Principal QA Engineer, Strat. Partners

The Bbc; City of Westminster; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading media organization is seeking a Principal QA Engineer to ensure high-quality software delivery. The role involves leading quality engineering initiatives across multiple products in a hybrid working environment. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in QA, agile methodologies, and test automation. Competitive salary and benefits including flexible work arrangements are offered.

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements

25 days annual leave

Defined pension scheme

Discounted health and gym services

Qualifications

• Proven experience in senior-level QA roles.
• Deep understanding of SDLC and DevOps practices.
• Hands-on experience with functional and exploratory testing.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and implementation of test strategies.
• Champion quality throughout the product development lifecycle.
• Define and maintain quality metrics and KPIs.

Skills

Quality engineering leadership

Agile methodologies

Test automation frameworks

Analytical and problem-solving skills

Non-functional testing

Tools

Python

JavaScript

AWS

Job description

Overview

Location: London or Salford or Newcastle or Glasgow (hybrid role: balance office and home working). Region: Salford, GBR, M50 2QH. Department: Product Group Enablement. Contract type: Permanent. Proposed salary range: £90,000 - £100,000. Flexible working will be discussed at offer stage.

This is a Principal QA Engineer role within BBC’s Product Group Enablement. You will play a strategic role in ensuring the delivery of high-quality software by third parties, in partnership with BBC leaders across Product Group. You will shape quality standards for work with partners and influence internal quality strategies, collaborating with product, engineering, test and design teams throughout the Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC) and with Test leadership. Your deep understanding of QA practices and software development will help shape scalable, efficient, and reliable solutions for our audiences.

Responsibilities

• In partnership with Test and Engineering leadership across Product Group, lead the design and implementation of test strategies across multiple products supported through third-party suppliers.
• Champion quality throughout the PDLC, from requirements analysis to deployment and maintenance.
• Embed best practices by working with Engineering leadership—both within the BBC and with partners—to integrate automated quality checks into CI/CD pipelines and agile workflows.
• Define and maintain quality metrics and KPIs to measure and improve software reliability and performance.
• Evaluate and implement new tools, technologies, and methodologies to enhance testing capabilities.
• Support initiatives to reduce defect leakage and production incidents.
• Advocate for testability, observability and quality in architecture and design discussions.
• Mentor aspirant technical leaders across Product Engineering; act as a visible technical leader within the community.

Skills and Experience

Essential criteria: Proven experience in senior-level or principal QA roles, with a track record of leading quality engineering or testing in complex software environments affecting multiple teams, including web or mobile front-end testing; deep understanding of the SDLC, agile methodologies, and DevOps practices with shift-left thinking; familiarity with test automation frameworks and scripting languages (e.g., Python, JavaScript) and opinions on AI-enabled testing; strong analytical and problem-solving skills; hands-on functional and exploratory testing experience; strong non-functional testing knowledge (performance, security); excellent communication and leadership skills with the ability to influence across teams.

Desirable but not required: Experience in cloud-native apps and microservices; familiarity with AWS; familiarity with performance monitoring tooling.

Other Information

EEO and diversity: We welcome applications from all backgrounds. We are a disability confident employer and can discuss adjustments for interviews or for the role.

Benefits

• Fair pay and flexible benefits including salary, a flexible 35-hour working week, 25 days annual leave (plus up to 5 days), a defined pension scheme, and discounted health and gym services.
• Excellent career and professional development opportunities.
• Flexible working arrangements available; discuss during application, selection, or offer.
• Values-based organisation where the Way We Work matters as much as what we do.