Lead QA Engineer

Key Responsibilities: 

• Work with project managers to understand the upcoming deliveries and plans at platform level, provide an initial view on estimates and ensure the test engineers with the right skillset are onboarded in a timely manner  

• Work with the agile delivery leads to ensure the agile squads are appropriately resourced and have the right skills from a functional, technical and experience point of view 

• Oversee the test delivery across squads and projects, you will ensure quality engineering principles and standards are applied and maintained, the correct test governance processes are in place depending on the type of delivery, and any issues are addressed immediately or escalated as appropriate  

• You will collaborate with other practice leads to ensure quality principles are being implemented and adhered to, and with other internal and external stakeholders to ensure test delivery plans are aligned and understood by all  

• Promote and drive the use of test tooling and test automation in collaboration with the platform SDET and drive a culture of continuous improvement within the team 

• Work with the agile delivery leads to ensure the teams are capturing the required quality metrics, produce regular reports as required and ensure that quality improvement actions are tracked, implemented and measured   

• Part of the release panel, you will work with the wider platform team to ensure delivery of releases on time and to quality, provide risk insights that enable decisions to be made and work with the team to continuously monitor, assess and improve the efficacy of our release and environment management processes  

• Responsible for driving and contributing to wider test chapter meetings, you will encourage cross team collaboration and knowledge sharing, help promote big picture thinking and keep the team engaged with the wider test strategy. You will work with and collaborate as required with QA leads across other BUs through the QE community of practice  

• Drive and implement new ideas, tools and process improvements, mentor the permanent team to develop a continuous development and growth mindset and ensure our 3rd parties continue to deliver value adds as part of their services  

• Responsible for line managing a team of permanent QA Engineers, support their development in line with their career aspirations and ensure we have the right in house QA capability to satisfy the strategic needs of the business 

• Work with 3rd party providers and regularly liaise with them on operational and resourcing actions. You will build knowledge and awareness of the commercial agreements in place with 3rd party providers and take part in regular governance calls where you will provide feedback as required 

• You will lead by example, continuing to develop within your field, role and industry and contribute to the maturity and performance of the QA team. You will be an advocate for the QA team within IT & Change, Hiscox and the wider industry, by promoting the team and their work. 

Essential Skills: 

• Experience leading and co-ordinating testing for project/squad/team 

• Experience in various test methodologies – both agile and waterfall. Has working knowledge of the software testing process – Planning, preparation, execution, defect management, evidence requirements, reporting 

• Experience of using test management and project management tools (Jira Zephyr, ADO etc) 

• Experience offering peer support and mentoring to other team members 

• Extensive experience testing various system and application software – Web, API, Data Warehouse etc and associated tools and techniques Postman/SoapUI/Percy/JAWS/Browser stack etc) 

• Release and environments management knowledge  

• Excellent communication and reporting skills  

• Stakeholder management skills and experience  

• Good organisational skills and the ability to work in a methodical manner and meet deadlines.  

• A proactive approach to problem solving, taking ownership of issues and having the determination to follow things through.  

• Driven to take ownership and improve personal contribution 

Desirable Skills:

• Insurance Business knowledge 

• Exposure to Microsoft Azure Cloud Services 

• ISTQB or other certification a plus 

• Test automation knowledge 

• Exposure to BDD, TDD, CI/CD environment