Quality Test Engineer III

Elsevier; City Of London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive Pension Plan

Generous vacation entitlement

Family leave and sabbaticals

Employee discounts

Job summary

Elsevier is seeking a Quality Test Engineer III to drive automation-first testing across APIs and backend services. You will work with engineers and tech leads to ensure reliable, scalable systems and contribute to contract testing and CI/CD integration.

The role emphasizes hands-on Java testing with Karate and Cucumber, strong API expertise, and a passion for quality outcomes. You will shape acceptance criteria, investigate issues, and improve test coverage while aligning with Agile teams in

Qualifications

• Good years of experience in software testing or quality engineering.
• Strong API testing and contract testing experience with REST/GraphQL.
• Strong coding and scripting in Java, with test automation focus.
• Hands-on Karate and Cucumber with RestAssured.
• Exposure to CI/CD pipelines and observability tooling.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain automated test suites for APIs and backend services.
• Write clean, maintainable automated tests in Java with fast feedback.
• Validate functional and non-functional behaviour of search and retrieval services.
• Contribute to contract testing and service-level testing strategies.
• Integrate and maintain tests within CI/CD pipelines; monitor with observability tools.
• Lead discussions on quality improvements and incident reviews.

Skills

API testing

Contract testing

Java

CI/CD

Observability tooling

Test automation

Tools

Karate

Cucumber with RestAssured

Job description

Quality Test Engineer III

Are you passionate about ensuring high-quality software through robust testing and automation strategies? Do you enjoy identifying defects early and improving systems to deliver seamless, reliable user experiences?

About the team:

The Search and AI Platform is Elsevier's agentic data platform, which powers products such as Scopus, ScienceDirect, and our next-generation AI-powered search systems.

The platform uses agentic services to interrogate our rich knowledge graphs, search and recommendation systems, and our unparalleled collection of research data to deliver insights to the scientific community so they can collaborate more effectively, work smarter, and deliver quality research more quickly.

About the role:

We are looking for a Quality Engineer to join the Search and AI Platform team. This is a hands-on, automation-first role focused on API and service-level testing, with quality embedded throughout the development lifecycle rather than validated at the end.

You will work closely with software engineers, quality engineers and technical leads to ensure our search and retrieval services are reliable, scalable, and safe to consume by downstream product teams. You will be able to analyse complex systems, contribute meaningfully to engineering discussions, and take clear ownership of quality outcomes across your areas of the platform.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, implement, and maintain automated test suites for APIs and backend services using Karate, Cucumber with RestAssured.
• Write clean, maintainable, and reliable automated tests in Java that provide fast, accurate feedback to the team.
• Validate functional and non-functional behaviour of search and retrieval services, including error handling, reliability, and service interactions.
• Contribute to contract testing and service-level testing strategies across our REST and evolving GraphQL APIs.
• Integrate and maintain automated tests within CI/CD pipelines, supporting testing at multiple levels of the stack.
• Use observability tooling such as New Relic and logging to support diagnosis, monitoring, and quality analysis.
• Technically analyse problems and proposed solutions, recognising the right level of detail and abstraction to contribute to and lead engineering discussions.
• Contribute to incident reviews and post-mortems, improving test coverage to prevent repeat issues.
• Work with engineers early in the development process to shape acceptance criteria, surface edge cases, and improve overall testability.

Requirements:

• Good years of experience in software testing or quality engineering.
• Strong experience of API testing and/or contract testing, data formats, and service interactions.
• Strong coding and scripting ability in Java.
• Hands-on experience with Karate, Cucumber with RestAssured.
• Good exposure to CI/CD pipelines, supporting the integration of testing at various levels of the stack.
• Exposure to observability tooling such as New Relic or logging.
• The ability to technically analyse a problem and a solution, recognising the right level of detail and abstraction to lead discussions.
• Willingness to take ownership of assigned areas and continuously improve quality outcomes.
• Experience working in Agile/Scrum teams.

Nice to Have

• Performance testing experience.
• Familiarity with GraphQL APIs and service-level or contract testing approaches.
• Experience testing shared services or internal platforms.
• Knowledge of Kubernetes (EKS).
• Interest in search, AI, or data-oriented systems.

Why Join Us?

Join our team and contribute to a culture of innovation, collaboration, and excellence. If you are ready to advance your career and make a significant impact, we encourage you to apply.

Work in a way that works for you

We promote a healthy work/life balance across the organisation. We offer an appealing working prospect for our people. With numerous wellbeing initiatives, shared parental leave, study assistance and sabbaticals, we will help you meet your immediate responsibilities and your long-term goals.

• Working flexible hours - flexing the times when you work in the day to help you fit everything in and work when you are the most productive.

Working for you

We know that your well‑being and happiness are key to a long and successful career. These are some of the benefits we are delighted to offer:

• Comprehensive Pension Plan
• Generous vacation entitlement and option for sabbatical leave
• Maternity, Paternity, Adoption and Family Care Leave.
• Personal Choice budget
• Internal communities and networks
• Various employee discounts
• Recruitment introduction reward
• Employee Assistance Program (global)

About the business-

A global leader in information and analytics, we help researchers and healthcare professionals advance science and improve health outcomes for the benefit of society. Building on our publishing heritage, we combine quality information and vast data sets with analytics to support visionary science and research, health education, and interactive learning, as well as exceptional healthcare and clinical practice. At Elsevier, your work contributes to the world’s grand challenges and a more sustainable future. We harness innovative technologies to support science and healthcare to partner for a better world.

We know your well‑being and happiness are key to a long and successful career. We are delighted to offer country specific benefits. Click here to access benefits specific to your location.

We are committed to providing a fair and accessible hiring process. If you have a disability or other need that requires accommodation or adjustment, please let us know by completing our Applicant Request Support Form or please contact 1-855-833-5120.

We are an equal opportunity employer: qualified applicants are considered for and treated during employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship status, disability status, protected veteran status, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

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