Job Description
We're looking for a Lead Test Engineer for our public sector client with locations across Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Newcastle on an initial 12-month contract, paying up to £640 per day (Inside IR35).
This role requires 60% office attendance per week.
The successful Lead Test Engineer will be a hands-on technical leader with a genuine automation-first mindset, comfortable both setting direction and rolling up their sleeves to deliver. You will define and embed a scalable test strategy across multiple delivery teams, supporting a major transition from monolithic systems to modern microservices architecture.
You will need proven experience working with the following:
Designing and implementing end-to-end test strategies for microservices environments
Hands-on automation using Java, Selenium and Rest Assured across unit, integration, contract, system and end-to-end test levels
API testing, contract testing and asynchronous messaging including Kafka
CI/CD pipelines and Spring Boot-based application environments
Contract testing tools such as Pactflow or Spring Cloud Contract
Performance testing using tools such as Gatling or K6
Cloud environments, specifically AWS
Non-relational databases including MongoDB
Operating at Lead or Principal level, influencing stakeholders and coaching engineers across multiple teams
Experience with Serenity BDD, Playwright, Docker, GitHub, GitLab, Jenkins and observability tools such as Grafana, Prometheus or Splunk would be highly desirable.
You will need to hold or be able to pass SC clearance for this role.
Interested? Please apply below.
Lead Test Engineer, Principal SDET, Test Automation, Java, Selenium, Rest Assured, API Testing, Contract Testing, Pactflow, Kafka, Microservices, CI/CD, AWS, Serenity BDD, Playwright, Performance Testing, Gatling, K6, MongoDB, Public Sector, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, SC Clearance
Requirements
Designing and implementing end-to-end test strategies for microservices environments Hands-on automation using Java, Selenium and Rest Assured across unit, integration, contract, system and end-to-end test levels API testing, contract testing and asynchronous messaging including Kafka CI/CD pipelines and Spring Boot-based application environments Contract testing tools such as Pactflow or Spring Cloud Contract Performance testing using tools such as Gatling or K6 Cloud environments, specifically AWS Non-relational databases including MongoDB Operating at Lead or Principal level, influencing stakeholders and coaching engineers across multiple teams