QA Practice Lead: Elevate Test Engineering & Automation

Ministry of Social Development; Wellington; On-site; NZD 138,000 - 172,000; Full time

Job summary

The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) is a people-centred organisation delivering income support, housing assistance and services that connect New Zealanders with better lives.

We’re seeking a Practice Lead, Quality Assurance in Wellington to grow Test Engineering capability, drive modern automation, and embed sustainable quality practices across our Technology Group. You will coach teams, shape testing standards and collaborate with delivery partners to ensure high-quality outcomes at scale.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in Test Engineering, Quality Engineering, or Test Automation within large and complex technology environments.
• Deep hands-on expertise with modern test engineering tools and frameworks.
• Proven experience designing, building, and maintaining test automation solutions as production-grade software.
• Strong understanding of automation framework architecture, technical debt, maintainability, and CI/CD integration.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and mentor Quality Assurance practitioners to build capability and mastery of craft.
• Drive the development and continuous improvement of Test Engineering methodologies, standards, and quality practices.
• Provide technical leadership across automation frameworks, tooling, engineering approaches, and quality engineering disciplines.
• Influence and support the adoption of modern testing practices, automation, DevOps, and continuous delivery.
• Partner with delivery teams and stakeholders to embed consistent quality engineering approaches across products and services.

Skills

Test Engineering

Quality Assurance

Test Automation

CI/CD

Agile delivery

DevOps practices

Stakeholder engagement

Playwright

Python

AI in testing

Tools

Playwright

Python

Job description

The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) is a people-centred organisation delivering income support, housing assistance and services that connect New Zealanders with better lives.

We’re seeking a Practice Lead, Quality Assurance in Wellington to grow Test Engineering capability, drive modern automation, and embed sustainable quality practices across our Technology Group. You will coach teams, shape testing standards and collaborate with delivery partners to ensure high-quality outcomes at scale.