Test Engineer

Contract type: Permanent
Hours: 37.5/week

Salary: circa £45,000 depending on experience 

Location: Birmingham

WFH policy: Employees are required to attend the office 2 days/week

Flexible working: Variety of flexible work patterns subject to line manager discretion e.g. Compressed 9-day fortnight. 

Reports to: Software Engineering Manager

Role Summary:

As a QA Engineer here at LCCC, reporting to the Software Engineering Manager, you will play a vital role in ensuring the quality and reliability of our software systems and applications. You will collaborate closely with the Principal and Senior QA Engineers, development teams, and other stakeholders to implement effective testing strategies and drive continuous improvement in testing processes. Your expertise in testing methodologies, automation, and quality assurance will be instrumental in delivering high-quality software products.

Key Responsibilities

• Test Execution: Execute test cases for functional, regression, and integration testing as outlined by the Principal or Senior QA Engineer. Log and verify bugs, and maintain accurate test execution records. Follow predefined test plans and escalate unclear requirements or test scenarios.
• Test Case Design: Assist in writing and maintaining manual test cases under the guidance of senior QA team members. Contribute to updating regression test suites based on new features or bug fixes.
• Test Automation Support: Maintain and update existing automated test scripts as directed. Learn and apply automation tools and scripting languages with support from senior QA team members. Execute automated test suites and report results.
• Defect Reporting: Reproduce and document bugs clearly with necessary logs, screenshots, and steps. Work with developers to clarify defects and retest once resolved.
• Environment and Test Data Management: Use existing test environments for test execution and raise issues when environments are unstable or misconfigured. Help generate or request test data as needed.
• Collaboration and Learning: Participate in daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and QA-related discussions. Learn QA best practices, tools, and processes from Principal QA and Sr. QA Engineers. Ask questions and seek clarity to improve testing effectiveness and technical knowledge.

Skills Knowledge and Expertise

Essential:

• Testing Fundamentals : Solid understanding of software testing life cycle (STLC) and software development life cycle (SDLC). Knowledge of different testing types: functional, regression, integration, smoke, and exploratory.
• Manual Testing Experience: Experience in executing test cases, reporting bugs, and verifying fixes. Ability to identify edge cases and test beyond the “happy path.”
• Basic Automation Skills: Exposure to writing or editing automated test scripts in tools like Selenium, Playwright or Cypress . Familiarity with scripting languages (e.g. Java, Python, or JavaScript) used in test automation.
• Bug Tracking and Test Management: Ability to write clear, reproducible bug reports and test documentation.
• Version Control: Basic experience with version control systems like Git – pulling code, checking logs, etc.

Desirable:

• Experience running or monitoring automated tests (e.g. GitHub Actions, GitLab CI).
• Ability to break down requirements and identify ambiguous or missing information. Logical approach to isolating and reproducing defects.
• Hands-on experience with tools like JIRA, XRAY, TestRail, Zephyr, BrowserStack, Postman or equivalent.

Personal Attributes

• Dedication to Quality: Demonstrate a commitment to delivering high-quality software by conducting thorough and meticulous testing.
• Collaborative Team Player: Work effectively as part of a cross-functional team, collaborating with developers, QA team members, and stakeholders.
• Analytical Mindset: Apply critical thinking and problem-solving skills to identify, troubleshoot, and resolve testing issues.
• Continuous Learner: Stay updated with the latest testing trends, tools, and methodologies to continuously improve testing practices.