QA Engineer (Automation)

Department: Software Engineering

Location: Northampton (Hybrid: 2–3 days/week in office)

About the Role

We are seeking a motivated, quality-focused QA Engineer (Automation) to join our Software Engineering team at Travis Perkins Group. You will play a key role in building and improving automated testing across our core enterprise systems and in-store retail trading platforms, helping ensure our critical business applications are reliable, resilient, and fit for purpose.

Working alongside internal engineers, Product Owners, technical SMEs, DevOps colleagues, and third-party QA engineers, you will develop scalable test automation that improves regression coverage, accelerates feedback, and increases confidence in software releases.

We are also looking for someone with practical exposure to AI and a curiosity about how it can improve QA and software engineering. You will bring ideas and experience to help us identify opportunities to use AI to improve test automation, defect analysis, and engineering productivity.

Key Responsibilities

Automation Framework & Regression Testing

• Design, build, and maintain a scalable automated testing framework for terminal-based interfaces (including Web Terminal) and modern web applications.

• Develop robust regression suites covering critical retail trading journeys, core business processes, and connected systems.

End-to-End Integration & API Testing

• Automate and validate data flows between core applications and connected enterprise systems to ensure data consistency and transactional integrity.

• Utilize REST APIs to support test data creation, retrieval, validation, and environment setup.

CI/CD & Continuous Testing

• Integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines using scheduled and containerized execution where appropriate.

• Provide rapid feedback during development and deliver automated validation following deployments.

Collaboration & Third-Party Partnerships

• Work with Product Owners, system SMEs, developers, DevOps, and third-party QA engineers to translate business processes into clear test scenarios and maintainable automation.

• Partner with external QA engineering providers to establish automation standards, review test solutions, share knowledge, and build a consistent capability.

AI-Enabled Quality Engineering

• Explore and apply AI tools to improve test generation, script optimization, test data creation, failure analysis, defect triage, and documentation.

• Identify practical opportunities to leverage AI across QA and the wider software delivery lifecycle, sharing knowledge and successful approaches across teams.

Continuous Improvement & Delivery

• Quality Shift-Left: Work with developers and Product Owners from the outset to identify risks, define acceptance criteria, and establish test coverage.

• Defect & Incident Investigation: Investigate test failures and production incidents using logs and technical analysis to identify root causes and support release decisions.

• Agile Teamwork: Participate in sprint planning, refinement, daily stand-ups, and retrospectives.

• Standards & Optimization: Promote reusable or maintainable automation and secure practices. Monitor test coverage, execution times, and reliability (utilizing parallel execution and session health checks).

Candidate Profile

Essential Qualifications & Skills

• Education/Experience: Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related discipline (or equivalent practical industry experience).

• QA & Automation: Strong background in quality engineering with hands-on experience designing, developing, and maintaining automated test frameworks.

• Languages & Tools: Good programming/scripting skills (ideally TypeScript or JavaScript). Experience with end-to-end testing tools, Page Object Models, and asynchronous test handling.

• API Testing: Experience in testing web applications, APIs, and integrations using REST APIs, Postman, or equivalent tools.

• DevOps Integration: Understanding of CI/CD pipelines and automated execution.

• Soft Skills: Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills with strong attention to detail and a collaborative mindset.

Desirable Qualifications & Skills

• Experience testing retail, branch trading, cash operations, transactional systems, or order lifecycle workflows.

• Familiarity with terminal emulation or legacy/green-screen interfaces.

• Experience with enterprise systems including ERP, middleware, PIM, or digital platforms.

• Practical exposure to AI tools/technologies with a strong interest in applying AI to QA and software engineering workflows.

• Hands-on experience with reporting tools (e.g., Allure) and cloud-based/containerized test environments.

• ISTQB or equivalent software testing certification.

• Experience using AI coding assistants, generative AI, or AI-powered testing tools to generate tests, analyze failures, optimize automation, or train engineering teams.

Why Join Us?

Software Engineering plays a vital role in protecting Travis Perkins Group's core revenue streams and business continuity. In this role, you will help establish a scalable automation capability across our core retail trading platforms and connected enterprise systems, reducing reliance on manual regression testing and embedding quality directly into our CI/CD pipelines.

You will also have the direct opportunity to shape how we adopt AI within QA and Software Engineering, bringing new ideas to deliver measurable improvements in delivery quality and team productivity.