QA Automation Engineer

Travel Counsellors Limited; Urmston; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Annual bonus

Flexible hybrid working

25 days holiday

Enhanced maternity/paternity pay

Charity day

Pension scheme

Private Medical Insurance

Free breakfast

Job summary

Travel Counsellors Limited is hiring an experienced QA Automation Engineer to join our Manchester tech team. You will help ensure the quality, reliability and scalability of our digital platform used by 2,000+ independent travel agents.

You will design and implement automated tests across API, contract, component and end-to-end layers, and work with AI-assisted testing approaches to accelerate feedback and risk identification within our CI/CD pipelines.

Qualifications

• Experience designing, implementing and maintaining API, component and contract tests ensuring reliable service interactions.
• Experience scripting automated, browser-based, end-to-end functional tests using Selenium WebDriver with C#.
• Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines to provide fast, reliable feedback and enable early defect detection.
• Experience in Test Plan preparation, estimation, and status reporting.
• Experience in Manual testing (UAT/System/Regression).
• Experience across different testing types, including unit, integration, performance, security and resilience testing.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with product owners, developers and stakeholders to define effective test strategies and acceptance criteria.
• Design, implement and maintain automated quality validation across multiple testing layers (unit, API, end-to-end, performance).
• Build, maintain and improve automated test suites, integrating them into CI/CD with quality gates.
• Document and track defects, supporting timely resolution with development teams.
• Perform manual testing as required, including exploratory, usability and regression testing.
• Continuously improve testing processes, tools and methodologies to enhance efficiency and coverage.
• Participate in code reviews, sprint planning and release management to ensure high-quality software.

Skills

Quality-first mindset

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

Selenium WebDriver (C#)

CI/CD pipelines

AWS

Azure DevOps

Job description

About Us

At Travel Counsellors, our customers, communities, and colleagues are at the heart of everything we do. For over 30 years, we've empowered 2,200+ independent travel agents worldwide, helping them build successful businesses while providing deeply personal, human connections with their customers. Supported by a talented team of over 400 people in our Support Offices, we create unique travel experiences that keep customers coming back. Named the Best Place to Work in Travel (2022) and ranked in the Sunday Times Best Places to Work (2023, 2024 & 2025), we’re expanding rapidly and looking for exceptional individuals to join our Head Office team.

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced QA Automation Engineer to join our growing technology team in Manchester, UK. Working as part of our dynamic technology function, you will directly contribute to an award-winning digital platform that supports over 2,000 entrepreneurial travel businesses.

You will play a critical role in ensuring the quality, reliability, and scalability of our technology platform through comprehensive testing methodologies, with a strong focus on automation and an AI-first mindset. You will work closely with cross-functional teams to understand requirements, provide quality input early in the delivery lifecycle, develop effective test strategies, and implement automated tests across our product portfolio.

You will use modern engineering practices including AI-assisted test design, code generation, test analysis, and defect investigation alongside sound technical judgement to improve test coverage, accelerate feedback, and identify risks earlier. This will include validating functionality, performance, APIs, components, contracts, integrations, and scalability, while helping embed quality gates within our CI/CD pipelines.

Principal Accountabilities

• Collaborate with product owners, developers and stakeholders to provide quality input into requirements, identify risks, and define effective test strategies and acceptance criteria
• Design, implement and maintain automated quality validation across multiple testing layers, including unit, component, API, contract, end-to-end, performance and regression testing
• Build, maintain and continuously improve reliable automated test suites, integrating them into CI/CD pipelines with appropriate quality gates.
• Identify, document and track software defects using issue-tracking systems, working closely with development teams to support timely resolution
• Perform manual testing as required, including exploratory, usability and regression testing
• Continuously improve testing processes, tools and methodologies to enhance efficiency, reliability and coverage
• Participate in code reviews, sprint planning and release management activities to support the delivery of high-quality software
• Stay informed about emerging trends, technologies and best practices in software testing, automation, AI-assisted quality engineering and responsible AI adoption

Required Experience

• Working knowledge of the software development lifecycle, applying an AI-enabled, quality-first approach throughout
• Experience designing, implementing and maintaining API, component and contract tests ensuring reliable service interactions
• Experience using AI-assisted testing tools with sound judgement, human oversight and awareness of associated risks, including privacy, inaccurate assumptions and coverage gaps.
• Experience scripting automated, browser-based, end-to-end functional tests using the Selenium WebDriver with C#
• Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines to provide fast, reliable feedback and enable early detection of defects
• Experience in Test Plan preparation, estimation, and status reporting
• Experience in Manual testing (UAT/System/Regression)
• Experience across different testing types, including unit, integration, performance, security and resilience testing
• Working knowledge of Cloud computing (AWS)
• Working knowledge of Azure DevOps

Our Benefits

• Competitive salary + annual bonus
• Flexible hybrid working
• Career development opportunities
• 25 days holiday (increasing to 28 after 5 years)
• Enhanced Maternity/Paternity pay
• 1 day paid charity day
• Company events and incentives
• 3x salary death in service benefit
• Pension scheme
• Private Medical Insurance or Healthcare Cash Plan
• Free breakfast and beverages

Inclusive Recruitment at Travel Counsellors

Travel Counsellors is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and do not discriminate based on race, gender, disability, or any protected characteristic. We provide accommodations for individuals with disabilities throughout the hiring process and will make every effort to accommodate reasonable adjustments where required. We believe diverse perspectives strengthen our team and encourage all to apply.