QA & Automation Test Lead

Location: Newcastle upon Tyne

Our client is a well-established business operating within the financial services sector, providing innovative technology solutions to support complex financial operations. They are committed to delivering high-quality software and continuously investing in automation, modern engineering practices and product innovation.

The Opportunity They are looking for an experienced QA & Automation Team Lead to lead their Quality Assurance function and drive the evolution from predominantly manual testing to a modern, automation-first approach.

This is a hands-on leadership role, ideal for someone who has successfully transformed QA teams, implemented automation strategies and enjoys improving software quality through scalable processes and technology.

You'll lead a team of QA Engineers while remaining technically involved, helping shape testing frameworks, embedding quality into development workflows and championing continuous improvement across the engineering function.

What They're Looking For Leading the transition from manual testing to automated testing.

Managing and mentoring QA Engineers.

Defining QA strategy, automation frameworks and testing standards.

Embedding quality into Agile development and CI/CD pipelines.

Remaining hands-on with automation, debugging and technical problem solving.

Driving continuous improvement across software quality processes.

Key Responsibilities:

Team Leadership Lead and mentor a team of QA Engineers.

Conduct regular one-to-ones, performance reviews and development planning.

Allocate work, prioritise testing activities and ensure effective team delivery.

Foster a collaborative, accountable and high-performing QA culture.

Support recruitment, onboarding and capability development.

QA Strategy & Quality Ownership Own and evolve the overall QA strategy.

Define testing standards, release criteria and quality processes.

Ensure appropriate test coverage across new features and regression testing.

Review requirements early to identify quality risks and improve testability.

Act as the key quality representative across Engineering and Product teams.

Test Automation & Delivery Lead the design and implementation of automated testing frameworks.

Define testing strategies covering functional, integration, API, end-to-end and non-functional testing.

Improve regression coverage and maintainability of automation suites.

Integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines.

Support hands-on testing activities where required.

Reporting & Continuous Improvement Develop quality metrics and meaningful QA reporting.

Monitor defect trends, release quality and testing effectiveness.

Identify opportunities to improve tooling, processes and delivery practices.

Drive continuous improvement initiatives across the QA function.

AI & Innovation Explore practical applications of AI within software testing.

Evaluate tools that improve automation, productivity and test coverage.

Encourage experimentation with AI-assisted testing approaches.

Stay up to date with emerging QA technologies and industry trends.

Collaboration Work closely with Product Managers, Software Engineers, Business Analysts and stakeholders.

Promote a quality-first culture throughout the software development lifecycle.

Communicate testing progress, quality risks and release readiness effectively.

Support User Acceptance Testing where appropriate.

Essential Experience Proven experience leading a QA team.

Demonstrated success transitioning organisations from manual to automated testing.

Strong experience designing and maintaining automated test frameworks.

Experience defining QA strategies for complex software products.

Strong understanding of Agile development methodologies.

Experience with API, integration, regression and end-to-end testing.

Knowledge of CI/CD…