Job Title: QA Engineer
Reporting to: Head of Product
Location: Remote
Salary: Up to £65,000 dependant on experience
About IMP
At IMP we help Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) take control of their finances. Our MAT-first software is built by people who know the sector inside out. Former trust professionals, finance experts and product specialists are all part of our team. More than half of all MATs in the UK already use IMP to plan with confidence, simplify complex processes and make smarter decisions.
We’re proud to be independent, founder-led and growing fast. Alongside our award-winning products, we’ve built a culture we’re equally proud of. We are ranked as one of the UK’s Top 25 Great Places to Work for mid-sized companies. Respect, collaboration and personal growth sit at the heart of how we work. You’ll find flexibility, support and opportunities to develop here, alongside regular team socials and funded CPD.
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About the Role
We're looking for a QA Engineer to join us at an exciting inflection point. Our product has grown significantly with a foundation of manual testing, and we're now ready to invest seriously in test automation. This isn't a role where you'll inherit a mature automation framework—you'll help build it from the ground up.
You'll be embedded in a product squad, working alongside developers and product managers to ensure quality is built into our software from the start, not bolted on at the end. While manual testing remains important during this transition, your focus will progressively shift toward designing and implementing automated test suites that give us confidence to ship faster.
This role suits someone who enjoys both the craft of testing and the satisfaction of building systems that scale. You should be comfortable with ambiguity—we know where we want to go, but the path will be shaped by whoever joins us.
What You'll Do
Quality Strategy & Prevention
* Participate in refinement sessions, identifying risks and edge cases before development begins
* Collaborate with developers and product managers to define clear, testable acceptance criteria
* Champion shift-left testing practices—finding defects when they're cheapest to fix
* Help establish quality gates and standards that the whole team owns
Test Automation Development
* Design and build our test automation framework, selecting appropriate tools and patterns
* Write automated tests at multiple levels: unit test support, API testing, and end-to-end UI tests
* Integrate automated tests into our CI/CD pipeline so quality feedback is fast and reliable
* Create maintainable, readable test code that the whole team can contribute to
* Establish patterns for test data management and environment configuration
Manual Testing & Exploration
* Execute manual testing for new features and complex scenarios where automation isn't yet practical
* Perform exploratory testing to find issues that scripted tests miss
* Regression test critical paths while building automation coverage
* Document defects clearly with reproduction steps and impact assessment
Continuous Improvement
* Track and report on quality metrics—test coverage, defect trends, automation ROI
* Identify opportunities to improve testing efficiency and effectiveness
* Share knowledge with the team through documentation, pairing, and informal training
* Stay current with testing tools, techniques, and industry best practices
What We're Looking For
Essential
* Solid experience in software testing within an Agile environment
* Hands-on experience with at least one test automation framework (e.g., Playwright, Cypress, Selenium, or similar)
* Comfortable writing code—we don't expect you to be a developer, but you should be able to write and debug test scripts confidently
* Experience with API testing tools (Postman, REST Assured, or similar)
* Understanding of CI/CD concepts and how automated testing fits into deployment pipelines
* Strong analytical skills—you can break down complex features into testable scenarios
* Clear communication—you can explain technical issues to non-technical stakeholders
* Self-directed learning—you'll need to research tools, solve problems, and grow your skills
Valuable (but we can develop)
* Experience building automation frameworks from scratch, not just adding to existing ones
* Familiarity with JavaScript/TypeScript (our likely automation stack)
* Experience with database testing and SQL
* Understanding of performance or security testing fundamentals
* Experience in a product-based SaaS environment
* ISTQB or equivalent certification
What This Role Isn't
We want to be upfront about what you're signing up for:
* This isn't a pure manual testing role—if you're not interested in automation, this won't be the right fit
* This isn't a role with an established framework waiting for you—you'll be building, not just maintaining
* This isn't a siloed QA function—you'll be deeply integrated with developers and product
* This isn't a role for someone who needs detailed specifications for every task—we work iteratively and value initiative
Our Tech Stack
You don't need experience with all of these, but familiarity with similar technologies helps:
* Web application built with modern JavaScript frameworks
* RESTful APIs
* SQL databases
* Git for version control
* Azure DevOps
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Benefits:
* 27 days of holiday per year plus bank holidays (with a buy option up to an additional 5 days)
* Enhance Maternity and Paternity leave
* AXA Health insurance including dental, optical and mental health
* Broadband allowance
* Home office stipend
* Life assurance (4 x basic salary)
* Encouraged and funded CPD