Senior QA Engineer

Key Responsibilities

Design, develop and execute test plans, test cases and test specifications for desktop software products.
Perform functional, regression, integration and exploratory testing across native Windows and macOS desktop applications.
Collaborate closely with developers, product owners and other stakeholders to understand requirements and define acceptance criteria.
Identify, document, prioritise and track software defects through to resolution.
Take ownership of quality assurance processes for specific product areas, ensuring comprehensive test coverage and release readiness.
Develop and maintain test documentation, test suites and traceability between requirements and test cases.
Work with developers and engineering leadership to identify opportunities to increase automated test coverage and improve release confidence.
Contribute to the continuous improvement of testing processes, standards and quality practices.
Participate in sprint planning, backlog refinement, reviews and retrospectives.
Support release validation activities and post-release verification.
Work within Agile methodologies, following Scrum or Kanban workflows.
Mentor junior QA team members at a later stage as the team grows.

Essential Skills and Experience

A minimum of 5 years of professional experience in software quality assurance or software testing.
Experience testing native desktop applications on Windows and macOS.
Strong understanding of software testing methodologies, including functional, regression, integration, system and exploratory testing.
Experience creating detailed test plans, test specifications and test cases from business and technical requirements.
Experience working closely with software developers to investigate, reproduce and resolve defects.
Strong understanding of defect lifecycle management and issue tracking tools.
Experience testing software across multiple Windows and macOS versions and environments.
Excellent analytical, troubleshooting and problem-solving skills.
Ability to take ownership of testing activities and deliver them independently.
Strong written communication skills with the ability to clearly document test scenarios and defects.
A degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics or a related technical discipline.

Preferred Skills

Experience with test management platforms such as Xray for Jira, Zephyr, TestRail or similar tools.
Experience developing or maintaining automated test suites using tools such as Selenium, Playwright, Cypress or equivalent automation frameworks.
Interest in helping define and expand the organisation's automated testing capabilities.
Experience identifying suitable candidates for automation and contributing to automation strategy.
Experience testing desktop applications that interact with APIs, local services or databases.
Knowledge of accessibility testing standards and best practices, including WCAG.
Experience using accessibility testing and auditing tools such as Accessibility Insights, Axe, WAVE, NVDA, VoiceOver or similar technologies.
Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and integrating automated testing into deployment workflows.
Basic programming or scripting experience to support test automation and tooling.

Ways of Working

Personal Attributes

Strong communication skills with the ability to explain quality and testing concepts clearly.
Proactive and organised, comfortable taking ownership of quality assurance activities.
Collaborative and supportive approach to working within a team.
Strong attention to detail and commitment to delivering high-quality software.
Commitment to continuous improvement of testing processes, tools and practices.

Senior Quality Assurance Engineer