QA Lead, Quality Assurance - QA​/QC, IT QA Tester ​/ Automation

QA Lead

Manchester (Hybrid) | Full-Time | £75,000

Are you an experienced QA Leader with a passion for quality engineering, test automation, and modern software delivery? This is an opportunity to take ownership of quality strategy across a portfolio of innovative SaaS and AI-powered products, ensuring quality is embedded throughout the entire software development lifecycle.

You'll combine hands-on technical expertise with strategic leadership, helping engineering teams deliver high-quality software at pace while shaping the future of QA practices, automation frameworks, and AI-assisted testing approaches.

Our client is a fast-growing technology business investing heavily in product innovation, engineering excellence, and artificial intelligence. They offer an environment where quality is viewed as a shared responsibility and where continuous improvement is encouraged across every aspect of delivery.

• Lead quality assurance strategy across innovative SaaS and AI-powered products.
• Shape the future of test automation, engineering standards, and AI-assisted testing.
• Work closely with engineering, product, and platform teams to influence delivery practices.
• Join a business investing in modern technology, automation, and continuous improvement.

• Define and own the end-to-end QA strategy across multiple products and engineering teams.
• Lead the development and evolution of automated testing frameworks using C#, xUnit, Selenium, and Playwright.
• Establish quality standards, testing processes, and release validation procedures.
• Drive the integration of testing and quality gates throughout CI/CD pipelines.
• Lead approaches for testing AI-enabled features, automation workflows, and non-deterministic systems.
• Monitor quality performance, defect trends, and production issues to drive continuous improvement.
• Coach and mentor engineers on automation, testing best practices, and quality ownership.
• Partner with stakeholders across Engineering, Product, and Platform to improve software delivery outcomes.

• Strong commercial experience in QA leadership and test automation.
• Hands-on experience with C#, xUnit, Selenium, and Playwright.
• Proven track record of defining and implementing QA strategy across multiple teams or products.
• Deep understanding of automated, manual, integration, regression, and end-to-end testing approaches.
• Experience embedding testing and quality controls into CI/CD pipelines.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience working within Agile software development environments.

• Experience testing AI, machine learning, or LLM-enabled applications.
• Exposure to cloud-native platforms, containerisation, and distributed systems.
• Experience with event-driven or highly scalable SaaS applications.
• ISTQB certification or equivalent quality assurance qualifications.

• Location: Manchester (Hybrid)
• Salary: £75,000
• Working Pattern: Hybrid, Full-Time

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds. Our client is an equal opportunities employer.

Right to work in the UK is required for this role.