QA Lead

Role Overview

• Define and own the QA strategy across the KxWelcome product, covering functional, regression, integration, and performance testing.
• Establish quality gates and release readiness criteria in collaboration with Engineering and Product.
• Build and maintain test plans aligned to the development roadmap and release cadence.
• Drive a shift-left approach to quality, embedding testing earlier in the development lifecycle.
• Lead the design and implementation of a test automation framework using Playwright.
• Expand automated test coverage across critical user journeys, integrations, and regression suites.
• Bring an AI-first mindset to QA, leverage AI tools and techniques to accelerate test creation, defect detection, and test maintenance.
• Evaluate and introduce AI-driven testing approaches that improve coverage, reduce manual effort, and increase release confidence.
• Collaborate with the AI POD on opportunities to integrate AI into the QA pipeline.
• Lead and develop a distributed QA team across the UK, Pakistan, and Serbia.
• Provide technical direction, coaching, and career development for QA team members.
• Manage workload allocation across product lines and development periods.
• Champion a quality culture across R&D, QA is everyone’s responsibility, not just the QA team’s.
• Work closely with Engineering on release readiness, defect management, and technical standards.
• Partner with Product to ensure test coverage aligns with roadmap priorities and customer expectations.
• Participate in bi-weekly R&D Planning sessions and the monthly R&D Review.
• Escalate quality risks and blockers through the weekly NA Operating Review.
• Track and report on QA metrics, defect rates, test coverage, automation coverage, release quality.
• Drive continuous improvement in QA processes, tooling, and team capability.
• Contribute to the definition of the SDLC as the organisation matures its engineering practices.

Requirements

• Proven experience leading QA teams in a SaaS or enterprise software environment.
• Strong hands-on experience with test automation using Playwright.
• Demonstrable AI-first mindset, experience applying AI tools and techniques to QA automation, test generation, or defect analysis.
• Experience defining and implementing QA strategies, frameworks, and quality gates.
• Solid understanding of CI/CD pipelines and how QA integrates into modern release processes.
• Experience managing distributed or remote teams across multiple time zones.
• Strong knowledge of SQL and relational databases for test data management and validation.
• Excellent communication skills, able to articulate quality risks to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience with Selenium (migration or parallel use alongside Playwright) is highly desirable.
• Experience in Higher Education, housing, property management, or similar B2B SaaS sectors is a plus.
• Familiarity with Jira for test management and defect tracking.
• Experience working alongside Product and Engineering teams in an agile environment.
• Understanding of performance testing, API testing, and integration testing approaches.
• Experience building QA functions from the ground up or significantly maturing existing QA capability.

Tech Stack

• SDLC
• Selenium
• SQL

Benefits

• 25 days holiday (plus bank holidays)
• with extra days the longer you’re with us
• Two paid wellbeing days each year, with a budget to enjoy some time out with someone important to you
• Enhanced pension contributions to support your future
• Two paid days a year to give back through volunteering, charity work, or sustainability projects with our Green Team
• Salary sacrifice schemes for electric vehicles and cycle-to-work
• 24/7 access to our Employee Assistance Programme for confidential advice and support
• A full annual health check to keep you at your best
• A flexible benefits platform
• from life assurance and learning opportunities to retail discounts and cinema tickets
• A genuine people-first culture where your growth and wellbeing come first
• Performance-related bonus scheme to reward your contribution
• Regular socials
• from team get-togethers to all-company celebrations, with each department owning a budget for their events
• The opportunity to attend group conferences, away days and learning forums both in the UK and abroad
• network with other talent
• We’ve created a welcoming office environment, with well-stocked kitchens offering free breakfast, fresh fruit, hot and cold drinks, and a range of tuck shop goodies to keep you fuelled throughout the day.