Lead QA Engineer

About Student.com:

Student.com is the world’s leading marketplace for student accommodation and services, a leader in student marketplace technology and an innovator in an industry that needed an upgrade. We are passionate about helping students find their perfect home and supporting their educational journey. To date, we have helped students from over 170 different countries. We understand the student journey because we've lived it, and we're committed to providing safe, inspiring foundations for students to grow and make the most of their educational experience abroad. The VP of Performance Media will work with a global team to challenge the status quo while building the global Student.com brand with an emphasis on engaging and informative content, driving an unparalleled student marketplace experience.

Core Role Responsibilities:

1. Agile Team Collaboration
• Serve as a key quality advocate within cross-functional agile teams
• Collaborate closely with Product Owners, developers, and UX designers to ensure quality throughout the development lifecycle
• Participate actively in all agile activities, providing quality-focused insights
2. Comprehensive Testing Execution
• Design and implement test strategies covering:
• Functional validation
• API/interface verification
• Cross-platform compatibility
• Negative test scenarios
• Exploratory testing
• Develop and maintain regression test suites for each release cycle
• Conduct risk-based testing to optimize test coverage
3. Test Automation & Maintenance
• Develop and maintain robust automated tests
• Implement continuous testing processes within CI/CD pipelines
• Monitor and enhance automated test suites, ensuring:
• Regular execution
• Result validation
• Issue resolution/escalation
• Optimize test automation coverage and efficiency
4. Quality Process Improvement
• Participate in requirement analysis, providing input on:
• Testability
• Usability
• Potential risk areas
• Contribute to the evolution of quality assurance processes
• Maintain and improve testing infrastructure and tools
5. Technical Support & Problem Resolution
• Provide second-level technical support for production issues
• Collaborate with support teams to:
• Diagnose complex issues
• Reproduce reported problems
• Verify implemented fixes

Maintain detailed documentation of identified issues and resolutions

Qualifications:

• 5+ years of professional experience in software quality assurance and testing, with a deep understanding of SDLC and STLC.
• Expertise in designing and executing comprehensive test strategies, including functional, regression, performance, and security testing.
• Proficient in test automation frameworks and tools (e.g., Selenium, Appium, Cypress) with strong programming skills in Python, Java, or JavaScript.
• Skilled in API testing using tools like Postman or SoapUI, with a solid understanding of RESTful APIs and GraphQL.
• Experience in performance testing and analysis using tools like JMeter or LoadRunner, with the ability to identify system bottlenecks.
• Strong SQL skills for database testing, including writing complex queries and validating data integrity across systems.
• Familiarity with Agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban) and DevOps practices, including CI/CD pipelines and tools like Jenkins or GitLab.
• Excellent problem-solving skills, with the ability to troubleshoot issues, perform root cause analysis, and document findings clearly.
• Strong leadership and communication skills, with experience mentoring junior QA engineers and collaborating with cross-functional teams.

We offer a great working culture, smart and passionate people to learn from and grow alongside, competitive holiday, wellbeing and pension perks and hybrid working.