Inside IR35
£640/day max (Umbrella, dependent on experience)
12-month contract
SC Clearance required
Locations: Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle (60% hybrid)
(No London-based candidates)
Overview
We are seeking an experienced Lead Test Engineer / Principal SDET to support a major digital transformation programme within a large government environment.
You will play a key role in shaping and embedding a scalable, automation-first test strategy across multiple engineering teams, supporting the transition from monolithic systems to a modern microservices-based architecture.
This is a hands-on technical leadership role, combining strategic influence with active contribution to automation frameworks and engineering practices.
Key Responsibilities
Test Strategy & Leadership
* Define and implement an end-to-end test strategy aligned to microservices architecture
* Establish testing standards, patterns, and best practices across multiple teams
* Assess existing testing approaches and drive continuous improvement
* Embed scalable testing frameworks and reusable solutions across engineering teams
Hands-on Engineering
* Design, build, and maintain robust automated test frameworks
* Deliver testing across all levels: unit, integration, contract, system, and end-to-end
* Lead automation efforts within Java-based environments
* Actively contribute to code and framework development, not just governance
Collaboration & Governance
* Work closely with engineering teams and stakeholders to ensure alignment on quality
* Provide technical leadership, mentoring, and coaching to engineers and testers
* Promote consistent application of testing practices across delivery teams
* Maintain visibility of quality metrics and delivery outcomes
Essential Skills & Experience
Technical Expertise
* Strong experience defining and implementing test strategies in microservices environments
* Hands-on automation experience using:
* Java, Selenium, Rest Assured
* Strong experience in API, integration, and contract testing
* Experience working across both monolithic and distributed systems
* Solid understanding of:
* CI/CD pipelines
* Spring Boot-based applications
* Kafka or similar event-driven messaging systems
Modern Testing Practices
* Experience with contract testing (e.g. Pact, Spring Cloud Contract)
* Strong API testing and service-level testing experience
* Awareness of non-functional testing (performance, accessibility)
* Experience with NoSQL databases such as MongoDB
* Ability to build scalable, maintainable, reusable automation frameworks
Leadership
* Experience operating at Lead or Principal SDET level
* Ability to influence across teams without direct authority
* Strong communication skills across technical and non-technical stakeholders
* Proven ability to drive engineering quality in complex environments
Desirable Skills
* AWS experience
* Playwright / Serenity BDD
* Performance testing tools (Gatling, K6)
* Observability tools (Grafana, Prometheus, Splunk)
* Docker and modern DevOps practices
Tools & Technologies
* AWS
* Java, Selenium, Rest Assured
* Serenity BDD / Playwright
* Pactflow / Spring Cloud Contract
* Kafka
* MongoDB
* Jenkins / GitHub / GitLab
* Docker
* Gatling / K6
* Grafana / Prometheus / Splunk
About You
You are a hands-on technical leader who can define direction while actively contributing to delivery. You thrive in complex, multi-team environments and are passionate about building scalable, reliable, automation-first testing solutions.
You are equally comfortable writing automation code as you are shaping strategy and influencing senior stakeholders.