Principal Engineer - Test Strategy

About the Role We are looking for a Principal Engineer - Test Strategy with 18+ years of experience to define, own, and drive the enterprise-wide test strategy and quality engineering vision. You will operate at the intersection of technology leadership, quality architecture, and stakeholder engagement - setting the standards, frameworks, and practices that underpin software quality across the organisation. This is a senior leadership role requiring deep QE expertise, strong strategic thinking, and the ability to influence at the highest levels of the organisation. Key Responsibilities Define and own the enterprise-wide test strategy - establishing quality engineering standards, frameworks, and best practices across all delivery programmes. Design and govern test architecture - automation frameworks, tooling standards, CI/CD quality gates, and shift-left testing adoption across engineering teams. Lead quality engineering transformation initiatives - driving adoption of AI-augmented testing, intelligent automation, and modern QE practices across the organisation. Establish and maintain QE governance - quality metrics, test coverage standards, reporting frameworks, and release quality sign-off processes. Engage senior stakeholders - CTO, engineering directors, product leadership - presenting quality strategy, risk assessments, and programme quality status with authority. Define and oversee non-functional testing strategy - performance, security, accessibility, and resilience testing standards across enterprise platforms. Lead and mentor a community of QE professionals - coaching test leads, automation engineers, and SDETs across multiple delivery teams. Contribute to technology strategy - advising on tooling investments, platform quality capabilities, and emerging QE trends including AI / GenAI testing. Drive continuous improvement - identifying systemic quality issues, implementing root cause analysis frameworks, and delivering measurable quality improvements. What We're Looking For 18+ years of quality engineering experience with a proven track record of defining and delivering enterprise-wide test strategies at scale. Deep expertise across the full QE spectrum - functional, automation, performance, security, API, and AI / GenAI testing. Strong test architecture skills - designing automation frameworks, tooling standards, and CI/CD quality integration across large-scale delivery organisations. Proven ability to define and govern QE standards - quality metrics, test coverage frameworks, and release quality governance. Strong leadership and mentoring capability - developing QE talent, coaching senior engineers, and building high-performing quality engineering communities. Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills - influencing CTO, engineering directors, and product leadership with clarity and authority. Deep Agile / SAFe delivery knowledge - embedding quality engineering practices across large-scale Agile programmes. Strong understanding of AI / GenAI testing - LLM evaluation, RAG pipeline testing, and AI-augmented test automation. Commercially aware - understanding the business impact of quality risk and using this to drive pragmatic, risk-proportionate quality decisions.