QA Lead (Fixed Term Contract)

Summary: The Lead QA Analyst will oversee QA delivery for various client projects and internal product development, ensuring high-quality standards in a collaborative environment. This role involves hands-on planning, execution, and management of QA activities, while working closely with multiple teams. The position is a 12-month contract with potential for permanent conversion, ideally requiring on-site presence at the St Albans studio. The candidate will be responsible for leading QA efforts and fostering a culture of continuous improvement within the team.

Key Responsibilities:

• Plan, strategize, and manage QA activities for assigned projects across all platforms.
• Oversee preparation of Feature/Area Test Plans, User stories, Test Cases, and conduct hands-on testing.
• Direct testing efforts and participate in test case construction and test suite runs.
• Collaborate with Production, QA Leadership, Testers, Engineers, and other groups to identify risks and define testing strategies.
• Report progress throughout the testing lifecycle and provide actionable feedback to stakeholders.
• Manage day-to-day activities of QA Analysts and ensure QA output meets standards.
• Delegate tasks effectively and support team progress within project budgets.
• Define, document, and communicate goals, values, and processes to the project team.
• Identify risk areas during production and support test planning early in development.
• Create, maintain, and execute detailed test plans; regress fixed defects and validate bug resolutions.
• Provide overall quality feedback and end-of-project reporting.
• Ensure adherence to QA policies and maintain state-of-the-art QA practices.
• Participate in evaluating and developing tools to support efficient QA operations.
• Facilitate communication between the QA department and other disciplines.
• Participate in recruiting and onboarding QA Testers; support coaching and mentoring.
• Foster a culture of learning and continuous improvement within the QA team.

Key Skills:

• Proven experience testing entertainment or Games-as-a-Service (GaaS) software.
• Hands-on experience with Jira and Test Management Systems.
• Familiarity with various testing approaches including user path, exploratory, and destructive testing.
• Skilled in defect tracking, reporting, and lifecycle management.
• Solid experience with Atlassian tools (e.g., Jira, Confluence).
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Methodical, analytical, and detail-oriented.
• Self-motivated and proactive, able to work independently and collaboratively.
• Experience leading QA efforts on cross-disciplinary development teams.
• Experience creating test plans, executing tests, and analyzing QA metrics.
• Working knowledge of development tools and game engines (e.g., Unity or Unreal Engine).
• Experience planning and executing performance and stress testing.
• Skilled in documenting processes for users and maintainers.
• Experience with games testing, preferably with TestKits for major platforms.

Salary (Rate): £60,000.00

City: St Albans

Country: United Kingdom

Working Arrangements: hybrid

IR35 Status: fixed-term

Seniority Level: Mid-Level

Industry: IT