Test Automation Lead

Lead Automation Test Architect

Location:

Sheffield

Work Mode:
Hybrid

We are looking for a highly skilled Lead Automation Test Architect with strong expertise Identity and Access management (IAM), skilled in identity orchestration, API testing, data ingestion and transformation, and event-driven (Pub/Sub) architectures. This role focuses on testing secure, scalable identity and access workflows across Google Cloud Platform, integrating identity services with custom APIs, Pub/Sub pipelines, and cloud-native applications.

• Create an overall testing strategy where the focus is Automation First with minimal manual effort required.
• Plan, develop, execute, maintain and improve Automated Test Framework and Automated Test Scripts for Web and Graph Database applications.
• Jenkins pipeline creation and management for running automated tests, generating reports and notifying team about test results to streamline the CI/CD process.
• Lead, mentor, and manage other engineers within the team.
• Able to develop and execute test plans, test cases, test data, test scenarios, and other testing related plans and documentation based on the requirements and technical specifications.
• Test data generation.
• Accurately report and track testing related defects and issues, by writing or automating, effective and thorough bug reports, attend triage meetings and verify bug fixes.
• Identify process and application issues and provide suggestions to improve.
• Learn new technologies and adapt to them as needed.
• Communicate progress regularly to senior stakeholders and programme leads, understanding the level of information relevant to the recipient.
• Generate regulatory evidence as needed.
• FR / NFR traceability.
• Identification and collating test entry and exit criteria.
• Test case review/QA for coverage and traceability to requirements/design.
• Liaison with business areas/technical leads re SIT/OAT/UAT scenario definitions as required.
• Analysis of design and other documents for testability.
• Testing functions and decision points "As Code", such as Policy as code.
• Strong technical leadership and process improvement - Establish automation testing standards, best practices, and governance frameworks across the organization.

• Extensive experience within Identity and Access Management.
• Solid experience of at least 5 years in a lead automation role, skilled in creating frameworks with strong coding experience e.g Java, Playwright, Python, Typescript, Cypher, Scala and API tooling (such as Insomnia, Apidog or Postman).
• Deep IAM domain knowledge.
• Testing functions and decision points "As Code", such as Policy as code.
• Graph and event-driven validation.
• Automation-first test experience.
• Layered test architecture.
• Risk-based test prioritisation.
• RBAC / ABAC / ReBAC / PBAC.
• OPA / Rego policy testing.
• Policy explainability validation.
• REST API automation, API Gateway testing, Batch ETL testing.
• Consumer-driven contract testing.
• Idempotency testing.
• Replay and reprocessing testing.
• Graph data validation (Neo4j).
• Containerised test execution.
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills and stakeholder engagement at all levels.
• Experience of using a range of automation tools and experience of test tool selection/recommendations based on assessment of the environment/landscape.
• Experience in creating an overall test strategy that fully defines the approach, environment, scope, risks and resources required.
• Experience of delivering within an Agile methodology.
• Cloud testing approaches and methodology, especially GCP, but also AWS, Azure, Entra, Ali Cloud and other systems such as Service Now, AD, ADLDS.
• Some knowledge of JMeter, Gatling, Load Runner, Neo Load or similar tools for load, stress, and volume testing including any licensing requirements, configuration, dashboards and reporting.
• Experience of testing graph database management systems (GDBMS) Graph platform engineering, Neo4j Basics.
• GDBMS Performance Analysis.
• Extensive experience using JIRA and Xephyr tooling.
• Good experience of executing defined test plans including coordination, tracking and reporting.
• Positive team player working as part of the overall test team.
• Any exposure to SailPoint Identity
  
  IQ, Identity warehousing, and working with protocols and formats for data ingestion such as SCIM, REST API, LDAP, OIDC and CSV.
• Team Leadership & Management - Proven ability to lead, mentor, and manage other engineers within the team.
• Dev Ops & CI/CD Integration - Experience of Git Ops Repos. Ability to integrate automation tests into Git Lab CI/CD pipelines and implement shift-left testing practices.
• Pub Sub and MQ.