Principal QA Engineer - Python Automation - Hybrid (Belfast)

As Principal QA Engineer, you will be the technical authority for automation strategy within a complex, distributed, low latency environment. You'll take ownership of evolving Liquidnet's automated testing ecosystem, shaping best practice, and introducing high impact Python driven automation across the SDLC. This role sits at the intersection of QA, DevOps and architecture, giving you genuine influence over quality engineering standards across multiple teams., * Provide technical leadership for automation across functional, regression, integration and performance testing

• Architect, design and maintain advanced Python based automation frameworks
• Drive the modernisation and optimisation of existing automation tooling and infrastructure
• Design and implement automated smoke and verification testing for production deployments
• Mentor and support engineers across QA and development to uplift automation capability
• Contribute to broader SDLC improvements, reliability initiatives and DevOps alignment

• 7+ years' automated testing experience, ideally within financial services or similarly high reliability domains
• Expert level Python development skills applied to automation frameworks and tooling
• Strong understanding of distributed architectures, low latency systems and performance behaviour
• Deep knowledge of Linux environments, SQL, messaging technologies and integration patterns
• Proven leadership or principal level influence within Agile engineering teams
• Ability to drive automation strategy, challenge assumptions and deliver measurable improvements

• Salary up to £65k
• Flexible hybrid working model
• Private pension scheme
• Private healthcare
• High spec equipment and modern engineering environment