Lead Test Engineer - £500 p/d - Outside IR35 - 6‑Month ContractHybrid: 1-2 Days On‑Site per WeekBirmingham We're looking for a Lead Test Engineer to take ownership of programme‑level testing for a large multi‑modal payments transformation, covering bus, rail, tram and retail channels.This is a role where you will define strategy, implement best practice, strengthen assurance, and enable testing at scale through integration and automation. The Role You will lead the creation and implementation of a full end‑to‑end testing capability across a major PAYG (Pay‑As‑You‑Go) payments programme.Your focus will include: Programme‑Level Test Strategy Define and deliver a robust, outcome‑driven test strategy Shape SIT, UAT, OAT, NFR test approaches Provide clear risk management and mitigation across the programmeIntegration Testing Model Lead testing across multiple suppliers, systems, devices and back‑office services Establish defect lifecycle management Validate cross‑system customer journeys Ensure environment planning and ownership are clearly definedAutomation Framework & Expansion Deliver an early automation MVP Integrate automation into CI/CD Build scalable and repeatable regression capability Drive roadmap for increased automation coverage and reduced manual testingAssurance & Reporting Establish programme‑level quality a...