Quality Assurance Engineer

Athera Healthcare; Leeds, Norwich, Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 35,000 - 45,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company pension scheme

Professional development opportunities

25 days annual leave + bank holidays

Job summary

Athera Healthcare is seeking a QA Engineer to shape our QA practice across a mixed technology estate, from web apps to legacy desktop systems.

You will split time between building automated regression coverage and hands-on exploratory testing, with AI-assisted testing and modern automation in scope. You’ll work closely with developers and the Head of Technology to raise quality standards and influence testing approaches across projects.

Qualifications

• Commercial experience in software quality assurance or testing.
• Strong exploratory and manual testing skills.
• Experience testing web applications and APIs.
• Ability to write tests or contribute to automation.
• Interest in AI-assisted testing and low-code automation.
• Experience working in Agile environments.
• Ability to investigate defects and provide reproducible information.

Responsibilities

• Define and continuously improve QA strategy, processes and standards.
• Build automated regression coverage across web and desktop apps.
• Investigate AI opportunities to enhance testing speed and coverage.
• Convert manual regression tests into automated tests.
• Use AI-assisted tools to generate and maintain test suites.
• Participate in defect triage and help reproduce issues.
• Contribute to release readiness and test data management.
• Integrate automated testing into Azure DevOps pipelines.

Skills

Software QA experience

Exploratory testing

Manual testing

Web application testing

Automated regression testing

Scripting / automation basics

AI-assisted automation interest

Defect investigation & reproducible

Test case / scenario creation

API testing

Risk-based testing

Agile / iterative collaboration

Independent / ownership mindset

Tools

Playwright

Selenium

Cypress

Postman

Azure DevOps

CI/CD tooling

Job description

Athera Healthcare delivers innovative healthcare solutions that improve patient outcomes and transform healthcare delivery.

About the role

We are looking for a QA Engineer who wants the opportunity to shape how quality assurance is done, rather than simply inherit an established testing process.

You will be our first dedicated QA hire and will work closely with the Head of Technology and the wider development team to define and establish a pragmatic QA approach across a varied technology estate.

Our applications span modern web technologies and long-established desktop systems, including React, Angular, .NET, Java, Delphi, WinForms/WPF and ASP.NET Web Forms.

Automation today is relatively limited. A major part of this role will be helping us change that.

We are particularly interested in someone who is keen to embrace AI-assisted testing and modern automation techniques. We do not expect you to arrive with every answer. We are looking for someone with strong QA fundamentals, good scripting and technical skills, and the curiosity to investigate new approaches and turn them into practical improvements.

This could suit an experienced mid-level QA Engineer who wants greater ownership and the opportunity to demonstrate that they can build and influence a QA capability.

What you'll be doing

The role will be approximately 50% test automation and 50% hands-on exploratory and manual testing, although the balance will naturally change depending on releases and projects.

You will:

• Help define and continuously improve our overall QA strategy, processes and standards.
• Build out automated regression coverage across both web and legacy desktop applications.
• Investigate where AI can make testing faster, broader and more maintainable.
• Convert existing manual regression tests into appropriate automated tests.
• Use AI-assisted tools to help generate, maintain and improve automated test suites.
• Investigate agentic and computer-use technologies for automating applications that are difficult to test using traditional automation frameworks.
• Identify gaps in regression coverage and prioritise automation based on risk and business impact.
• Create and maintain appropriate test data.
• Use AI and automation tooling to analyse failures, diagnose issues and reduce brittle or unreliable tests.
• Perform exploratory testing to identify issues that scripted and automated tests may miss.
• Manually verify complex functionality and changes where automation would not provide sufficient confidence.
• Test functionality across modern web applications and legacy Windows desktop systems.
• Test APIs and integrations.
• Participate in performance, security and non-functional testing where appropriate.
• Review acceptance criteria and contribute to improving testability before development begins.
• Produce proportionate test plans based on technical and business risk.
• Participate in defect triage and help development teams understand and reproduce issues.
• Contribute to release readiness and release sign-off.
• Help manage test environments, test data and regression coverage.
• Integrate automated testing into our Azure DevOps development and delivery processes.
• Work closely with developers to encourage quality throughout the software development lifecycle rather than treating testing as a final release step.

