Senior Test Automation Engineer

Version 1; Belfast City District; Hybrid; GBP 52,000 - 76,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible/remote working

Pension

Private healthcare

Life assurance

Career development

Annual excellence awards

Employee discounts

Job summary

Version 1, a Belfast-based technology partner with 30 years in business, is seeking a Java-focused Test Engineer to design and build automation frameworks within an agile delivery team.

You will drive automated testing across functional, API, and cross-browser layers, contribute to CI/CD pipelines, and help ensure high quality code with thorough testing, while enjoying flexible/remote working and strong career development.

Qualifications

• Strong Java skills and ability to build Java-based test automation frameworks.
• Experience designing and implementing automation frameworks using Java, with hands-on knowledge of Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, or Karate.
• Solid experience delivering automated test coverage across functional, cross-browser, API, integration, and acceptance testing.
• API testing with Java-based frameworks; ability to write contract tests and validate request/response behaviour.
• Comfortable working across both automated and manual testing disciplines; know when to automate and when not to.
• Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines and maintaining quality gates.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain Java-based automation frameworks from the ground up, producing test code that is structured and maintainable.
• Deliver automated test coverage across functional, cross-browser, API, integration, and acceptance testing layers, with overnight regression runs.
• Build and extend API test suites using frameworks such as Karate or REST-assured, validating service contracts and data integrity.
• Define and execute test strategies, plans, and scripts across agile delivery cycles with traceability from requirements to test coverage.
• Support development teams to write and automate tests that guide development, including test-driven and behaviour-driven approaches where appropriate.
• Perform front-end cross-browser functional testing, exploratory testing, and system integration testing as needed.

Skills

Java

Automation framework design

Test automation

CI/CD

API testing

Agile/Scrum

Security Clearance eligibility

Tools

Selenium

Playwright

Cypress

Karate

Job description

Company Description

Version 1 has celebrated 30 years in business and continues to be trusted by global brands to deliver technology and transformation solutions that drive customer success. Our deep expertise enables our customers to navigate the rapidly evolving technology landscape. We foster strong partnerships with global technology leaders including Microsoft, AWS, Oracle, Red Hat, OutSystems, Snowflake, ensuring that our customers are provided with the highest quality solutions and services.

We’re an award-winning employer reflecting how our employees are at the very heart of what we do:

• UK & Ireland's premier AWS, Microsoft & Oracle partner
• 3300+ strong, €350/£300m revenue business
• 10+ years as a Great Place to Work in Ireland & UK
• Best Workplace for Women in the UK & Ireland by GPTW
• Best Workplace for Wellbeing in the UK by GPTW

We’re a core values driven company, we hire people who share our values, and we reward those who display and foster them, it’s deeply embedded within our DNA. Invest in us and we’ll invest in you!

Job Description

You may have been working as a Test Engineer, Software Engineer in Test, or Test Analyst who writes Java the way most people write emails — fluently, without thinking twice. You are as comfortable designing and building an automation framework from scratch as you are executing a test plan, and you take genuine pride in the quality of the test code you produce, not just the coverage it achieves.

You will be part of an agile delivery team helping clients achieve meaningful business transformation, embedded alongside developers and product owners with a shared responsibility for quality. This is not a role for someone who treats automation as an optional extra — Java-based test engineering is at the core of what you will be doing, and the expectation is that you bring real depth to it.

You May Also Get Involved With

• Designing, building, and maintaining Java-based automation frameworks from the ground up, producing test code that is structured, reusable, version-controlled, and maintainable to the same standard as production code
• Delivering automated test coverage across functional, cross-browser, API, integration, and acceptance testing layers, with overnight regression runs that the team can rely on
• Building and extending API test suites using frameworks such as Karate or REST-assured, validating service contracts, data integrity, and integration behaviour
• Defining and executing test strategies, plans, and scripts across agile delivery cycles, with clear traceability from requirements through to test coverage
• Supporting development teams to write and automate tests that guide development, including contributing to test-driven and behaviour-driven approaches where appropriate
• Performing front-end cross-browser functional testing, exploratory testing, system integration testing, and user acceptance testing as the engagement requires
• Accurate defect recording, monitoring, and root cause analysis, feeding quality data back into the team to drive continuous improvement
• Reviewing and improving test environments, CI/CD pipeline integration, and test processes to maintain high quality standards across the delivery lifecycle
• Providing test estimates and contributing to planning sessions with a realistic, evidence-based view of testing effort

Qualifications

What we are looking for

• Strong, demonstrable Java skills — this is the core requirement. You should be able to build, review, and own Java-based test automation frameworks, not just work within one someone else has built
• Proven experience designing and implementing automation frameworks using Java, with hands-on knowledge of tools such as Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, or Karate — and the judgement to pick the right one for the context
• Solid experience delivering automated test coverage across functional, cross-browser, API, integration, and acceptance testing, ideally with overnight regression pipelines as part of your normal delivery rhythm
• Practical experience with API testing using Java-based frameworks, including the ability to write contract tests, validate request/response behaviour, authentication flows, and data consistency across integrated services
• Comfortable working across both automated and manual testing disciplines — you know when to automate and when not to, and you can do both well
• Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines and maintaining quality gates that give the team genuine confidence in each release
• Worked in agile or scrum delivery environments, with an understanding of how testing fits within sprints and how to keep pace with a fast-moving development team
• Clear communication skills, with the ability to report on test progress, coverage gaps, and defect trends in a way that is useful to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Resident in the UK for five or more years with no more than 30 days per year out of the UK to meet Security Clearance (SC) eligibility, or currently holding Security Clearance

Additional Information

Why Version 1?

At Version 1, we believe in providing our employees with a comprehensive benefits package that prioritises their wellbeing, professional growth, and financial stability.

• Share in our success with our Quarterly Performance-Related Profit Share Scheme, where employees collectively benefit from a share of our company's profits
• Strong Career Progression & mentorship coaching through our Strength in Balance & Leadership schemes with a dedicated quarterly Pathways Career Development programme
• Flexible/remote working, Version 1 is tremendously understanding of life events and people’s individual circumstances and offer flexibility to help achieve a healthy work life balance
• Financial Wellbeing initiatives including; Pension, Private Healthcare Cover, Life Assurance, Financial advice and an Employee Discount scheme
• Employee Wellbeing schemes including Gym Discounts, Bike to Work, Fitness classes, Mindfulness Workshops, Employee Assistance Programme and much more. Generous holiday allowance, enhanced maternity/paternity leave, marriage/civil partnership leave and special leave policies
• Educational assistance, incentivised certifications, and accreditations, including AWS, Microsoft, Oracle, and Red Hat
• Reward schemes including Version 1’s Annual Excellence Awards & ‘Call-Out’ platform.
• Environment, Social and Community First initiatives allow you to get involved in local fundraising and development opportunities as part of fostering our diversity, inclusion and belonging schemes.

Version 1 is an equal opportunities employer.

We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive and respectful workplace where everyone feels valued and able to thrive. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, identities and lived experiences, and we value the different perspectives people bring including those shaped by disability and neurodiversity.

We want every candidate to have a positive and accessible recruitment experience. If you need reasonable adjustments at any stage of the process, please contact your recruiter at Version 1. We will consider all requests carefully, respectfully and confidentially.

Video links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_d3ELTH5zo