Senior QA​/SDET

Senior QA / SDET | Java, Spring Boot & API Testing | London Hybrid | £60,000 + Bonus

I’m working with a specialist financial‑services business looking to hire a backend‑focused Senior QA Engineer / SDET to help drive quality across complex, business‑critical trading systems.

This is not a UI‑heavy automation role.

They are looking for someone who thinks like a developer and has strong experience testing backend services, APIs, microservices, databases and event‑driven systems. You’ll take ownership of test strategy, build robust automation frameworks and help ensure reliability across highly integrated financial platforms.

You’ll be joining a technical environment where accuracy, data integrity and production stability are essential.

• Driving the QA and automation strategy across backend trading and financial‑services systems
• Building and maintaining automated API and service‑level test frameworks using Java
• Testing Spring Boot applications, microservices and complex business logic
• Developing integration tests across APIs, databases, messaging systems and downstream services
• Mocking and stubbing external dependencies using tools such as Wire Mock, Mockito or Mock Server
• Building deterministic test environments using Test Containers and Docker
• Validating asynchronous workflows, callbacks, retries, timeouts and failure scenarios
• Testing Kafka, RabbitMQ or other event‑driven architectures
• Performing complex SQL validation, reconciliation and financial‑data checks
• Implementing contract testing using Pact, Spring Cloud Contract or similar tools
• Embedding automated testing into CI/CD pipelines
• Supporting reliable releases across a regulated, business‑critical environment
• Using Playwright or Selenium selectively for critical user journeys and smoke testing

• Strong commercial experience as a QA Engineer, Automation Engineer or SDET
• A backend‑focused testing background rather than predominantly UI automation
• Good working knowledge of Spring Boot
• Strong experience with JUnit or TestNG
• Deep hands‑on experience with REST Assured
• Strong API, service‑level and integration‑testing experience
• Experience with Spring Boot Test, including @Spring Boot Test  or @Web Mvc Test
• Hands‑on experience with Test Containers
• Strong SQL skills, including complex queries, joins and data validation
• Experience testing microservices and multi‑system workflows
• Experience testing authentication flows such as OAuth2 and JWT
• Strong understanding of JSON schema validation
• Experience integrating automated tests into Jenkins, Git Hub Actions or Git Lab CI
• Docker experience and a basic understanding of Kubernetes
• Genuine practical experience with TDD, BDD, shift‑left testing and the test pyramid

• Experience testing Kafka, RabbitMQ or other messaging systems
• Event, producer and consumer validation
• Avro or JSON schema validation
• Contract testing using Pact or Spring Cloud Contract
• Playwright or Selenium for limited UI coverage

Experience with in one or more of the following would be highly valuable:

• Risk platforms, including VaR, PnL or reporting systems
• Other complex regulated financial‑services environments

• Test a service that depends on several downstream APIs
• Mock services and simulate failures, delays and outages
• Test a payment or trading flow across multiple systems
• Validate APIs, databases and messaging together
• Test retries, timeouts, fallbacks and asynchronous processes
• Reconcile complex financial data using SQL
• Build stable, maintainable test frameworks rather than relying on manual Postman testing

• Discretionary bonus
• Hybrid working - 3 days per week in the London office
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Private healthcare with Vitality

This is a great fit for a backend‑focused SDET who enjoys testing complex systems, writing production‑quality automation code and working closely with developers to improve quality throughout the software development lifecycle.