Lead Test Engineer/Principal SDET - Security-cleared
Posted Today by Parker Shaw
Negotiable
Inside
Hybrid
Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, or Newcastle - 60% hybrid, UK
Summary: We are seeking a Lead Test Engineer/Principal SDET to spearhead a digital transformation initiative, focusing on developing a scalable, automation-first test strategy for microservices architecture. This hands-on leadership role involves influencing engineering practices and contributing to automation frameworks. The position requires collaboration across multiple teams to ensure consistent testing practices and quality outcomes.
Key Responsibilities:
- Define and implement an end-to-end test strategy aligned to microservices architecture
- Establish standards, patterns, and best practices across multiple teams
- Assess current testing approaches and drive continuous improvement
- Embed testing strategy across teams, creating scalable frameworks and exemplars
- Design, build, and maintain automated test frameworks
- Work across different test levels: unit, integration, contract, system, and E2E
- Lead automation efforts in Java-based environments
- Support teams with implementation, not just direction
- Partner with engineering teams and stakeholders to ensure alignment
- Provide technical leadership and coaching to testers and developers
- Ensure testing practices are consistently applied across teams
- Maintain visibility of quality and delivery outcomes
Key Skills:
- Strong experience designing and implementing test strategies for microservices environments
- Hands-on automation experience using: Java, Selenium, Rest Assured, API, contract, and integration testing
- Experience working with monolith and microservices systems
- Knowledge of CI/CD pipelines, Spring Boot-based applications, and performance testing fundamentals
- Strong understanding of contract testing, API testing, and asynchronous messaging (eg Kafka)
- Experience with non-relational databases (eg MongoDB)
- Automation-first mindset with ability to build reusable, maintainable frameworks
- Experience operating at Lead/Principal level
- Ability to influence stakeholders without direct authority
- Strong communication skills across technical and non-technical audiences
Salary (Rate): undetermined
City: undetermined
Country: UK
Working Arrangements: hybrid
IR35 Status: inside IR35
Seniority Level: undetermined
Industry: IT
We are seeking a highly skilled Lead Test Engineer/Principal SDET to join a major digital transformation programme. You will play a key role in defining and embedding a scalable, automation-first test strategy across multiple delivery teams, supporting the transition from monolithic systems to modern microservices architecture.
This is a hands-on technical leadership role, where you will influence engineering practices, set standards, and actively contribute to automation frameworks and testing solutions.
Key Responsibilities
Test Strategy & Leadership
- Define and implement an end-to-end test strategy aligned to microservices architecture
- Establish standards, patterns, and best practices across multiple teams
- Assess current testing approaches and drive continuous improvement
- Embed testing strategy across teams, creating scalable frameworks and exemplars
Hands-on Engineering
- Design, build, and maintain automated test frameworks
- Work across different test levels: unit, integration, contract, system, and E2E
- Lead automation efforts in Java-based environments
- Support teams with implementation, not just direction
Collaboration & Governance
- Partner with engineering teams and stakeholders to ensure alignment
- Provide technical leadership and coaching to testers and developers
- Ensure testing practices are consistently applied across teams
- Maintain visibility of quality and delivery outcomes
Essential Skills & Experience
Technical Expertise
- Strong experience designing and implementing test strategies for microservices environments
- Hands-on automation experience using:
- Java, Selenium, Rest Assured
- API, contract, and integration testing
- Experience working with monolith and microservices systems
- Knowledge of:
- CI/CD pipelines
- Spring Boot-based applications
- Performance testing fundamentals
Modern Testing Practices
- Strong understanding of:
- Contract testing, API testing, and asynchronous messaging (eg Kafka)
- Non-functional testing (performance, accessibility)
- Experience with non-relational databases (eg MongoDB)
- Automation-first mindset with ability to build reusable, maintainable frameworks
Leadership
- Experience operating at Lead/Principal level
- Ability to influence stakeholders without direct authority
- Strong communication skills across technical and non-technical audiences
Tools & Technologies
- Cloud: AWS
- Test Frameworks: Selenium, Serenity BDD, Playwright
- Contract Testing: Pactflow, Spring Cloud Contract
- Messaging: Kafka
- Databases: MongoDB
- CI/CD & DevOps: GitHub, GitLab, Jenkins, Docker
- Performance Testing: Gatling, K6
- Observability: Grafana, Prometheus, Splunk
What We're Looking For
- A hands-on technical leader who can set direction and deliver
- Someone comfortable working across multiple teams and scaling best practice
- A proactive problem-solver with a strong quality-first mindset
If you feel you have the skills and experience needed for this role; please do apply now.
By applying for this job and submitting your CV to Parker Shaw, you acknowledge and give permission for us to pass it to an associate company for resourcing purposes. We outsource some of our resourcing calls to a trusted third-party company and they may call you to discuss this opportunity with you. They will then report back to us with the outcome of their conversation with you, where upon we will decide whether to submit your CV to the end client. Please be assured that the third-party company do not store or control any of your data, this is all done by ourselves (Parker Shaw).