Job title: QA Lead
Type: Full-time Permanent or Contract
Location: UK or Romania Flexible remote hybrid or office working
Location requirement: Must live within 30 miles of one of our offices or hub locations
Offices: Newcastle Leeds Bucharest
Hubs: Edinburgh Manchester London
The role
Were looking for a Senior QA / Quality Engineering Lead to help shape how quality engineering operates inside a senior AI-assisted engineering environment.
Youll work alongside a small highly technical engineering team where AI-assisted development and agentic workflows are already deeply embedded into product development.
This is not a traditional QA role focused purely on scripted testing or ticket execution.
Youll help:
Strengthen automation strategy and release confidence
Embed quality earlier across product and engineering
Review and evolve existing QA practices and processes
Validate AI-generated code and tests
Improve how requirements and acceptance criteria are defined
Influence how reliable software gets delivered in a modern AI-assisted environment.
Youll be working in an environment where engineers increasingly guide and review AI-generated output rather than writing every line of code manually. The role needs someone comfortable shaping how quality engineering operates within AI-assisted development.
What youll get
This is an opportunity to shape quality engineering inside a modern AI-assisted engineering environment where quality is treated as an engineering and product challenge rather than a final testing phase.
Youll have direct influence over:
Testing strategy and automation direction
Release confidence and quality standards
How QA integrates into product and engineering processes
How quality evolves alongside AI-assisted development.
Youll work closely with highly technical engineers solving complex product and engineering challenges in a fast-moving environment already embracing AI-assisted workflows in production.
The role is best suited to someone who enjoys challenging constructively improving engineering quality pragmatically and influencing how modern software development evolves.
What youll bring
Strong senior QA SDET or Quality Engineering experience within modern product engineering teams.
Experience improving QA strategy automation coverage and release confidence.
Strong understanding of automated testing CI/CD E2E frameworks and modern software development.
Experience with Playwright Cypress or similar automation tooling.
Strong technical judgement around delivery risk testing strategy and where automation adds real value.
Experience embedding QA earlier in the product and development lifecycle.
Confidence working with highly technical senior engineering teams.
Strong communication skills with the ability to influence and challenge constructively
Experience working with AI-assisted software delivery agentic engineering workflows or AI-generated code.
A balance of technical credibility strategic thinking and hands-on execution.
A pragmatic mindset focused on improving quality without introducing unnecessary process.
About hedgehog lab
Were a digital product consultancy with 20 years of experience helping organisations solve complex problems through technology design and delivery.
UK Benefits
28 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
Flexible and hybrid working.
Annual wellbeing budget.
Free counselling.
3rd Party Health Insurance.
L&D budget.
5 impact days per year.
Ready to apply
Submit your application below.
Please note: were unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role.
Employment Type : Full Time
Experience: years
Vacancy: 1
QA Lead • Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK
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