Lead QA Tester

Lead QA Tester

Knutsford (on-site)

Upto £60,000

We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Lead QA Tester to join a dynamic team located in the heart of Knutsford. As Lead QA Tester, you will be responsible for leading product validation efforts and building a robust testing framework for SaaS products. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in quality assurance, test automation, and leadership, ensuring that our products meet excellent standards of quality and reliability.

Responsibilities

Lead Product Validation:

• Oversee the entire QA process for product releases, including planning, execution, and reporting.
• Develop and execute comprehensive test plans, test cases, and test scripts to ensure thorough validation of product features and functionalities.
• Collaborate closely with Product Management, Development, and other stakeholders to understand requirements and define acceptance criteria.
• Conduct functional, regression, integration, performance, and security testing to identify and resolve issues.
• Manage the defect lifecycle, including identifying, logging, tracking, and verifying bugs in collaboration with the development team.
• Ensure all deliverables meet the quality standards and acceptance criteria before deployment.

2. Build and Maintain the Testing Framework:

• Design and implement a scalable and maintainable automated testing framework to improve test coverage and efficiency.
• Integrate automated tests into the continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline to ensure regular and reliable testing.
• Select and implement appropriate testing tools and technologies to support the testing framework.
• Develop and maintain automated test scripts for regression, performance, and security testing.
• Ensure the testing framework can support various testing types, including API, UI, and end-to-end testing.

3. Lead and Mentor the QA Team:

• Provide leadership, guidance, and mentorship to the QA team members.
• Conduct regular code and test case reviews to ensure high-quality standards are maintained.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement, encouraging team members to learn and adopt new testing methodologies and tools.
• Develop and deliver training sessions and workshops to enhance the skills and knowledge of the QA team.

4. Collaborate with Cross-Functional Teams:

• Work closely with product managers, developers, and designers to understand requirements, provide feedback, and ensure testability.
• Participate in Agile ceremonies such as sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives.
• Communicate testing progress, results, and issues to stakeholders in a clear and concise manner.
• Advocate for best practices in quality assurance and contribute to process improvements.

Desired Skills & Experience?

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent work experience.
• Proven experience as a QA lead or senior QA engineer in a SaaS or software development environment. Strong knowledge of QA methodologies, tools, and processes.
• Experience with test automation tools (e.g., Selenium, JUnit, TestNG, Cypress).
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and tools (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD).
• Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
• Strong leadership and mentoring skills.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

Core Competency Requirements

• Experience with performance and security testing.
• Knowledge of Agile/Scrum methodologies.
• Certification in software testing (e.g., ISTQB, CSTE).