Principal Test Automation Engineer

Hastings Direct

full-time

Posted on: 1/21/2026

Location Type: Hybrid

Location: Leicester • United Kingdom

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About the role

Provide automation capabilities that support the Scrum Teams to deliver on the Automation Only approach, reducing the percentage of tests that cannot be automated through designing and implementing extensions / adjustments to the Automation Frameworks.
Identify new opportunities to enhance / extend our test automation capabilities with new and/or updated tooling, supporting the evaluation, decision making, implementation and maintenance of these tools.
Managing the ongoing maintenance of the tooling to meet the growing demand, increasing performance and allowing the Scrum Teams test early and often on a continuous basis.
Provide capabilities to support the provision of timely and accurate Test Automation MI for all Scrum Teams, which includes quality measures where possible supporting continuous improvement.
Define, implement and maintain test automation best practices and drive proactive collaboration and engagement within Scrum Teams and the wider QA community through the Centre of Excellence as well as regular Brown Bag sessions and other means of engagement.
Mentoring all direct reports, junior staff, and new joiners to achieve the necessary competencies to progress.

Proficient practical experience working in a Testing Automation role
Extensive experience working in an agile environment
Transformational leadership skills being able to influence decision making and implement new tools, processes and procedures in support of the company’s vision
Good mentoring skills to support direct reports in their ongoing development
Proficient knowledge of at least on agile methodology (e.g. Scrum, Kanban, SAFe)
Familiar with backlog and test case management in a system of record such as Jira or Octane
Excellent knowledge using declarative Gherkin to capture business rules, run as automated tests with Cucumber
Strong coding skills to implement automated tests in one or more of Java, JavaScript, Typescript, C#
Comfortable with source control using GitHub
Skilled in user interface automation with Selenium & Selenium Grid, Playwright or Cypress
Ability to implement tests against API either in code or via tools such as SoapUI, Postman
Good understanding and experience using continuous integration platforms such as AzureDevOps or Jenkins (or equivalent)

Benefits

Flexible working – we champion a flexible hybrid working approach – please speak to your recruiter to discuss in more detail
Competitive bonus scheme - all colleagues are eligible for our annual 4Cs performance bonus
Physical wellbeing – as a Band 4 colleague, Hastings pay for you to receive private medical Insurance (also known as PMI). This gives you flexibility and convenience to see a specialist or consultant and allows you to decide when and where you will be seen
Financial wellbeing – as well as providing you with 4x your salary with our life assurance cover, income protection at no extra cost, and matched pension contributions up to 10%, we are proud to provide you with an award winning package which includes – discounts, cashback, free independent mortgage advice and free access to financial wellbeing support
Mental wellbeing programme – we have the thrive mental health app, our colleague assistance programme available 24/7, our own in-house mental health first aiders, support groups and a dedicated team to make sure we are covering your needs
27 days annual leave + bank holidays, with the option to buy or sell one of your weeks, access to our health care cash back plans, dental plans, discounted health assessments, Cycle to work and tech schemes, discounted and free onsite facilities, social events throughout the year and much more

Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

Hard Skills & Tools

test automationagile methodologyGherkinCucumberJavaJavaScriptTypescriptC#SeleniumAPI testing

Soft Skills

transformational leadershipmentoringinfluencing decision makingcollaborationengagement