Lead Test Engineer – 12 month – SC Cleared – Manchester

A highly reputable corporation that is delivering some of the countries most challenging tech projects offering service to millions of users is hiring a Lead Test Engineer with hands on automation experience using Java, Selenium and Rest Assured within AWS.

You must have hands on technical leader who can set direction and coach a small team of testers within an agile environment.

Our client is seeking a consultant with SC clearance, ability to travel to Manchester on a hybrid basis (3 days) and seeking up to £640 PD Inside IR 35 to start ASAP. We are only considering candidate who are located near Manchester.

Test Strategy & Leadership
• Define and implement an end-to-end test strategy aligned to microservices architecture
• Establish standards, patterns, and best practices across multiple teams
• Assess current testing approaches and drive continuous improvement
• Embed testing strategy across teams, creating scalable frameworks and exemplars

Hands-on Engineering
• Design, build, and maintain automated test frameworks
• Work across different test levels: unit, integration, contract, system, and E2E
• Lead automation efforts in Java-based environments
• Support teams with implementation, not just direction


Key Experience:
*SC cleared, with industry experience in Public Sector must have
*Strong experience delivering test strategies within microservices environments
*Hands-on automation expertise with Java, Selenium, Rest Assured, API, contract, and integration testing
*Experience across both monolith and microservices architectures
*Knowledge of CI/CD pipelines, Spring Boot applications, and performance testing fundamentals
*Strong understanding of contract testing, API testing, asynchronous messaging (Kafka), and non-functional testing
*Experience working with non-relational databases such as MongoDB
*Automation-first mindset with experience building scalable, reusable test frameworks

One stage interview process, to start ASAP.