Software Quality Assurance Lead

London (Hybrid 2 Days WFH)

Want to take technical ownership of test automation rather than simply maintain what’s already there?

We're partnering with a leading global publisher looking for a hands-on Senior QA Automation Engineer to help shape and build the next stage of their automation capability.

You’ll join an established software development team working across a suite of web-based enterprise applications and data integrations, taking technical ownership of test automation across both new and existing products.

Playwright and TypeScript are central to the role.

This is a genuinely hands-on position. You’ll have the freedom to shape the framework approach, build automated test suites from scratch, integrate testing into CI/CD pipelines and work closely with senior developers to define the wider testing strategy.

You’ll also act as the team’s automation specialist, helping support manual QA testers as they develop their automation capabilities, while still recognising where manual testing remains the right approach.

What you’ll be doing:

• Taking technical ownership of test automation across new and existing products.
• Building scalable automated test suites using Playwright and TypeScript.
• Helping define the automation framework and wider testing strategy.
• Integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines so testing runs reliably with every change.
• Supporting manual QA testers as they move towards greater automation.
• Working across UI, API and non-functional testing, including performance and load testing.
• Helping prioritise the technical backlog and balance immediate delivery with longer-term investment in automation.
• Working closely with developers, DevOps, architecture, data teams and business users.
• Using AI coding assistants to accelerate and improve test automation.

What we’re looking for:

• Strong hands-on experience with Playwright and TypeScript.
• Experience building automated test suites and frameworks from scratch.
• API testing experience using Postman.
• Experience writing and executing manual test plans, with the judgement to know when automation isn’t the right answer.
• Experience with non-functional testing, including performance and load testing.
• Experience working with relational databases and SQL.
• Confidence with Git, branching strategies and CI/CD environments.
• Experience using AI coding assistants to support test automation.
• A collaborative approach and strong written and verbal communication skills.

Experience with Python, Linux, Docker or Azure DevOps would be a bonus.

Location: London

If you’re looking for a role where you can remain technically hands-on, take real ownership of automation and help shape how testing is approached across a suite of business-critical applications, we’d love to hear from you.