🚀 Lead Quality Engineer
đź“Ť Leeds / Manchester / Bruntingthorpe (Hybrid)
🏢 Cox Automotive Europe – Enterprise Technology
🌟 About the Role
We’re looking for a Lead Quality Engineer to shape and lead quality engineering across a major transformation programme within our Manheim Vehicle Services (MVS) platform.
This is a high-impact leadership role where you’ll guide teams through the evolution from a legacy .NET monolith to a modern, cloud-native AWS architecture—while redefining how quality works in an AI-assisted development world.
You’ll combine hands-on engineering expertise, strategic thinking, and people leadership to ensure we build software that is reliable, secure, and built to last.
💡 What You’ll Be Doing
🔹 Lead & Grow the QE Function
* Lead, coach, and develop a team of Test Engineers and Analysts
* Set the vision and standards for quality engineering
* Act as a champion for quality across engineering and product
🔹 Own Quality in an AI-Driven Engineering Environment
* Define quality guardrails for AI-generated and AI-assisted code
* Evolve practices for testing, validation, and review
* Shape how we maintain confidence in increasingly automated delivery
🔹 Drive Strategy & Delivery
* Own and deliver the QA strategy and roadmap
* Define approaches across:
o Functional and exploratory testing
o Performance, security, and resilience
* Lead automation strategy and tooling decisions
* Provide clear, risk-based input into release decisions
🔹 Modernise Quality Engineering
* Work across both legacy and modern platforms
* Embed BDD and spec-driven development practices
* Drive measurable improvements via metrics and KPIs
🛠️ Our Tech Landscape
You’ll operate across a modern, evolving stack:
* Cloud: AWS
* Backend: .NET / .NET Core
* Frontend: React
* Containers: Docker, EKS, ECS
* Data: Aurora, DynamoDB, DocumentDB
* Messaging: Kafka, SNS/SQS, EventBridge
* CI/CD: GitHub Actions
* Testing: Playwright, Cypress, Postman, K6
✅ What We’re Looking For
Essential Experience
* Strong leadership experience in Quality Engineering / QA
* Proven success delivering QA strategies with measurable outcomes
* Deep knowledge of:
o Agile, CI/CD, modern SDLC
o Test automation at scale
* Hands-on experience with:
o Modern and legacy systems
o API and performance testing
o Cloud environments (AWS preferred)
* Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills
Nice to Have
* Experience working with AI-assisted or agentic development
* Background in large-scale transformation or migration programmes
* Familiarity with Docker, Terraform, observability tooling
* Data testing and quality experience
🌱 How You’ll Work
* Value-driven: Focused on outcomes, not activity
* Pragmatic: Able to balance speed, risk, and quality
* Empathetic leader: Supporting teams through change
* Collaborative: Partnering across engineering, product, and architecture
🎯 Why Join Us?
* Play a key role in a large-scale digital transformation
* Help define quality engineering in an AI-enabled future
* Work with modern cloud technologies and practices
* Shape the direction of quality across a complex, high-volume platform
* Lead and grow a team in a supportive, forward-thinking environment
đź“© Apply Now
If you’re passionate about building quality into modern software delivery and want to lead through one of the most exciting engineering transformations in the industry, we’d love to hear from you.
STRICTLY NO AGENCIES PLEASE
We kindly ask that agencies do not contact us regarding this vacancy. We work with a carefully selected and trusted group of recruitment partners.
We do not accept unsolicited CVs sent to the recruitment team or directly to a hiring manager. We will not be responsible for any fees related to unsolicited submissions.