Lead SDET: Automation-First QA Leader Scalable CI​/CD

Location: London/Hybrid

Hours: 37.5 hours per week

Contract: Permanent - Salaried

We’re hiring a Lead SDET to lead quality engineering across Merlin Technology, driving automation strategy and embedding quality throughout the software development lifecycle. You will work across engineering, product, and platform teams to scale test automation, integrate quality into CI/CD, improve reliability and performance, and coach teams on engineering best practice.

• Lead and evolve an automation-first test strategy aligned to engineering and business goals.
• Build and scale automated testing across UI, API, and integration layers.
• Embed quality early in the software development lifecycle through shift-left testing and strong engineering practices.
• Own and improve test frameworks to ensure they are modern, maintainable, and effective.
• Integrate automated and performance testing into CI/CD pipelines to support fast, reliable releases.
• Use observability, monitoring, and telemetry to identify issues and improve user journeys.
• Set and drive standards for performance, reliability, and frontend quality.
• Coach engineers and promote a culture of shared quality ownership across teams.
• Partner with engineering, product, and platform teams to improve testability and prevent defects.
• Use metrics, continuous improvement, and secure testing practices to raise overall quality standards.

• 6+ years of experience in SDET, Software Engineering in Test, or Quality Engineering roles, with at least 2 years in a lead or principal capacity.
• Hands‑on expertise with modern test automation frameworks, particularly Playwright or Cypress, with strong proficiency in Type Script or JavaScript.
• Proven experience designing and scaling test automation across UI, API, and integration layers for modern frontend frameworks such as React or Next.js.
• Demonstrable experience integrating automated testing into CI/CD pipelines (e.g. Git Hub Actions, Circle
  
  CI, or Jenkins) within cloud environments such as AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• Experience with API testing tools such as Postman, Rest Assured, or Pact, including contract testing and consumer‑driven contract strategies.
• Practical experience with performance and load testing tools such as k6, Gatling, or Artillery, including integration into CI pipelines and interpretation of results against SLOs.
• Hands‑on experience with observability and monitoring platforms such as Datadog, Dynatrace, or Grafana, including synthetic monitoring, alerting, and production quality insights.
• Experience defining and enforcing Core Web Vitals performance budgets and working with teams to improve Lighthouse scores and real‑user metrics.
• Track record of establishing or maturing quality engineering functions, including the introduction of quality metrics, dashboards, and engineering‑wide quality standards.
• Familiarity with accessibility testing standards (WCAG 2.1/2.2) and tools such as axe‑core or Deque Axe, with experience embedding accessibility checks into automated pipelines.
• Experience in e‑commerce, ticketing, or high‑traffic consumer digital platforms, with an understanding of the quality implications of booking and payments journeys, is highly desirable.

• ‘Enjoy the Ride’ Merlin Annual Passes - 6 in total per year, 1 for you, plus 5 to gift to loved ones!
• Merlin Magic Pass - 20 free tickets for you, your family and friends to enjoy all our Merlin Attractions across the world rising to 40 after a year’s service
• 33 days holiday (including bank holidays)
• Company bonus
• Private pension scheme
• 40% discount online off LEGO
• 25% discount in our on‑site retail shops and restaurants
• Ongoing training and development opportunities
• Plus, many more…

Competitive