QA Test Lead - Cape Town

Collinson is a global loyalty and benefits company.

We use our expertise and products to craft customer experiences which enable some of the worlds best known brands to acquire engage and retain the most demanding and choice-rich particular our unique expertise and insight into high earning frequent travellers allows us to create products and solutions for our clients that inspire greater customer engagement to drive more profitable relationships enrich their travel experiences protect what matters and assist in in times of need.

While specialising in Financial Services Travel and Retail we also support clients in multiple sectors. We have worked with over 90 airlines 20 hotel groups and more than 600 financial institutions and banks with clients including Accor Hotels Air France KLM American Express British Airways Cathay Pacific Diners Club Mandarin Oriental Mastercard Radisson Hotel Group Sephora Visa and Vhi.

We take our 30 years experience working with these kinds of household names in over 170 countries and help our clients to deliver the smarter experiences it takes to differentiate their propositions and help them win deeper devotion with their customers.

Collinson is a privately-owned entrepreneurial business with 2000 passionate people working in 20 locations worldwide. Our solutions include Priority Pass the worlds best known airport experiences programme while we are also the trusted partner behind many of the leading financial services airline and hotel brands reward programmes and loyalty initiatives.

Purpose of the job

Were looking for a QA Test Lead whos passionate about quality; not just as a phase but as a core part of how great software gets this role youll help shape what great looks like across our engineering teams including setting test standards supporting engineers and making sure quality is everyones responsibility.

Youll be embedded in a collaborative environment where software is shipped fast iteratively and often. Your work will focus on making sure things dont just work but work well together. Youll bring clarity structure and confidence to the way we test by balancing automation with human insight and keeping the end-user in mind.

Your role would straddle multiple engineering squads supporting with not just the QA strategy but personally leading the automated testing efforts as well. Youll bring your considerable knowledge of test automation to help us build new products that are reliable performant and resilient.

If youre curious love asking the awkward questions and want to support software engineers build and iterate quickly youll thrive here.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and uphold the standards for test quality across engineering squads ensuring consistency and confidence in our releases.

• Oversee the work of our Automation QAs/SDeTs and manual testers.

• Write high quality integration and end-to-end tests across our software portfolio.

• Partner with engineers product managers and delivery leads to embed quality thinking from day one and not as an after-thought.

• Design and oversee test strategies that combine automation exploratory testing and regression coverage.

• Drive the implementation and evolution of automated testing frameworks ensuring integration into our CI/CD pipelines.

• Own the structure and health of test suites and regression packs helping teams keep them lean relevant and valuable.

• Support squads in front-end API and end-to-end testing using tools like Playwright Cypress Postman RestAssured and other modern frameworks.

• Facilitate and promote BDD and 3-amigos sessions helping clarify requirements and prevent misunderstandings before they happen.

• Help engineers understand and own quality; coaching without gatekeeping advising without blocking.

• Perform and organise performance testing with tools such as K6 JMeter.

• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to ensure cross-squad functionality and integration is properly tested.

• Get involved in the testing cycle helping to investigate issues write tests support on manual QA and signing-off changes.

Preferred

• Computer Science or Information Technology degree Diploma or similar

• ASTQB ISTQB Advanced Certification

• Certified Automation Tester (i.e. Selenium Cypress Playwright)

Non Negotiable

• 5 years experience in Test Automation and Manual Testing with the ability to define and enforce testing standards across engineering teams

• Strong hands-on experience with test automation frameworks and API testing tools.

• Confident writing automated tests in Typescript.

• Expertise in Designing and Executing End-to-End Test Strategies that aligns with Agile delivery

• Solid experience embedding quality early in the SDLC by working closely with Product Managers Engineers Principal Engineers and Delivery Managers

• Coaching-oriented leadership style with a proven ability to mentor engineers on quality ownership

• Hands-on Leadership of UAT Defect Triage driving this process including daily coordination with cross-functional stakeholders (Product Engineering and Delivery) to evaluate prioritize and drive resolution of defects based on reproducibility business impact and release scope

Personal Attributes

• Quality mindset deeply values software quality and strives for continuous improvement across teams

• Strong leadership able to guide motivate and hold team members accountable without micromanaging

• Collaborative nature works well with engineers product managers and delivery managers to embed quality early in the SDLC

• Proactive attitude toward continuous improvement always seeking better ways to optimize QA processes

• Critical thinker approaches testing with curiosity and rigor; digs deep to uncover root causes

• Adaptability comfortable with change and able to pivot priorities in fast-paced agile environments

• Detail-oriented thorough in reviewing test cases strategies and outcomes without losing sight of the bigger picture

• Ownership-driven takes responsibility for the overall health of the QA process and quality outcomes

Interview Process

We want our process to be fair and transparent so its only right that we tell you what the various interview stages are:

Stage 1 Well do a screener call with our recruitment team where you can learn a bit more about Collinson our values and we can confirm what youre looking for in a new role.

Stage 2 Well do a short call with one of our Engineering Managers for around 30 minutes who will tell you more about the team our projects and ask questions about your career history and suitability for the role.

Stage 3 You will do a technical test (at home) and well review your solution and approach to it.

Stage 4 This is final and main stage where well meet you for around 1 hour and youll get to spend time with different members of the engineering team (Engineering Manager and QA Test Lead). Well also go through your technical test and ask questions on some of your decisions and implementation.

Stage 5 - 30 minute discussion with our Head of Architecture & Engineering