Head of QA

Overview

Head of Quality Assurance / Test Automation – £90,000 to £105,000 London (Hybrid, 2 days per week)

Please note:
This role does not offer sponsorship so candidates must have the valid right to work in the UK

A global tech client is recruiting a Head of QA & Test Automation. This is a greenfield environment and a blank canvas to implement your own vision and strategy, defining the direction and environment for QA across the business. The role is an 80% strategic / 20% hands-on position, taking ownership of a team of 10–15 QA Engineers/SDETs, setting standards, and providing leadership for the existing SDET team.

You will have experience leading testing teams (ideally having previously operated as a Head of QA / Test Automation).

• Overseeing and setting testing standards across the organisation, providing quality gates and proactively raising the bar for quality
• Identifying gaps in the test ecosystem
• Introducing contract testing
• Improving the standard of testing across multiple squads
• Defining best practices and ensuring SDETs adhere to them
• Ownership and coordination of test migration from the legacy client platform to a new greenfield platform

Technical Stack:
Typescript, Playwright, Github, AWS, IOS & Android.

• Up to £105k with 15% bonus (potentially flexible for the right candidate/someone with a good deal of Head of QA experience already)
• 8 week work from anywhere policy

Days in office: 2 days per week (no set days)

Interview process/format – 3 stages

Please upload your CV and we can book in a chat

We know that great leaders come from many different backgrounds. If you meet most of these requirements, we’d love to hear from you.

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• Strong experience in QA and Test Automation, especially at a senior or head-of-function level.
• Hands-on expertise with modern frameworks (Playwright, Cypress, contract or API testing).
• Comfort coding in Type Script or similar languages.
• Experience creating scalable test strategies for complex, multi-team delivery environments.
• A track record of building inclusive, high-performing technical teams.
• Strong communication and influencing skills – both technical and non-technical.
• Knowledge of performance and reliability testing (e.g. k6, JMeter) is desirable.

• A coach and mentor who brings out the best in others.
• A collaborator who values diverse opinions and voices.
• Confident in decision-making – even under pressure.
• Passionate about continuous improvement and automation excellence.
• Committed to creating safe, inclusive spaces where every team member can thrive.

We know that a person’s potential is more than the sum of their past experiences. If you meet most but not all these points, we still encourage you to apply, your unique perspective could make the difference.

• Flexible and hybrid working options
• Work from anywhere – 8 weeks a year
• Generous parental leave and family-friendly policies
• Career development, mentorship, and training
• A supportive, inclusive culture with employee resource groups and diversity initiatives.

Collinson is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes differences in all their forms including: colour, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, neurodivergence, family status, age, individuals with disabilities and people from all backgrounds, cultures and experiences as we strongly believe this contributes to our on-going success.

We are focused on continually evolving our purpose driven, high performing culture, providing an environment where our people have the opportunity to achieve their full potential and do interesting and meaningful work. Our company values are:
Take Action, Do the right thing, One team and Be insight led. These help guide everything we do internally in terms of how we think, act and interact, right through to how we deliver value to our customers and clients.

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