Test Strategy Lead

Testing Lead

Location: London / Ipswich (Hybrid)
Salary: Up to £90,000 + Generous bonus

The Opportunity

A leading financial services organisation is entering an exciting new phase of growth, with a wave of technology hires supporting the next generation of its digital platforms and services.

We're looking for an experienced Testing Lead to take ownership of the quality strategy across a range of delivery projects. This is a high-impact role for someone who enjoys setting standards, developing people and embedding quality throughout the software development lifecycle - rather than simply overseeing testing at the end of a project.

You'll work closely with engineering, product, business analysis and DevSecOps teams to ensure quality is built into everything that gets delivered.

What You'll Be Doing

• Own and evolve the organisation's overall testing strategy, standards and approach.
• Lead and coordinate testing across multiple delivery projects.
• Manage and develop testers working across delivery teams, supporting performance and career growth.
• Ensure test environments are ready and work closely with DevSecOps to resolve issues.
• Partner with Business Analysts, Developers and Product teams to ensure requirements are clear, testable and built with quality in mind.
• Monitor and report on testing performance, defects, risks and release readiness.
• Help shape the automation strategy, including the evaluation and adoption of appropriate tooling.
• Lead root-cause analysis for significant defects and quality issues.
• Champion a culture where quality is owned across the entire engineering and delivery lifecycle.

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years' experience within software testing, including 2+ years in a leadership or senior testing position.
• Strong experience across test planning, execution, regression testing and UAT.
• Experience leading testers across multiple projects or delivery teams.
• Good understanding of test automation frameworks and modern QA practices.
• Experience with JIRA, Xray or similar test management platforms.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to influence technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• A proactive approach to quality, with the confidence to challenge and improve existing processes.

Nice to Have

• Experience within financial services, FinTech or another highly regulated environment.
• Knowledge of DevSecOps and secure software development practices.
• Experience within blockchain or digital asset environments.
• ISTQB or equivalent testing qualification.
• Experience with tools such as Selenium, Cypress or Playwright.

Why This Role?

This is an opportunity to join a major financial services organisation at an exciting point in its technology journey. As part of a new wave of strategic hires, you'll have genuine scope to influence how quality is delivered across the organisation, shape testing standards and help build a modern, high-performing engineering function.

If you're a Testing Lead who wants to move beyond simply managing test execution and have a real influence on engineering quality, delivery and people, this is an opportunity worth exploring.

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.