Contract Quality Assurance Engineer

Contract Quality Assurance Engineer - 12-Month Contract | Hounslow (50/50 Hybrid) | Up to £380 per day

Every time an aircraft pushes back from the stand, software has already optimised the load, calculated weight and balance, produced a compliant load sheet and absorbed every last-minute change. You could be the engineer who makes sure that software is right, every single time.

This QA role sits within Agile product teams building mission-critical flight management solutions used by airlines worldwide. You'll work closely with Product Managers, Business Analysts, Architects, Engineers, domain experts, and airline customers, validating complex workflows across multiple systems, integrations, and operational domains. If you want your testing to matter - safety, compliance, on-time performance - this is it. You'll also be encouraged to use AI-assisted tooling for test design, automation, defect investigation and documentation.

What You'll Be Doing

• Analysing requirements and workflows to define test approaches, and producing test plans, test cases, automation assets and quality reports
• Designing, implementing and maintaining automated tests that lift regression coverage and delivery efficiency
• Executing functional, integration, end-to-end, regression and exploratory testing
• Validating workflows, integrations, APIs and data flows across interconnected products and services
• Supporting CI/CD through automated testing and quality validation
• Investigating defects, carrying out root cause analysis and driving issues to resolution
• Collaborating across product, engineering and domain teams to ensure solutions are testable
• Championing improvements in quality, automation maturity and engineering practice, including AI-assisted tools

What You'll Bring

• A degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems or a related field
• 3+ years in QA, Software Testing or Quality Engineering within Agile product development
• Proven experience building and maintaining automated testing for enterprise software, integrated into CI/CD pipelines
• Solid understanding of APIs, integrations, data models, and distributed applications, with experience of complex, interconnected systems
• Self-sufficiency to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced, multicultural environment
• Confidence using AI-assisted tools across test design, automation, and defect investigation (AI-Driven SDLC awareness a plus)
• Desirable: airline or airport operations knowledge (flight ops, weight and balance, load control, baggage or ramp); safety-critical or regulated systems; Playwright, Selenium, Robot Framework, Cypress, Karate or Appium; Postman or SOAP UI; Jenkins and GitHub; JSON, SQL, Kafka or Grafana; performance, resilience or security testing; Python or Java; ISTQB; testing AI-powered or agentic capabilities

Ready to Apply?

If you want your automation to protect real flights, real passengers and real operational deadlines, apply now with your CV. We're reviewing candidates on a rolling basis, so early applications are encouraged.

Keywords: QA Engineer, Quality Engineer, Test Engineer, Test Automation Engineer, SDET, Senior QA Analyst, API Test Engineer, Playwright, Selenium, Cypress, Robot Framework, Karate, Appium, Postman, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, CI/CD, Python, Java, SQL, Kafka, ISTQB, Agile testing, regression testing, airline operations, load control, weight and balance, aviation software, safety-critical systems.

Deerfoot Recruitment Solutions Ltd is a leading independent tech recruitment consultancy in the UK. For every CV sent to clients, we donate £1 to The Born Free Foundation. We are a Climate Action Workforce in partnership with Ecologi. If this role isn't right for you, explore our referral reward program with payouts at interview and placement milestones. Visit our website for details. Deerfoot Recruitment Solutions Ltd is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy.