Qa Automation Lead

Collinson is a global loyalty and benefits company. We use our expertise and products to craft customer experiences which enable some of the world's best known brands to acquire, engage and retain the most demanding and choice-rich customers. In particular, our unique expertise and insight into high earning, frequent travellers allows us to create products and solutions for our clients that inspire greater customer engagement to drive more profitable relationships, enrich their travel experiences, protect what matters and assist in in times of need. While specialising in Financial Services, Travel and Retail, we also support clients in multiple sectors. We have worked with over 90 airlines, 20 hotel groups and more than financial institutions and banks, with clients including Accor Hotels, Air France KLM, American Express, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Diners Club, Mandarin Oriental, Mastercard, Radisson Hotel Group, Sephora, Visa and Vhi. We take our 30 years' experience working with these kinds of household names in over countries, and help our clients to deliver the smarter experiences it takes to differentiate their propositions, and help them win deeper devotion with their customers. Collinson is a privately‑owned entrepreneurial business with 2, passionate people working in 20 locations worldwide. Our solutions include Priority Pass, the world’s best known airport experiences programme, while we are also the trusted partner behind many of the leading financial services, airline and hotel brand's reward programmes and loyalty initiatives. Purpose of the job We're looking for a QA Automation Lead who's passionate about quality; not just as a phase, but as a core part of how great software gets built. In this role, you'll help shape what "great" looks like across our engineering teams, including setting test standards, supporting engineers and making sure quality is everyone's responsibility. You'll be embedded in a collaborative environment where software is shipped fast, iteratively, and often. Your work will focus on making sure things don't just work but work well together. You'll bring clarity, structure and confidence to the way we test by balancing automation with human insights and keeping the end-user in mind. Your role would straddle multiple engineering squads, supporting with not just the QA strategy, but personally leading the automated testing efforts as well. You'll bring your considerable knowledge of test automation to help us build new products that are reliable, performant, and resilient. If you're curious, love asking the awkward questions, and want to support software engineers build and iterate quickly, you'll thrive here. Key Responsibilities Define and uphold the standards for test quality across engineering squads, ensuring consistency and confidence in our releases. Oversee the work of our Automation QAs / SDeTs, and manual testers. Write high quality integration and end‑to‑end tests across our software portfolio. Partner with engineers, product managers, and delivery leads to embed quality thinking from day one, and not as an after‑thought. Design and oversee test strategies that combine automation, exploratory testing, and regression coverage. Drive the implementation and evolution of automated testing frameworks, ensuring integration into our CI / CD pipelines. Own the structure and health of test suites and regression packs, helping teams keep them lean, relevant, and valuable. Support squads in front‑end, API, and end‑to‑end testing, using tools like Playwright, Cypress, Postman, RestAssured and other modern frameworks. Facilitate and promote BDD and 3‑amigos sessions, helping clarify requirements and prevent misunderstandings before they happen. Help engineers understand and own quality; coaching without gatekeeping, advising without blocking. Perform and organise performance testing with tools such as K6, JMeter. Collaborate closely with cross‑functional teams to ensure cross‑squad functionality and integration is properly tested. Get involved in the testing cycle, helping to investigate issues, write tests, support on manual QA, and signing‑off changes. Preferred Computer Science or Information Technology degree, Diploma or similar. ASTQB ISTQB Advanced Certification. Certified Automation Tester (i.e. Selenium, Cypress, Playwright). Non Negotiable 5+ years experience in Test Automation and Manual Testing, with the ability to define and enforce testing standards across engineering teams. Strong hands‑on experience with test automation frameworks and API testing tools. Confident writing automated tests in Typescript. Expertise in Designing and Executing End‑to‑End Test Strategies that aligns with Agile delivery. Solid experience embedding quality early in the SDLC by working closely with Product Managers, Engineers, Principal Engineers and Delivery Managers. Coaching‑oriented leadership style, with a proven ability to mentor engineers on quality ownership. Hands‑on Leadership of UAT Defect Triage, driving this process, including daily coordination with cross‑functional stakeholders (Product, Engineering, and Delivery) to evaluate, prioritize, and drive resolution of defects based on reproducibility, business impact, and release scope. Personal Attributes: Quality mindset – deeply values software quality and strives for continuous improvement across teams. Strong leadership – able to guide, motivate, and hold team members accountable without micromanaging. Collaborative nature – works well with engineers, product managers, and delivery managers to embed quality early in the SDLC. Proactive attitude toward continuous improvement, always seeking better ways to optimize QA processes. Critical thinker – approaches testing with curiosity and rigor; digs deep to uncover root causes. Adaptability – comfortable with change and able to pivot priorities in fast‑paced, agile environments. Detail‑oriented – thorough in reviewing test cases, strategies, and outcomes without losing sight of the bigger picture. Ownership‑driven – takes responsibility for the overall health of the QA process and quality outcomes. Interview Process Stage 1 – We'll do a screener call with our recruitment team, where you can learn a bit more about Collinson, our values and we can confirm what you're looking for in a new role. Stage 2 – We'll do a short call with one of our Engineering Managers for around 30 minutes, who will tell you more about the team, our projects and ask questions about your career history and suitability for the role. Stage 3 – You will do a technical test (at home), and we'll review your solution and approach to it. Stage 4 – This is final and main stage, where we'll meet you for around 1 hour, and you'll get to spend time with different members of the engineering team (Engineering Manager and QA Test Lead). We'll also go through your technical test and ask questions on some of your decisions and implementation. Stage minute discussion with our Head of Architecture & Engineering. #J-18808-Ljbffr