Performance Engineer

Business area and team  

The development team is responsible for building the Xceptor platform and products. We create innovative features and great user experiences that help our users within Financial Institutions to build automated processes that deliver trusted data.

Our development teams are in the United Kingdom (Guildford) and South Africa (Cape Town). Xceptor operates with an AI-first PDLC. AI tools accelerate how we design, build, test, document, and operate platform capabilities, with humans providing intent, constraints, verification, and accountability. 

As a Performance Engineer at Xceptor, you are passionate about software quality and performance. You work closely with engineering teams to ensure product features meet performance expectations — creating test plans, scripting and executing tests, and analysing results to support continuous improvement.

This is an AI-first performance engineering role. You use AI daily to accelerate test script generation, performance report creation, and results analysis. AI can draft; you verify, harden, and operationalise — so the performance engineering practice becomes faster, smarter, and more scalable over time.

This role exists to ensure the Xceptor platform performs reliably and efficiently at scale by identifying performance issues early, establishing clear baselines, and championing a culture of performance awareness across engineering teams.

• Create and maintain performance test plans and strategies for product features and components.
• Work with feature teams to establish performance baselines to continuously measure future releases against.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define performance best practices and targets across the platform.
• Participate in sprint planning and retrospectives to provide input on performance considerations.

• Create and execute performance test scripts using tools such as Apache JMeter, Gatling, or similar.
• Design and own test scenarios covering Load, Performance, Volume, Stress, and Soak testing.
• Support the maintenance and enhancement of performance test environments.
• Contribute to the adoption of performance testing best practices within scrum teams.

• Analyse performance test results and generate clear, actionable reports.
• Collaborate with Scrum teams and QA leads to identify areas for improvement using risk-based analysis techniques.
• Drive a mindset of system performance awareness across scrum teams.

• Uses AI tools routinely to assist in generating performance test plans and scenarios based on feature specifications and historical data, improving coverage and reducing manual effort.
• Leverages AI-powered coding assistants (e.g. GitHub Copilot) to speed up the creation and maintenance of test scripts across web, API, and microservice layers.
• Utilises AI tools to automatically analyse test results, detect anomalies, and generate insightful performance reports — enabling faster root cause identification and decision-making.
• Integrates AI-driven test orchestration to optimise execution workflows, prioritise high-risk areas, and reduce redundant test cycles.
• Establishes "AI drafts, humans verify" as a normal working pattern for test artefacts, with clear standards and review expectations.

• Stays ahead of the curve by integrating the latest technologies and AI tools into the performance engineering process.
• Acts as an evangelist for performance engineering across the business.
• Continuously improves test practices using feedback loops: adoption data, incident learnings, and performance trend signals.

• Experience in a performance testing role with a level of test automation experience.
• Hands-on experience creating performance test scripts and scenarios.
• Experience with performance tooling such as Apache JMeter, BlazeMeter, Gatling, or similar.
• Understanding of cloud-based architecture including microservices and containerisation.
• Strong academic background; a degree in a STEM subject discipline would be beneficial.

• Passionate about applying AI technologies to accelerate software performance outcomes and test automation.
• Able to use AI tools to improve personal and team productivity without sacrificing quality or rigour.
• Understands AI risks (unsafe automation, false confidence) and applies disciplined verification and controls.

• Clear communicator and collaborative team player.
• Proactive and adaptable — takes initiative to improve and embraces change with a positive, solution-oriented mindset.
• Curiosity and continuous learning, showing a strong desire to gain product and discipline knowledge.
• Keen attention to detail.
• Acts as a champion for performance quality within the team, raising awareness of performance considerations during feature development.

• Experience in a performance testing or quality engineering role (typically 2+ years).
• Demonstrable experience scripting and executing performance tests in a commercial environment.
• Familiarity with cloud-based software platforms and modern engineering delivery practices.
• Strong academic background, including a degree in a STEM subject discipline, or equivalent experience.

This role is measured on outcomes and how they're achieved: reliable performance signals, efficient test delivery, and improved engineering confidence through an AI-first approach.

• Coverage & baselines: performance baselines established and maintained across key features; test scenario coverage spans load, stress, volume, and soak profiles.
• Insight quality: performance reports are clear, actionable, and delivered faster through AI-assisted analysis; root causes are identified earlier in the cycle.
• Collaboration impact: scrum teams demonstrate increased performance awareness; performance considerations are raised proactively during feature development.
• Efficiency: AI tooling measurably reduces time-to-script and time-to-report without compromising accuracy or rigour.
• Behaviours: AI-first by default (AI drafts, humans verify); performance advocacy mindset; continuous improvement loops; attention to detail in all outputs.
• Associated Values and Behaviours
• Collaboration: Encourage teamwork and knowledge sharing across QA and engineering.
• Innovation: Support the exploration of new tools and AI technologies in the performance space.
• Integrity: Maintain transparency and rigour in test results and reporting.
• Accountability: Take ownership of performance test quality and outcomes.
• Respect: Value diverse perspectives and contributions.
• Continuous Improvement: Strive for excellence in testing processes and outcomes.
• Customer Focus: Prioritise solutions that protect and improve the experience of Xceptor's clients.
• Drives continuous learning, personally and across the organisation, embracing modern practices including AI-enabled delivery.

#LI-TH1 #LI-Hybrid

We believe great ideas come from everywhere — and that the best teams are made up of people with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. At Xceptor, we’re committed to building a workplace where everyone feels welcome, valued, and empowered to be themselves.

We know that not everyone ticks every single box in a job description — and that’s okay. If you’re excited about this role and think you could make a difference, we’d love to hear from you. Your unique skills and experiences might be just what we need, even if you don’t meet every requirement.

We celebrate diversity and are dedicated to creating an inclusive environment for all employees — regardless of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, or background.