Lead Quality Engineer

Lead Quality Engineer

Leeds / Manchester / Bruntingthorpe (Hybrid)
Cox Automotive Europe Enterprise Technology

About the Role

Were looking for a Lead Quality Engineer to shape and lead quality engineering across a major transformation programme within our Manheim Vehicle Services (MVS) platform.

This is a high-impact leadership role where youll guide teams through the evolution from a monolith to a modern cloud-native AWS architecturewhile redefining how quality works in an AI-assisted development world.

Youll combine hands-on engineering expertise strategic thinking and people leadership to ensure we build software that is reliable secure and built to last.

What Youll Be Doing

Lead & Grow the QE Function

• Lead coach and develop a team of Test Engineers and Analysts
• Set the vision and standards for quality engineering
• Act as a champion for quality across engineering and product

Own Quality in an AI-Driven Engineering Environment

• Define quality guardrails for AI-generated and AI-assisted code
• Evolve practices for testing validation and review
• Shape how we maintain confidence in increasingly automated delivery

Drive Strategy & Delivery

• Own and deliver the QA strategy and roadmap
• Define approaches across:
  • Functional and exploratory testing
  • Performance security and resilience
• Lead automation strategy and tooling decisions
• Provide clear risk-based input into release decisions

Modernise Quality Engineering

• Work across both legacy and modern platforms
• Embed BDD and spec-driven development practices
• Drive measurable improvements via metrics and KPIs

Our Tech Landscape

Youll operate across a modern evolving stack:

• Cloud: AWS
• Backend: .NET / .NET Core
• Frontend: React
• Containers: Docker EKS ECS
• Data: Aurora DynamoDB DocumentDB
• Messaging: Kafka SNS/SQS EventBridge
• CI/CD: GitHub Actions
• Testing: Playwright Cypress Postman K6

What Were Looking For

Essential Experience

• Strong leadership experience in Quality Engineering / QA
• Proven success delivering QA strategies with measurable outcomes
• Deep knowledge of:
  • Agile CI/CD modern SDLC
  • Test automation at scale
• Hands-on experience with:
  • Modern and legacy systems
  • API and performance testing
  • Cloud environments (AWS preferred)
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills

Nice to Have

• Experience working with AI-assisted or agentic development
• Background in large-scale transformation or migration programmes
• Familiarity with Docker Terraform observability tooling
• Data testing and quality experience

How Youll Work

• Value-driven: Focused on outcomes not activity
• Pragmatic: Able to balance speed risk and quality
• Empathetic leader: Supporting teams through change
• Collaborative: Partnering across engineering product and architecture

Why Join Us

• Play a key role in a large-scale digital transformation
• Help define quality engineering in an AI-enabled future
• Work with modern cloud technologies and practices
• Shape the direction of quality across a complex high-volume platform
• Lead and grow a team in a supportive forward-thinking environment

Apply Now

If youre passionate about building quality into modern software delivery and want to lead through one of the most exciting engineering transformations in the industry wed love to hear from you.

STRICTLY NO AGENCIES PLEASE

We kindly ask that agencies do not contact us regarding this work with a carefully selected and trusted group of recruitment partners.

We do not accept unsolicited CVs sent to the recruitment team or directly to a hiring manager. We will not be responsible for any fees related to unsolicited submissions.

Cox Automotive is the worlds largest automotive service organisation. We
provide dependable solutions that improve performance and profitability
throughout the vehicle lifecycle to manufacturers fleets and retailers.
Our businesses are organised around our customers core needs across vehicle
solutions mobility remarketing funding and retail.