QA Lead - Data Platform (TL1)

Kaluza; West of England; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

26 days holiday

Private medical insurance

Discretionary bonus

Flex Fund 5% of salary

Learning budget

Home office budget

Climate action app

Job summary

Kaluza is seeking a QA Lead (Data) to define and drive the testing approach for our Data Org. You will partner with Data Engineering, Product, and clients to ensure quality across the software delivery lifecycle, with a focus on data systems, ETL, and schema validation.

You will lead quality initiatives, define gates for releases, and coach teams to embrace a test-first mindset, while reporting metrics and maintaining strong client communications.

Qualifications

• Proven QA strategies, processes and methodologies, incl. test plans and scripts for complex software.
• Agile teams with a test-first mindset; manage priorities, scope and risk to maximise testing impact.
• Data testing methods (quality checks, schema validation, ETL/migration testing) and SQL proficiency.
• Experience building quality metrics, dashboards and reporting for stakeholders.
• Strong collaboration and communication with development, product and client teams at all levels.
• Ability to influence across engineering, product and leadership; coach teams to own quality.
• Experience with client delivery, defining and reporting quality metrics; drive improvement plans.
• Nice to have: test automation frameworks, CI/CD quality gates, AI tools for data issues, data governance familiarity, Python and BI tools (Power BI/Looker).

Responsibilities

• Define and own the test strategy and test plans for the Data Org based on risk, criticality, and impact to business and clients.
• Create and deliver test plans for complex data systems: functional, transformation, schema, ETL/migration testing.
• Set quality gates to determine release readiness for client environments.
• Log, triage, prioritise and track defects; drive root-cause analysis.
• Select and maintain testing tools and CI/CD automation.
• Support queries on test data and releases; maintain client confidence with clear communication.
• Influence engineers, data analysts, and leadership to adopt a test-first mindset.
• Report on test progress, quality trends, risks to stakeholders; raise blockers early.
• Document quality standards, test coverage, decisions; disclose known issues and risks.
• Act as SME on data testing and data quality practices, incl. data quality checks.

Skills

QA strategy

Agile testing

Data testing

SQL proficiency

Quality metrics

Stakeholder comms

Influence & coaching

Client delivery

Test automation

CI/CD quality gates

AI data tools

Data governance

Python & visualization

Tools

Power BI

Looker

Python

Job description

Location: Bristol or London

Level: TL1

Team: Quality

Contract: Permanent

Reporting To: Shira Tsinovich

Please note: This role requires an existing right to work in the UK. We can’t offer visa sponsorship, but we review sponsorship role by role, so keep an eye on our careers site for future opportunities.

About Kaluza

Kaluza is the Energy Intelligence Platform, turning energy complexity into seamless coordination. We help energy companies overcome today’s challenges while accelerating the shift to a clean, electrified future.

Our platform orchestrates millions of real-time decisions across homes, devices, markets and grids. By combining predictive algorithms with human-centred design, Kaluza makes clean energy dependable, affordable and adaptive to everyday life.

With teams across Europe, Asia and Australia, and a joint venture with Mitsubishi Corporation in Japan, we power leading companies including OVO, AGL and ENGIE, as well as innovators like Volvo and Volkswagen.

What You’ll Do

As the QA Lead across Data you will work closely with the Data Org, setting the testing approach and quality standards for its products and platforms.

You will be the quality partner for data delivery teams, advising on testing and quality assurance across the software delivery lifecycle. You will work with Data Engineering, Product teams, and clients to make sure changes meet the defined quality bar before they reach client environments.

This is an individual contributor role with no line management responsibilities. You will influence through expertise, relationships, and evidence.

• Define and own the test strategy and test plans for the Data Org, deciding what is tested and how, based on risk, criticality, and impact to the business and clients.
• Create and deliver test plans for complex data systems, covering functional, transformation, schema, and ETL/migration testing, plus end-to-end coverage across data and engineering teams.
• Set the quality gates that determine whether a change is fit to be promoted to client environments, and assess release readiness against milestones.
• Ensure defects are logged, triaged, prioritised, and tracked to resolution in accordance with Quality standards, and drive root-cause analysis on recurring or high-impact issues.
• Select and maintain the tools and frameworks used for testing, with automated checks running in CI/CD.
• Work with delivery teams, programme teams, and clients to support queries on test data and releases, and to maintain client confidence through clear, professional communication.
• Influence engineers, data analysts, and leadership to adopt a test-first mindset and own the quality of their products, and hold a firm line on quality standards.
• Report on test progress, quality trends, and risks to technical and non-technical stakeholders, and raise delivery risks and blockers early.
• Maintain documentation of quality standards, test coverage, and decisions, with transparency on known issues and risks.
• Act as the subject matter expert on data testing and data quality practices, including data quality checks (completeness, accuracy, consistency, uniqueness, validity, timeliness).

What You’ll Bring

• Proven QA and testing experience: Strong knowledge of QA strategies, processes and methodologies, including defining and executing test plans, test cases and test scripts for complex software applications.
• Agile, test-first delivery: Experience in cross-functional Agile teams with a test-first mindset, managing priorities, scope and risk to maximise testing impact across distributed engineering organisations.
• Data testing and SQL: Working knowledge of data testing methods (data quality checks, schema validation, transformation testing, ETL/migration testing), plus SQL proficiency for querying and profiling large datasets to diagnose quality issues.
• Quality metrics and reporting: Experience building quality metrics, dashboards and reporting for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Collaboration and communication: Strong stakeholder management and verbal and written communication skills, working with development, product and client teams at all levels of management, including client engagement.
• Influence and coaching: Ability to influence and negotiate across engineering, product and leadership, hold a firm line on quality standards, and coach engineers and product managers to own the quality of their products.
• Client Delivery: experience working directly with client teams to define and report quality metrics, and to introduce quality improvement plans.
• Nice to have: Test automation framework experience; defining quality gates in CI/CD or release pipelines; AI tools for identifying and fixing data issues; data testing and observability tooling; familiarity with data governance, data contracts and GDPR; and Python and visualisation tools (e.g. Power BI, Looker).

Our Values

• Play to win: Collective pride in decarbonising energy at scale.
• Solve the real problem: Cutting through complexity to focus on real-world outcomes.
• Build trust every day: Consistency, transparency and doing what we say.
• Own the outcome: Full accountability, wins and setbacks, without ego.
• Go further together: Collaboration, respect and different perspectives.

Our Perks

• Time off and family: 26 days’ holiday, plus 26 weeks’ full pay for new parents with no qualifying service period
• Health and security: Private medical insurance with virtual GP, life assurance, pension scheme, free mortgage advice and eye tests
• Pay and flexibility: Discretionary bonus, a Flex Fund of 5% [of salary] to spend on the benefits you want most, retail discounts through Perks at Work
• Growth and setup: Personal learning budget, home office budget
• Climate: Furthr, our climate action app

Come as you are

We want to meet people from all walks of life. The more inclusive we are, the better our work will be, and we recognise talent on merit and potential. If you’re excited about the role but don’t tick every box, we’d still love to hear from you.

Find out more on our careers page and LinkedIn. Our Applicant Data Protection Policy is here.