon as possible with an update and we really appreciate you taking the time to apply for a role with us. Good luck!