Lead Test Automation Engineer

Quality Ai; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 85,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

QualityAI in London seeks a Lead Test Automation Engineer to drive automation testing across functional, system, and security domains. You will lead a small team, design robust automation frameworks, and collaborate with developers and architects to continuously improve test coverage and reliability.

The role focuses on performance testing with JMeter/LoadRunner, security testing practices, and mentoring peers while contributing to recruitment and strategy discussions.

Qualifications

• 8–10 years hands-on test automation experience.
• Experience with Eggplant Functional and API testing tools (SOAP UI, Postman).
• Experience writing System, API, security, and UI tests.
• Knowledge of middleware and message queues (Kafka, IBM MQ, ACE).
• Scripting in Python or JavaScript; monitoring with Control-M.
• Security testing tools such as SonarQube, Fortify, Twistlock, Xray.

Responsibilities

• Lead functional, system, integration, end-to-end, and security testing with automation.
• Lead a small team of test automation engineers.
• Design and maintain automation test scenarios to pinpoint bottlenecks.
• Analyse test results and provide optimization recommendations.
• Collaborate with developers and architects to improve scripts.
• Contribute to performance testing using JMeter and LoadRunner.
• Participate in recruitment and performance strategy development.

Skills

Test automation

Team leadership

Automation frameworks

Scripting Python/JS

Performance testing

Security testing

CI/CD tooling

Test data management

Software architecture

Education

Degree in IT/CS

ISTQB/ISQI/ISEB Foundation

Tools

Eggplant Functional

SOAPUI

Postman

JMeter

LoadRunner

SonarQube

Fortify

Twistlock

Xray

Control-M

Kafka

IBM MQ

ACE

Job description

Lead Test Automation Engineer

Date: 9 Nov 2026 Company: QualityAI Country/Region: GB Grade is flexible from C1/B2Department Description: We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Senior Test Automation Engineer to join our dynamic team in London, UK. As a Senior Test Automation Engineer in Technology, this is an exceptional opportunity to showcase your expertise in Test automation and contribute to the flawless functioning of our world-class systems and services that play a critical role in the nation's economy. Brief Post Description: As part of this hands‑on role, you will conduct and lead automation testing activities to ensure our systems meet the highest standards of quality and reliability, engage in collaborative efforts with diverse teams to assess testing requirements and devise well‑structured Automation Test Plans. We are looking for an Automation Engineer with a proven background, demonstrating a history of successfully implementing test automation frameworks.

Key Responsibilities / Accountabilities of the Role

• This role will be responsible for Functional, System, System Integration, End to End, and Security testing of various critical applications using test automation tools/frameworks such as Karate.
• Leading a small team of test automation engineers.
• Providing innovation and technical leadership.
• Designing, implementing, and maintaining test automation scenarios to pinpoint areas of improvement and identify bottlenecks.
• Analysing test results, identifying issues, and providing recommendations for optimization.
• Working closely with developers and system architects to successfully conduct test script improvements.
• Additional responsibilities of the role include designing/running performance tests using tools such as J-meter, LoadRunner that are part of an existing maintenance test pack.
• Success in this position will also depend on the ability to continuously improve, refactoring as well as work closely with Senior colleagues & product teams to ensure timely bug fixes.
• Working with the leadership team and actively participating in the recruitment process.
• Contributing to the Performance Test Strategy and defining process improvements.

Skills / Experience / Competencies

• To excel in this role, candidate should have at least 8-10 years of hands‑on test automation experience using leading automation tools.
• Proficiency in using testing tools such as Eggplant Functional, API testing tools like SOAP UI, Postman.
• Experience writing System, API, security, and UI test scripts.
• Solid understanding of testing methodologies, tools, and techniques.
• Knowledge of middleware systems/message queuing systems like Kafka, IBM MQ and ACE.
• Familiarity with scripting languages (e.g., Python, JavaScript) and application monitoring tools like Control M.
• Knowledge and experience of using tools like SonarQube, Fortify, Twistlock and Xray for vulnerability scans as part of security testing.
• A broad knowledge of software architecture technologies such as XBRL, HTML, VB, .NET, XML, Java, Web Services, SOA, SOAP, Unix/Linux, SAP, Oracle, SQL, and SharePoint is highly desirable.
• Solid grasp of the Oracle Database architecture and experience in generating Tableau reporting queries.
• Strong analytical skills and confident in learning sophisticated business processes involving the complex integration of several systems.
• Effective coaching, mentoring & collaboration skills.

Education/Qualifications: Desirable but not essential

• Degree or equivalent in Information Technology, Computer Science, or other relevant fields.
• ISTQB / ISQI / ISEB Foundation level qualification