AI and automation

We see AI as an important part of the future of software quality.

We are not looking for someone who simply uses AI to generate test scripts. We want someone interested in understanding where AI genuinely improves QA and where traditional engineering judgement remains essential.

You will be encouraged to investigate and apply AI to areas including:

• Generating initial automated test cases and scripts.
• Identifying potential gaps in regression coverage.
• Generating realistic and useful test data.
• Analysing automated test failures and logs.
• Diagnosing flaky or brittle tests.
• Improving and maintaining existing automated tests.
• Exploring computer-use and agentic testing approaches for legacy desktop applications.
• Supporting exploratory testing and identifying unusual edge cases.

AI-generated tests and results must still be critically reviewed. Strong QA judgement, curiosity and the ability to recognise unexpected behaviour remain central to the role.

What we're looking for

You should have:

• Commercial experience in software quality assurance or software testing.
• Strong exploratory and manual testing skills.
• Experience testing web applications.
• An understanding of automated regression testing and when automation is appropriate.
• The ability to write scripts or test automation without needing to be a full-time software developer.
• An interest in modern AI-assisted and low-code/no-code automation tools.
• Experience investigating defects and providing developers with clear, reproducible information.
• Experience creating test cases, test scenarios and regression suites.
• An understanding of API testing.
• An understanding of risk-based testing.
• Experience working alongside software developers in an Agile or iterative development environment.
• The confidence to question requirements and identify scenarios that may not have been considered.
• The ability to work independently and establish structure in an environment where the QA function is still developing.

Most importantly, you should be someone who is curious about how modern tools can improve software quality and willing to experiment, learn and challenge established testing approaches.

Useful experience

Experience in any of the following would be beneficial, but we do not expect candidates to have everything:

• Playwright, Selenium, Cypress or similar web automation frameworks.
• Testing WinForms, WPF or Delphi applications.
• Testing applications built using React or Angular.
• Testing .NET or Java applications.
• ASP.NET Web Forms applications.
• REST API testing.
• Postman or similar API testing tools.
• Automated testing within CI/CD pipelines.
• Performance testing.
• Security testing.
• Accessibility testing.
• AI-assisted development or testing tools.
• Agentic automation or computer-use technologies.
• Healthcare, audit or other environments where accuracy, traceability and reliability are particularly important.

What success looks like

During your first year, we would expect you to progressively:

• Establish a clear and pragmatic QA approach across the technology team.
• Create greater visibility of regression coverage and software quality risks.
• Build a maintainable automated regression suite for our highest-value and highest-risk workflows.
• Introduce appropriate automated testing into Azure DevOps pipelines.
• Reduce the amount of repetitive manual regression testing required for releases.
• Establish effective exploratory testing practices alongside automation.
• Demonstrate practical uses of AI that improve testing speed, coverage or maintainability.
• Develop workable approaches for automating appropriate parts of our legacy application estate.
• Improve the quality and consistency of release readiness decisions.
• Help developers consider testing and quality earlier in the development lifecycle.

The opportunity

This is not a role where you will simply execute someone else's test scripts.

You will have the opportunity to influence how QA develops across the organisation, experiment with new approaches and technologies, and demonstrate what a modern QA function can deliver.

• There will be guidance and support from the technology leadership team, but we are looking for someone who wants ownership, is comfortable investigating unfamiliar problems, and is motivated by the opportunity to build something better.

• £35,000 - £45,000 per annum, dependant on experience
• Company pension scheme
• Professional development opportunities
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Location

Leeds, Norwich or London – Hybrid / Remote

Athera Healthcare is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified individuals regardless of age, gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief.