Job Title - Senior Test Automation Engineer

We're a digital insurance provider with ambitious plans to become The Best and Biggest in the UK market. Over the past few years, we've made significant investments in our data and tech capabilities, particularly within our CIO function. Our CIO team is at the forefront of driving innovation and ensuring our technology infrastructure supports our ambitious goals. We've nurtured our 4Cs culture, fostering collaboration, creativity, and continuous improvement.

We're proud of the journey we're on as a company and know that our continued success will rely on the contribution of our talented colleagues. The CIO team plays a crucial role in this journey, working on cutting-edge projects that enhance our digital presence and improve customer engagement.

We provide insurance to nearly four million customers, but we know there's even bigger opportunity out there. The fact you're now reading this job advert means we've tempted you to find out more about #lifeatHD - we really hope you like what you see, and you'll join us to share in the success of the exciting chapter that lies ahead.

We understand some people may not apply for jobs unless they feel they tick every box. If you are excited about joining us and think you have some of what we are looking for, even if you're not 100% sure, we would love to hear from you. Our CIO team is always looking for passionate individuals who are eager to make a difference and contribute to our success.

Job Details

• As a Senior Test Automation Engineer, you will be part of the Technology Engineering team within CIO, overseeing, defining, implementing, executing and maintaining adequate test scenarios including end to end traceability to ensure timely, high quality, defect free delivery of outcomes to the production environments.
• Working in an agile environment, you will be assigned to Scrum Teams and collaborate extensively with the colleagues in your teams to identity acceptance criteria for both functional and non-functional requirements.
  By agreeing at which levels the testing should be executed and subsequently reviewing and mapping all tests into the system of record, you will be ensuring full traceability of tests.
• Using an Automation Only approach, you will aim to execute the majority of testing automatically and therefore allowing tests to be executed early and often in support of our Zero Defect culture and ensuring that all work items meet the Definition of Done once completed. To achieve this, you will be updating / supporting the update of the test automation framework where necessary.
• As the Senior Test Automation Engineer you will also be supporting and mentoring all junior colleagues and provide timely and accurate MI for your teams to Test Management.
• Working as an individual collaborator in your Scrum Teams alongside colleagues that cross multiple disciplines
• Driving active participation and ensuring all voices are being heard in sprint ceremonies and proactively sharing updates and blockers in daily standups, estimating and committing in sprint planning or helping your teams improve KPIs by providing input in sprint retrospectives

Skills we would love you to have

Essential

• Proven and substantial practical experience working in an Testing Automation role
• Extensive experience working in an agile environment
• Transformational leadership skills being able to influence decision making and implement new processes and procedures in support of the company's vision
• Good mentoring skills to support direct reports in their ongoing development

Tools & Technologies:

• Proficient knowledge of at least on agile methodology (eg 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)
• Ability to manipulate, create and search for test data across databases using SQL
• Guidewire Insurance Suite
• Application Domains (one or more of):
• Customer facing web e-commerce sites
• Document templating and production systems
• Distributed n-tiered architectures
• Web services integration
• Service orientated / API architectures
• Operational reporting solutions

What we offer

Join us and you'll find a different way of doing things. We call it the 4Cs. We focus on getting it right for our colleagues, customers, company, and community. As one of our colleagues, you'll be helping to drive our growth, so in return, we'll give you all the support, training and development you need. Not to mention plenty of recognition and rewards, and the scope to voice your ideas and put them into practice.

Regrettably we are unable to offer sponsorship for this role

Benefits: in addition to a competitive salary and £5k car allowance you will also receive…
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
There's more! - 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 ….

Join us and you'll find a different way of doing things. We call it the 4Cs. We focus on getting it right for our colleagues, customers, company and community. As one of our colleagues, you'll be helping to drive our growth, so in return, we'll give you all the support, training and development you need.

Our 4Cs principles are simple: we believe by creating the right culture for our colleagues and giving them the right tools to do their job, we'll deliver good outcomes for every customer, helping us to grow the company profitably and sustainably and allowing us to invest in the communities we serve.

Hastings Group is an equal opportunities employer which means we treat people fairly. We welcome applications from all suitably skilled persons regardless of their gender, age, race, disability, ethnic background, religion/belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or marital/family status. Please also note that we have a thorough referencing process, which includes credit and criminal record checks.