Lead Quality Assurance Engineer Job at The Delta Group (Bishop's Stortford)

Job Description

This role is a leadership opportunity within Delta's Product Team. As QA Lead, you will set the quality vision for the WorkstreamX suite of products and our broader client-facing systems — owning the end-to-end QA function, and partnering closely with the CPO, developers and product managers to embed quality at every stage of the software development lifecycle. This is not purely a hands-on testing role. You will define and drive the QA strategy, build out our automation capability, own our quality frameworks and standards, and act as the primary quality voice in product and release decisions. You will also line-manage the Quality Assurance Engineer, providing day-to-day guidance, career development support, and workload oversight.

Job Responsibility

Own and drive the overall QA strategy for the Delta Product Team, aligned to business and product goals
Define, implement and continuously improve QA standards, processes and frameworks
Act as the primary quality authority in release decisions, sprint reviews and product planning discussions
Lead the transition to a structured, specialist-led QA function — working across the business to build understanding, buy-in and enthusiasm for improved quality practices
Report on quality health, test coverage, defect trends and process improvements to the CPO and senior stakeholders
Champion a quality-first culture across the development team, influencing behaviours at all levels
Evaluate and introduce new tools, methodologies and approaches that improve the team's quality capability
Line-manage the QA Engineer, providing clear direction, regular 1:1s and meaningful performance feedback
Support the professional development of QA team members, identifying training needs and growth opportunities
Act as a technical mentor — reviewing test approaches, providing constructive guidance and raising the bar on quality practice
Build team capacity and resilience, planning resource allocation across workstreams and sprint cycles
Oversee the full test lifecycle across all active product workstreams — functional, regression, integration, UAT and performance
Take a hands-on role in complex or high-risk test scenarios, setting the standard for thoroughness and rigour
Review and approve test plans, test cases and QA sign-off documentation produced by the team
Own and manage test environments and QA tooling — ensuring stability, access and fitness for purpose across manual and automated test runs
Verify and hold final accountability for the release of deliverable software
Manage defect triage and escalation, ensuring issues are prioritised and resolved effectively
Lead the evolution of Delta's automated testing capability — setting the framework strategy and driving coverage growth
Oversee integration of automated tests into the Azure DevOps CI/CD pipeline and promote shift-left testing practices
Ensure automation frameworks remain maintainable, scalable and aligned with the product's architecture
Identify opportunities to extend automation into performance, load and security testing
Create and maintain software quality assurance plans in accordance with project and company requirements
Assess projects for compliance with development plans, internal standards and client requirements
Establish and own defect management workflows, root cause analysis processes and quality metrics reporting
Support the assessment of subcontracted or third-party development partners against required quality standards
Participate in software maturity reviews, lifecycle reviews and release governance processes
Work closely with the CPO, Systems Development Manager and product managers to align quality goals with product roadmap priorities
Work collaboratively with developers, product managers and wider stakeholders to map current ad-hoc testing practices, identify gaps, and co-design a QA framework that works for the whole team
Contribute to agile sprint planning and refinement, providing quality risk assessments for new features and releases
Collaborate with developers on code review for test code and foster shared ownership of quality across the team
Engage with clients or stakeholders on quality-related matters where required

Requirements

4–7 years of experience in QA, software testing or software quality engineering
Demonstrable experience leading or mentoring a QA team, or strong readiness to step into a lead role
Deep experience with both manual and automated testing approaches across complex product environments
Strong proficiency with at least one automation framework (e.g. Selenium, Playwright, Cypress) and associated scripting languages
Experience owning or significantly contributing to a QA strategy, not just executing within one
Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines — ideally Azure DevOps
Skilled in prioritising test effort based on business risk — able to make pragmatic trade-offs between coverage and delivery pace
Confident working at senior level: communicating quality risks, influencing decisions and presenting to leadership
Strong understanding of agile/scrum methodologies and how quality fits within iterative delivery
Excellent written and verbal communication skills — able to translate technical quality issues for non-technical audiences

Nice to have

Experience testing SaaS, B2B or marketing technology products — familiarity with Delta's product domain is a plus
Exposure to performance, load or security testing tools (e.g. k6, JMeter, OWASP ZAP)
Knowledge of quality management standards (e.g. ISO 9001) and formal QA plan writing
ISTQB Advanced Level (Test Manager) certification or equivalent
Experience with BDD frameworks such as Cucumber or SpecFlow
Familiarity with .NET / C# application environments
Experience contributing to or leading QA hiring processes

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