Automation Test Architect

We are looking for an experienced Automated Test Architect to join the QA team. The successful candidate will maintain and extend an enterprise-grade .NET test automation framework built on Reqnroll (BDD) and Microsoft Playwright on .NET 8. The role sits within a cross-functional delivery team working on the Microsoft Dynamics 365-based application for council tax property assessment. The candidate will work closely with Functional Testers, developers, BAs and DevOps engineers to embed automated testing into the CI/CD pipeline and shift testing left across the delivery lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities

• Maintain and extend the Reqnroll (SpecFlow) BDD automation framework written in C# / .NET 8 using Microsoft Playwright
• Write and review Gherkin feature files, step definitions and page objects to support new and changed functionality
• Ensure automated tests are submitted alongside pull requests for new features - contributing to a shift-left testing model
• Investigate and resolve test flakiness - replacing hard sleeps with condition-based waits, standardising step definitions, eliminating duplicate bindings
• Maintain and improve the Azure DevOps CI/CD pipeline - test result publishing, environment switching, and PR gate configuration
• Triage pipeline failures and distinguish test failures from environment or infrastructure issues
• Work with the DevOps team to configure and maintain the agent pool
• Manage test data in Excel and database - ensuring data integrity and environment isolation between SIT, UAT and FAT
• Participate in sprint ceremonies - providing test estimates, flagging automation risk, and contributing to Definition of Done
• Mentor junior QA team members on framework usage, Gherkin best practices and Playwright
• Contribute to the Ways of Working improvement programme - defining PR gate criteria and embedding tests into the delivery pipeline

Technical Skills - Essential

Test Automation

• C# (.NET 8) - Solid hands-on C# experience - OOP, generics, async/await, LINQ
• Playwright- Hands-on experience with Microsoft.Playwright - locators, auto-wait, trace viewer, assertions (Expect), async/await patterns
• Reqnroll or SpecFlow - Experience writing and maintaining BDD feature files, step definitions and hooks in a .NET context
• Gherkin / BDD- Ability to write clear, readable Gherkin scenarios - correct use of Given/When/Then, Background:, Scenario Outline
• NUnit or xUnit-Test framework experience in a .NET context
• Page Object Model-Strong POM implementation - separation of locators and functions, reusable components

CI/CD and DevOps

• Git- Branch strategy, PR workflow, commit hygiene

Supporting Skills

• Excel test data management- EPPlus or similar - reading parameterised test data from Excel sheets
• SQL / database- Ability to write and validate SQL queries for test data retrieval and assertion
• Serilog or similar logging Structured logging in a test context
• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Experience automating D365 CRM - iframe handling, BPF stages, lookup fields, command bar interactions
• Selenium WebDriver Prior Selenium experience - useful for understanding existing test patterns and diagnosing legacy issues
• Azure AD / OAuth Understanding of session tokens, re-authentication popups, service account configuration for pipelines
• Accessibility testing Axe integration or similar - a11y test execution
• PDF evidence generation PDF-based screenshot capture and evidence trail (PdfSharp or similar)
• AutoIt Windows automation for file upload dialogs

Test Automation

• C# (.NET 8) - Solid hands-on C# experience - OOP, generics, async/await, LINQ
• Playwright- Hands-on experience with Microsoft.Playwright - locators, auto-wait, trace viewer, assertions (Expect), async/await patterns
• Reqnroll or SpecFlow - Experience writing and maintaining BDD feature files, step definitions and hooks in a .NET context
• Gherkin / BDD- Ability to write clear, readable Gherkin scenarios - correct use of Given/When/Then, Background:, Scenario Outline
• NUnit or xUnit-Test framework experience in a .NET context
• Page Object Model-Strong POM implementation - separation of locators and functions, reusable components

CI/CD and DevOps

• Git- Branch strategy, PR workflow, commit hygiene

Supporting Skills

• Excel test data management- EPPlus or similar - reading parameterised test data from Excel sheets
• SQL / database- Ability to write and validate SQL queries for test data retrieval and assertion