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QA Lead Umain (London Office) — Eidra Collective
About Umain & the Role
At Umain, we empower world-leading brands and ambitious disruptors to design, build, and scale digital products and experiences. As part of the Eidra collective—a strategic alliance of leading agencies in strategy, design, and technology—we collaborate with global brands, Scandinavian innovators, and forward-thinking startups to create market-defining solutions.
As QA Lead for UK engagements, you’ll oversee quality on live projects, shaping testing strategies, hands-on execution, and helping teams deliver with confidence. Your role extends beyond defect checklistboundary: you’ll focus on identifying risks, reducing ambiguity, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement within teams.
About the Role
We’re seeking a QA Lead to embed quality at every stage of client projects. You’ll defining the testing approach per engagement, hands-on testing, automated QA integration, and AI-driven quality innovation.
- Pioneer in UK expansion: This is an early hire as Umain grows its UK presence, influencing quality standards and repeatability.
- Collaborative environment: Work with Tech Director and a multidisciplinary London team, while connecting with UK, Nordic, and US QA/engineering peers.
- Impact-driven: Self-organised with a proactivity to drive quality momentum—not just as a singular owner, but by scaling it across teams.
Location: London Bridge, in-person only.
Key Responsibilities
1. Lead Quality on Client Engagements
- Strategy and governance:
- Define a risk-based test approach (gates, metrics, stages) tailored to engagement complexity.
- Collaborate with clients/stakeholders to clarify requirements, explain quality risks, and justify/release trade-offs.
- Support upfront scoping and estimation for QA efforts in new/existing projects.
- Process thromboembolism:
- Share learnings with peers to refine testing practices, tools, and processes as the UK team scales.
2. Hands-On Execution & Automation
- Risk-driven testing:
- Deconstruct user stories to identify vulnerabilities; design/review test cases for functional, regression, and exploratory scenarios across levels:
- Component/integration testing
- System-level validation
- User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
- Deconstruct user stories to identify vulnerabilities; design/review test cases for functional, regression, and exploratory scenarios across levels:
- Automation mastery:
- Implement test automation (UI/API/backend) using tools like Cypress, Playwright, Postman, Appium.
- Embed tests in CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitLab, Azure DevOps) as integral to codebase—version-controlled, reviewed, and maintained.
- Communication:
- Translate test results into actionable insights for developers, designers, and product teams.
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3. Training, Coaching, and Culture
- Skill development:
- Mentor QA engineers or developers in best practices (test design, automation, quality maturity).
- Conduct workshops, pairprogramming sessions, and training documentation to sustain collective knowledge.
- Shift left:
- Advocate for quality as shared ownership (not a late-stage gatekeeper).
- Support early defect avoidance and alignment with agile delivery principles.
4. AI for Quality Transformation
- Tool adoption:
- Identify and pilot AI tools (e.g., AI-generated test cases, self-healing tests, LLM-enhanced test discovery).
- Validate where AI adds value beyond manual effort and what it can’t solve.
- Responsible usage:
- Teach teams to evaluate AI’s limitations, biases, and ethical implications.
- Help shape Umain’s AI stance in quality engineering, both at UK and external levels.
What We’re Looking For
Essential Experience
- Quality leadership: 5+ years in QA, test automation, or QA engineering, with proven track record leading strategies in digital/agile projects.
- Dual skillset: Fluency balancing high-level test strategy and hands-on execution (e.g., scripting tests alongside stakeholders).
- Decision support:
- Comfort directly advising clients/stakeholders on quality trade-offs (risk context, mitigation actions).
- Structured testing:
- Proficiency in risk-based methods (mention ISTQB/TMAP) and prioritization for business-critical impact.
- Automation depth:
- Practical experience with Cypress/Playwright/Appium, and CI/CD integration.
- Solid scripting (JavaScript/TypeScript/Python), plus understanding of APIs, JSON, and REST.
- AI-smart QA:
- Experience adopting AI-assisted tools (e.g., automation self-healing, Copilot, juggling prompting strategies).
- Current awareness of AI trends, with a balanced sleep-out on hype vs. value.
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Nice-to-Haves
- Agile & iterative contexts: Experience in Scrum/Kanban environments.
- Full-stack exposure: Familiarity with web, mobile, or cloud/back-end product lifecycles.
- Consultancy/agency agile: Successful experience across repeatable client engagements.
- Polyglot languages: Fluency in Scandinavian dialects, Dutch, or Hindi, or tech content continuity.
About You
- AI-sceptic: No—AI-savvy but rigorous. You’ll measure adoption against two metrics: efficiency and integrity.
- Coaching mindset: Elite skills pair with passion for others’ growth.
- Ambiguity thrives: No rush hours; you’re energized by vague constraints.
Benefits — Perks Worthantwort Standards:
- Work-life equilibrium:
- 30 days’ paid annual leave.
- International setup:
- Regular travel stipends + opportunities in Sweden, Netherlands, USA (not "on the road").
- Top-tier tools:
- Latest Apple kit (MacBook + iPhone) to thrive.
- Company conferences (Lisbon, Berlin foreign… pick location).
- Community & culture:
- Fast-growing collective mindset—ideas morph into impact.
- Tech libraries stack among office efficiencies for London commuters.
Background Check Clarity Note:
Umain performs optional consensual background checks per role risks. Applicable only post-late-stage discussions; restricted to internal security processes with a trusted partner.
Note accuracies preserved, redundancies dialogue-non-interstructures cleaned. Direct formatting refrained (no code blocks).
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