QA Test Automation Lead

Purpose of the role

To design, develop, and execute testing strategies to validate functionality, performance, and user experience, while collaborating with cross-functional teams to identify and resolve defects, and continuously improve testing processes and methodologies, to ensure software quality and reliability. 

Accountabilities

• Development and implementation of comprehensive test plans and strategies to validate software functionality and ensure compliance with established quality standards.
• Creation and execution automated test scripts, leveraging testing frameworks and tools to facilitate early detection of defects and quality issues.         .
• Collaboration with cross-functional teams to analyse requirements, participate in design discussions, and contribute to the development of acceptance criteria, ensuring a thorough understanding of the software being tested.
• Root cause analysis for identified defects, working closely with developers to provide detailed information and support defect resolution.
• Collaboration with peers, participate in code reviews, and promote a culture of code quality and knowledge sharing.
• Stay informed of industry technology trends and innovations, and actively contribute to the organization's technology communities to foster a culture of technical excellence and growth.

Vice President Expectations

• To contribute or set strategy, drive requirements and make recommendations for change. Plan resources, budgets, and policies; manage and maintain policies/ processes; deliver continuous improvements and escalate breaches of policies/procedures..
• If managing a team, they define jobs and responsibilities, planning for the department’s future needs and operations, counselling employees on performance and contributing to employee pay decisions/changes. They may also lead a number of specialists to influence the operations of a department, in alignment with strategic as well as tactical priorities, while balancing short and long term goals and ensuring that budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements..
• If the position has leadership responsibilities, People Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others..
• OR for an individual contributor, they will be a subject matter expert within own discipline and will guide technical direction. They will lead collaborative, multi-year assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..
• Advise key stakeholders, including functional leadership teams and senior management on functional and cross functional areas of impact and alignment.
• Manage and mitigate risks through assessment, in support of the control and governance agenda.
• Demonstrate leadership and accountability for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work your team does.
• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the organisation functions to contribute to achieving the goals of the business.
• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategies.
• Create solutions based on sophisticated analytical thought comparing and selecting complex alternatives. In-depth analysis with interpretative thinking will be required to define problems and develop innovative solutions.
• Adopt and include the outcomes of extensive research in problem solving processes.
• Seek out, build and maintain trusting relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders in order to accomplish key business objectives, using influencing and negotiating skills to achieve outcomes.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.

Join us as a QA Test Automation Lead at Barclays, where you'll spearhead the evolution of our digital landscape, driving innovation and excellence. You would be part of a newly established team in Prague, that will be responsible for the design and implementation of a new greenfield project, - Sales platform with critical business impact on client onboarding transparency and e-onboarding automation. In this hands‑on leadership role, you would take ownership of the quality strategy in planning, estimating, and executing the QA roadmap across manual and automated testing. You would also design and evolve Java‑based test automation frameworks and make sure UAT with the business runs smoothly end‑to‑end.

To be successful as a QA Test Automation Lead, you should have:

• Strong proficiency in Java programming and experience building automated tests using tools such as Selenium/Playwright
• Proven experience designing, implementing, and maintaining test automation frameworks for complex, business‑critical or distributed systems
• Solid track record of planning, estimating, and executing QA roadmaps across both manual and automated testing, including regression and release testing
• Previous experience leading a QA / test automation team, including mentoring junior engineers, reviewing their test/automation work, and driving a culture of quality and continuous improvement within the team
• Strong knowledge of software testing principles, API testing, version control with Git and CI/CD practices, with the ability to mentor and guide more junior QA engineers

Some other highly valued skills may include:

• Good knowledge of BDD concepts (e.g. Cucumber) and Page Object Model patterns, and familiarity with test management tools
• Good working knowledge of SQL and awareness of performance / non‑functional testing concepts
• Previous experience in financial services, capital markets or client‑onboarding platforms, or other highly regulated, mission‑critical environments

You may be assessed on the key critical skills relevant for success in role, such as risk and controls, change and transformation, business acumen strategic thinking and digital and technology, as well as job-specific technical skills.

This role will be based in our Prague office.