We’re 1st Central, a market-leading insurance company utilising smart data and technology at pace. Rapid growth has been based on giving our 1.4 million customers exactly what they want: great value insurance with an excellent service. And that’s the same for our colleagues too; we won Insurance Employer of the Year at the British Insurance Awards 2024 and our Glassdoor score is pretty mega too! We’re looking for a Quality Engineering Lead who’ll play a pivotal role in leading and enabling quality engineers who are embedded within our cross functional value stream teams. This role is responsible for championing and embedding a culture of quality across federated value stream teams. O perat ing in a dynamic, cloud-based environment, you’ll l ead the design and implementation of the Focus quality strategy and will b e responsible for quality engineering practices and standards that emphasise automation, continuous testing and shift left principles. We value flexible working arrangements, so you can choose to work remotely or maybe you live within a commutable distance from one of our offices in Salford Quays, Manchester, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, or Guernsey, and want to work in the office occasionally. Core skills were looking for to succeed in the role: Quality Engineering leadership Test Automation – Strategy, design & delivery BDD Implementation CI/CD Integration Cloud Platforms & testing in cloud native and microservices environment Performance testing & tooling Security testing & tooling End to End Testing Strategy (design & implementation across API, UI & backend) Agile Dev Ops practices Test Management tools Test Data and Environment management Root Cause analysis & defect management and reporting Identification and management of risk Problem solving skills, with the ability to adopt a logical approach Excellent communication and interpersonal skills What’s involved: You’ll manage, mentor and support a group of quality engineers distributed across multiple cross functional teams, ensuring alignment with career development, performance goals and organisational standards You’ll drive the adoption of quality best practice, focusing on automation and BDD to ensure alignment with business outcomes and user stories You’ll develop and implement test automation strategies that integrate into CI/CD pipelines, and ensure efficient and easily maintainable framework You’ll champion quality engineering best practice including CI/CD, automated testing, infrastructure as code, observability and secure coding standards within a DevOps culture You’ll define and implement a robust end to end testing strategy that includes functional performance, and security testing to ensure high-quality resilient, and secure software delivery across all value streams You’ll work with cross functional teams to define testing requirements, lead BDD sessions and ensure test scenarios reflect business needs You'll define and monitor key quality metrics, providing reports to assess the platforms quality and track improvement progress You’ll design and implement a defect management process You’ll collaborate closely with Principal Engineers, Software Engineers, Product Owners, Architects, RTEs and delivery leads to ensure is aligned with business goals and technology, including AI powered solutions to optimise coding, testing, deployment, monitoring and support You’ll build and maintain strong relationships with external and internal technology partners, ensuring effective collaboration, alignment with engineering standards, and value delivery from third party services or vendor engagements You'll drive the recruitment, onboarding and continuous deployment of quality engineers, ensuring a strong pipeline of talent and future leaders You’ll establish and maintain quality governance frameworks and controls balancing autonomy with consistency across the federated engineering teams You'll promote a culture of leadership, feedback and experimentation support teams to continuously refine their ways of working You’ll support the 24/7 on-call rota to manage incidents as required You’ll support the Focus application out of hour releases when required You’ll comply with the requirements, and act in accordance with, the Group Code of Conduct and Fitness and Propriety policies at all times You’ll ensure compliance with Company Policies, Values and guidelines and other relevant standards/ regulations at all times Experience & knowledge Experience of leadership of quality engineering efforts in agile, cross-functional software development teams Strong understanding of cloud platforms and cloud native application testing Significant experience in test automation frameworks and tooling (e.g. Selenium, Playwright Junit, TestNG) Hands on experience with BDD tools (e.g Cucumber) and Gherkin syntax Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pieplines (e.g Jenkins, GitLab, Azure DevOps) Solid knowledge of performance testing tools (e.g Jmeter, Gatling) and strategies Familiarity with secure testing principles and tools (OWASP, ZAP, SAST/DAST Tools) Experience of End-to-End testing strategy design and implementation Strong understanding of quality metrics and KPIIs to assess and drive continuous improvement Experience of facilitating BDD workshops and collaborating with key business and technical change stakeholders Strong working knowledge of agile and DevOps practices including shift left testing and continuous testing Proficient with test data management, environment configuration and visualisation techniques Experience of aligning testing efforts with business value delivery Ideally an Insurance or financial Services background, although other backgrounds will be considered Knowledge of FCA requirements (including TCF) Extensive experience in Quality Assurance/Quality Engineering with at least 3 years in a lead role Skills Quality Engineering leadership Test Automation – Strategy, design & delivery BDD Implementation CI/CD Integration Cloud Platforms & testing in cloud native and microservices environment Performance testing & tooling Security testing & tooling End to End Testing Strategy (design & implementation across API, UI & backend) Agile Dev Ops practices Test Management tools Test Data and Environment management Root Cause analysis & defect management and reporting Identification and management of risk Problem solving skills, with the ability to adopt a logical approach Excellent communication and interpersonal skills Qualifications Relevant certifications preferred (e.g., ISTQB, Certified Agile Tester, BDD Practitioner, AWS Cloud Practitioner) Behaviours Acts as a mentor, leading by example to continuously embed a quality first culture across product teams Commercially focussed and results driven taking a pragmatic approach to delivering value Self-motivated and enthusiastic An organised and pro-active approach Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team A flexible approach and positive attitude Emphasis on attention to detail and accuracy Takes initiative to make decisions Strives to drive business improvements to contribute to the success of the business So, if you’re up for the challenge and would like to join our vibrant and busy team, we want to hear from you today. What can we do for you? People first. Always. We’re passionate about our colleagues and know the best people deserve an extraordinary working environment. We owe it to them so that’s what we offer. Our workplaces are energetic, inspirational, supportive. To get a taste of the advantages you’ll enjoy, take a look at all our perks in full here. Intrigued? Our Talent team can tell you everything you need to know about what we want and what we’re offering, so feel free to get in touch.