Quality Engineering (QE) Architect/Lead

Quality Engineering (QE) Architect/Lead - York (2/3 days) - 12 months - £545, QE Architect is the strategic and hands-on Quality Engineering leader responsible for defining, architecting, and governing the enterprise-wide quality engineering capability across the Tech Transformation portfolio. The role enables a product-led delivery model by embedding continuous testing, automation-first, shift-left quality practices, risk-based assurance, and flow engineering principles throughout the software development life cycle., 1. QE Strategy, Architecture & Transformation

• Define and maintain the Tech Transformation Quality Engineering Architecture and target-state quality operating model.
• Establish enterprise standards for automation, continuous testing, quality gates, test observability, and release assurance.
• Drive adoption of engineering-led quality practices aligned to DevOps and Flow Engineering principles.
• Design scalable QE frameworks that support Digital, Workbench, Data, AI and Integration platforms.
• Define and govern end-to-end integration testing to ensure seamless data flow, business process integrity, and operational reliability across core Policy, Claims, D365, Power Platform, API, and downstream enterprise systems
• Create reusable quality engineering assets, accelerators and reference architectures to increase delivery efficiency across programmes.
• Partner with Architecture, Engineering and Product leadership to embed quality from ideation through production.

1. Automation Architecture & Continuous Testing * Architect and evolve enterprise automation frameworks covering UI, API, Data, Integration, AI and Non-Functional testing. * Drive automation-first delivery ensuring automated validation is Embedded throughout CI/CD pipelines. * Define testing strategies across the testing pyramid, ensuring automation is implemented at the most effective layer. * Establish standards for: + UI automation + API automation + Contract testing + Data quality testing + Integration testing + Accessibility testing + Performance testing + Security testing + AI model validation * Promote Test Driven Development (TDD), Behaviour Driven Development (BDD), Specification by Example and Shift-Left testing practices. * Design quality engineering solutions supporting feature teams, platform teams and product squads.

2. AI-Led Quality Engineering * Lead adoption of AI-assisted and Agentic Testing capabilities. * Define enterprise standards for AI-generated test design, test automation generation, self-healing automation and intelligent defect analysis. * Drive effective use of GitHub Copilot, Claude and future AI engineering assistants. * Establish approaches for ML model validation, prompt testing, AI workflow assurance and responsible AI testing. * Identify opportunities to improve QE productivity through AI-driven risk analysis and predictive quality insights.

3. Technology & Platform Quality Architecture

Own quality engineering strategy and architecture across:

Digital CX Platforms

• OutSystems

Business Applications

• Microsoft Dynamics 365
• Microsoft Power Platform

Data & Analytics Platforms

• GCP-based solutions
• SQL platforms
• AI product ecosystems
• Power BI

Integration Platforms

• Azure APIM
• Event-driven integrations

AI & Intelligent Products

• Underwriting Intelligence solutions
• ML-powered products
• Email Intake and Fraud/Coverage Assessment platforms

1. Engineering Excellence & Governance * Define enterprise quality KPIs and engineering metrics. * Establish quality governance processes supporting risk-based decision making. * Define release readiness standards and quality gates. * Provide independent assurance for high-risk and business-critical initiatives. * Lead defect prevention strategies using root cause analysis and quality trend insights. * Standardise reporting using Power BI, Allure, Azure DevOps dashboards. * Ensure regulatory, audit and operational risk requirements are appropriately addressed.

2. Capability Building & Technical Leadership * Act as the senior technical authority for Quality Engineering across the Tech Transformation portfolio. * Coach and mentor QE Leads, SDETs, Automation Engineers and programme test teams. * Develop engineering communities, standards and knowledge-sharing practices. * Drive adoption of modern testing approaches across Product, Engineering and Delivery teams. * Build internal capability and reduce dependency on external suppliers through coaching and framework reuse. * Promote consistent engineering practices across all delivery teams.

Required Technical Expertise

Programming Languages

Deep hands-on expertise in:

• TypeScript, JavaScript, C#
• Python, PyTest, SQL

Strong understanding of:

• Object-oriented programming
• API development and testing
• Data engineering concepts
• Cloud-native architectures
• Microservices architectures

Automation & Testing Tools

UI Automation

• Playwright, BrowserStack, Applitools
• Cucumber/Reqnroll

API Automation

• RestAssured, Postman, Newman, RESTSharp

Email Services

• mailinator

Data Testing

• PyTest, SQL Validation, Databricks Notebooks, Prefect

Performance & NFR

• JMeter, k6, Accessibility Testing (JAWS), Security Testing (OWASP ZAP)

Delivery & DevOps

• Azure DevOps
• Azure Repos, Pipelines
• Jira, Xray

Reporting & Observability

• Power BI, Allure

AI Engineering

• GitHub Copilot
• Claude
• Agentic AI Testing Solutions

• 12+ years of experience in Quality Engineering, Software Engineering or Test Automation.
• Minimum 5 years’ operating as QE Architect/Principal Quality Engineer or Enterprise QE Lead level.
• Proven experience designing and scaling enterprise automation frameworks.
• Demonstrable expertise implementing Quality Engineering capabilities across large transformation portfolios.
• Strong experience with cloud, APIs, enterprise integration and data platform testing.
• Experience supporting Agile, Product-led and DevOps delivery models.
• Experience implementing TDD, BDD and Continuous Testing practices.
• Experience within Financial Services, Insurance or highly regulated industries preferred.