Principal QA Engineer - Python Automation - Hybrid (Belfast)

Ocho People; Belfast; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading tech company in Northern Ireland seeks an experienced Principal QA Engineer to take ownership of automation strategy in a complex environment. This role involves providing technical leadership, mentoring engineers, and optimizing automation tools. With a salary up to £65k and a flexible hybrid model, this position is ideal for those with expertise in Python and automated testing.

Benefits

Private pension scheme

Private healthcare

High spec equipment

Qualifications

• 7+ years' automated testing experience, ideally in financial services.
• Expert level Python skills for automation frameworks.
• Strong understanding of low latency systems.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership for automation across testing.
• Architect, design and maintain advanced automation frameworks.
• Mentor and support engineers to uplift automation capabilities.

Skills

Automated testing

Python development

Distributed architectures

Linux environments

Agile methodologies

Job description

Role Overview

As Principal QA Engineer, you will be the technical authority for automation strategy within a complex, distributed, low latency environment. You'll take ownership of evolving Liquidnet's automated testing ecosystem, shaping best practice, and introducing high impact Python driven automation across the SDLC. This role sits at the intersection of QA, DevOps and architecture, giving you genuine influence over quality engineering standards across multiple teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership for automation across functional, regression, integration and performance testing
• Architect, design and maintain advanced Python based automation frameworks
• Drive the modernisation and optimisation of existing automation tooling and infrastructure
• Design and implement automated smoke and verification testing for production deployments
• Mentor and support engineers across QA and development to uplift automation capability
• Contribute to broader SDLC improvements, reliability initiatives and DevOps alignment

Essential Skills and Experience

• 7+ years' automated testing experience, ideally within financial services or similarly high reliability domains
• Expert level Python development skills applied to automation frameworks and tooling
• Strong understanding of distributed architectures, low latency systems and performance behaviour
• Deep knowledge of Linux environments, SQL, messaging technologies and integration patterns
• Proven leadership or principal level influence within Agile engineering teams
• Ability to drive automation strategy, challenge assumptions and deliver measurable improvements

What They Offer

• Salary up to £65k
• Flexible hybrid working model
• Private pension scheme
• Private healthcare
• High spec equipment and modern engineering environment

For more information, connect with Neill Ferguson on LinkedIn or submit your CV via the link below.