Job Specifications
Contract Lead Automation Test Engineer – Financial Services
Location: Sheffield (Hybrid – 3 days on-site)
Duration: 12-month initial contract
IR35 Status: Inside IR35
We are recruiting for an experienced Lead Automation Test Engineer to join a major financial services client in Sheffield. This role will lead automation strategy, test delivery, and quality engineering across a high-profile programme. You will provide technical leadership to the test engineering team, define best practices, and drive high-quality automated solutions across complex cloud and on-prem environments.
Key Responsibilities
Lead and mentor automation engineers, providing technical guidance, coaching, and oversight of automation activities.
Develop, execute, and maintain automated test frameworks and scripts for web, API, database, and cloud-based applications.
Create comprehensive test plans, test cases, test scenarios, test data, and associated documentation based on requirements and specifications.
Select and recommend appropriate automation tools based on system architecture and project requirements.
Define performance test strategies, covering scope, environments, risks, and resource planning.
Integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines (GitLab/Jenkins) and support shift-left testing practices.
Lead and coordinate SIT/OAT/UAT testing activities with technical and business stakeholders.
Analyse design documents for testability and ensure requirements traceability across test assets.
Accurately log, track, and report defects, attend triage sessions, and verify fixes.
Provide continuous improvement recommendations across test processes, tooling, and automation capability.
Stay current with emerging technologies and adapt automation approaches to evolving project needs.
Essential Skills & Experience
Strong background in automation testing within financial services or complex enterprise environments.
Proven experience developing automated test scripts with JavaScript.
Hands-on experience with automation tools such as Selenium WebDriver IO (WDIO), Cucumber, Selenium UI, and RestAssured for API testing.
Strong manual testing experience alongside automation capability.
Experience with cloud testing across AWS, Azure, GCP or similar platforms.
Skilled in Jenkins pipeline creation, CI/CD integration, and automated reporting.
Web UI testing and database comparison testing expertise.
Experience with JIRA, Xephyr, and broader test management tools.
API Testing, API Gateway testing, Batch/ETL testing.
Experience with GitOps repositories and modern DevOps workflows.
Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with the ability to lead and influence.
Experience working in Agile and Waterfall delivery environments.
Desirable Experience
Exposure to Identity & Access Management (IAM) programmes.
Experience with SailPoint IdentityIQ, identity warehousing, SCIM, REST API, LDAP, OIDC, CSV ingestion.
Testing experience with Graph Database Management Systems (GDBMS).
Experience with ServiceNow, Active Directory, AWS/Azure integrations.
Testing “functions and decision points as code,” such as Policy-as-Code.
Pub/Sub and MQ systems testing.
GCP cloud testing methodologies.
SaaS platform testing.
Process improvement leadership – establishing performance testing standards and governance.
Skill sets across languages such as: Java, Cypher, Python, JavaScript, PHP, .NET, Go, SQL Server, MySQL.
Experience with test tools such as QMetry, TestRail, Postman, Insomnia.
BDD/TDD experience.
About the Company
At Vanloq, we believe people are the cornerstone of every successful organisation. As a global workforce solutions provider, our mission is to drive technological innovation by connecting exceptional tech talent with forward-thinking companies around the world.
We go beyond traditional recruitment, positioning ourselves as a strategic partner in workforce transformation. Our vision is to redefine how businesses operate and how talent engages with work, using deep industry insight and forward-looking strategies.
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