Lead QA Tester THIS IS AN OFFICE BASED POSITION IN KNUTSFORD. PLEASE ENSURE YOU CAN COMMUTE DAILY FOR THIS POSITION Custodia Technology is a leading vendor-independent global financial compliance technology expert business focused on the financial trading markets. Currently based in New York, London and Cheshire. Custodia Technology works with customers to design & deliver strategies and solutions enabling technology transformation across the entire communications compliance technology landscape. Custodia leads the way, as the only truly independent specialist provider of compliance technology solutions to the banking and finance industry. Description We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Lead QA Tester to join our team. The Lead QA Tester will be responsible for leading product validation efforts and building a robust testing framework for our SaaS products. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in quality assurance, test automation, and leadership, ensuring that our products meet the highest standards of quality and reliability. Responsibilities Lead Product Validation: Oversee the entire QA process for product releases, including planning, execution, and reporting. Develop and execute comprehensive test plans, test cases, and test scripts to ensure thorough validation of product features and functionalities. Collaborate closely with Product Management, Development, and other stakeholders to understand requirements and define acceptance criteria. Conduct functional, regression, integration, performance, and security testing to identify and resolve issues. Manage the defect lifecycle, including identifying, logging, tracking, and verifying bugs in collaboration with the development team. Ensure all deliverables meet the quality standards and acceptance criteria before deployment. 2. Build and Maintain the Testing Framework: Design and implement a scalable and maintainable automated testing framework to improve test coverage and efficiency. Integrate automated tests into the continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline to ensure regular and reliable testing. Select and implement appropriate testing tools and technologies to support the testing framework. Develop and maintain automated test scripts for regression, performance, and security testing. Ensure the testing framework can support various testing types, including API, UI, and end-to-end testing. 3. Lead and Mentor the QA Team: Provide leadership, guidance, and mentorship to the QA team members. Conduct regular code and test case reviews to ensure high-quality standards are maintained. Foster a culture of continuous improvement, encouraging team members to learn and adopt new testing methodologies and tools. Develop and deliver training sessions and workshops to enhance the skills and knowledge of the QA team. 4. Collaborate with Cross-Functional Teams: Work closely with product managers, developers, and designers to understand requirements, provide feedback, and ensure testability. Participate in Agile ceremonies such as sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives. Communicate testing progress, results, and issues to stakeholders in a clear and concise manner. Advocate for best practices in quality assurance and contribute to process improvements. Desired Skills & Experience Required: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent work experience. Proven experience as a QA lead or senior QA engineer in a SaaS or software development environment. Strong knowledge of QA methodologies, tools, and processes. Experience with test automation tools (e.g., Selenium, JUnit, TestNG, Cypress). Experience with CI/CD pipelines and tools (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD). Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail. Strong leadership and mentoring skills. Excellent communication and collaboration skills. Preferred: Experience with performance and security testing. Knowledge of Agile/Scrum methodologies. Certification in software testing (e.g., ISTQB, CSTE).