Lead Software Engineer In Test

Ocho People; Belfast City District; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work

Job summary

Ocho People leads a world‑class technology organisation in Belfast, delivering cutting edge QA with AI-assisted testing. You will head test strategy, own automation frameworks, and drive quality from design through production in a modern, high‑stakes environment.

This senior role centres on distributed systems, cloud native platforms and a culture of quality engineering. The role features a hybrid working model from a brand new Belfast city centre office, with strong collaboration across global

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in QA automation within Agile environments.
• Strong automation experience using Selenium, Cypress, Playwright or TestComplete.
• Proficiency in Java, JavaScript or similar programming and scripting languages.
• Experience integrating automation within CI and CD pipelines using Jenkins, GitLab, TeamCity or similar.
• Hands on experience with BDD frameworks such as Cucumber.

Responsibilities

• Lead test strategy across the Agile team, balancing manual, automated and performance testing with a strong shift left and API first emphasis
• Design, develop and maintain automated and functional tests within CI and CD pipelines
• Build and maintain scalable, self healing automation frameworks using Playwright or WebDriverIO
• Leverage AI tools including Copilot, ChatGPT and Amazon Q to optimise testing efficiency and automation workflows
• Champion quality across the Agile team, promoting best practices including unit testing and code reviews
• Identify performance bottlenecks and provide actionable recommendations
• Mentor and coach team members to elevate QA standards across the engineering function
• Collaborate with global BA, Development and QA teams to design and coordinate effective test strategies

Skills

Automation testing

Agile testing

Mentoring

Tools

Playwright

Selenium

Cypress

TestComplete

Jenkins

GitLab

Job description

Lead SDET Engineer

Ocho People | Technology Recruitment

• Lead SDET role at a world-leading technology organisation


• AI-assisted testing, Playwright, BDD, Cucumber and CI/CD pipeline integration


• Hybrid working from a brand new Belfast city centre office


• Salary up to £75,000 plus 10 to 15% performance bonus

Why This Organisation

Let us be straight with you. There are a lot of Lead SDET roles out there. Most of them look the same. This one is different, and here is why.

Our client is one of the most significant technology organisations operating in globally.Their systems cannot afford to fail. Quality is not a checkbox here, it is a core engineering discipline built into every sprint, every release and every architectural decision.

They are investing seriously in Belfast. They have hired 70 People here already this year and to support that growth, they have moved into a brand new office in Belfast city centre, purpose-built for the engineering team they are growing here for the long term. This is not a satellite function doing maintenance work on someone else's platform. It is a core engineering hub tackling complex, high-stakes problems with modern technology and real autonomy.

If you are a senior QA engineer who wants to work somewhere where your work genuinely matters, where quality engineering is taken seriously at every level, and where the organisation around you has the scale and ambition to match your ability, this is worth your attention.

The Role and What It Can Do For Your Career

This is a Lead SDET position at the heart of a high performing Agile engineering team. You will lead on test strategy, own automation frameworks and drive quality from the earliest stages of development through to production. The role is genuinely senior in scope, not just in title.

What makes this role stand out for your career is threefold. First, AI assisted testing is a core expectation here, not a future aspiration. You will be working with tools like Copilot, ChatGPT and Amazon Q day to day, building and refining automation workflows in ways that most QA engineers are still reading about. That experience will be invaluable and transferable. Second, the mentoring remit is real. You will be growing the QA capability of the engineers around you, which means your influence extends well beyond your own output. Third, the complexity of the systems you will be testing is significant. Distributed, cloud native platforms processing global transaction volumes. That kind of experience at this depth is rare and it shows on a CV.

The stack is Playwright, BDD with Cucumber, CI and CD pipeline integration across Jenkins and GitLab, performance and load testing with K6 and JMeter, and API and end to end testing across complex distributed systems. You will collaborate with global BA, Development and QA teams and contribute to the evolution of scalable, self healing automation frameworks.

Key responsibilities include:

• Lead test strategy across the Agile team, balancing manual, automated and performance testing with a strong shift left and API first emphasis


• Design, develop and maintain automated and functional tests within CI and CD pipelines


• Build and maintain scalable, self healing automation frameworks using Playwright or WebDriverIO


• Leverage AI tools including Copilot, ChatGPT and Amazon Q to optimise testing efficiency and automation workflows


• Champion quality across the Agile team, promoting best practices including unit testing and code reviews


• Identify performance bottlenecks and provide actionable recommendations


• Mentor and coach team members to elevate QA standards across the engineering function


• Collaborate with global BA, Development and QA teams to design and coordinate effective test strategies

What you will need:

• Extensive experience in QA automation within Agile environments


• Strong automation experience using Selenium, Cypress, Playwright or TestComplete


• Proficiency in Java, JavaScript or similar programming and scripting languages


• Proven ability to design and maintain scalable automation frameworks, ideally with Playwright or WebDriverIO


• Experience integrating automation within CI and CD pipelines using Jenkins, GitLab, TeamCity or similar


• Hands on experience with BDD frameworks such as Cucumber


• Experience using AI tools to design and optimise test automation


• Strong experience in API, functional and end to end testing


• Working knowledge of non functional testing including performance, load and stress testing with K6 or JMeter


• Experience working in Agile or SAFe environments with distributed teams