Principal QA Engineer

Overview

Would you like to help enrich the lives of learners around the world?

At RM, we've been pioneers of education technology since 1973. We provide technology and resources to the education sector, supporting over 10 million students worldwide. We work with over 28,000 schools, nurseries, and education trusts in 115 countries to deliver customer-centric solutions that improve education outcomes.

What we do helps learners at all stages of their lives, from preschool to higher education and professional qualification; we partner with schools, examination boards, central governments, and other professional institutions to enrich the lives of learners.

RM Group operates through three businesses: Technology (Managed Services, Software and Infrastructure for Schools), Assessment (Software and Services), and TTS (Educational Resources).

Within the assessment market, we are experts in providing solutions for online exam testing and marking and the management and analysis of educational data. We work with government ministries, exam boards, and professional awarding bodies for high-stakes assessment such as GCSEs, A Levels, and professional qualifications. Each year, our software is used globally to conduct hundreds of thousands of on-screen tests and to mark millions of paper-based scripts. For over a decade we have been partnering with the world's leading awarding bodies to deliver intuitive, secure, and reliable e-marking solutions.

Visit our website to find out more: www.rm.com/assessment

Joining us means becoming an integral part of an exciting new team, poised to make waves in the education sector!

As a Principal QA Engineer, you will be at the forefront of ensuring the quality and reliability of our platform through cutting-edge automation and a relentless focus on efficiency. This is a hands-on, non-managerial role, where you will lead the implementation of scalable test frameworks, streamline workflows, and foster cross-functional collaboration to deliver exceptional software.

This role is about driving automation and innovation, not manual QA. You will embed quality into every phase of development—from planning and scoping tickets to ensuring delivery meets user needs and organizational goals. Working closely with Product Owners, Architects, Principals, QA Engineers, Platform Engineers, and Engineering teams, you will shape the future of our platform by designing solutions that are robust, secure, and efficient.

Your impact will extend beyond technical implementation; you will contribute to the broader QA strategy, aligning testing efforts with business objectives, user outcomes, and product innovation goals. You will ensure full traceability between tests, requirements, defects, and changes, supporting strong quality assurance practices. As a mentor and reviewer, you'll guide QA Engineers to maintain the highest standards of quality and automation, embedding continuous improvement into every process.

This is your opportunity to take ownership of quality assurance, using your expertise and innovative thinking to shape the future of a complex, high-traffic platform that serves millions globally. By driving automation-first principles, you'll create a foundation of reliability, efficiency, and trust that supports every user interaction.

Responsibilities

1. Take ownership of quality assurance by driving automation, efficiency, and innovation at every stage of development.
2. Collaborate across teams to scope tickets, refine the definitions of ready and done, and align testing efforts with business goals and user needs.
3. Build and scale test frameworks, ensuring efficient deployment and management within modern, scalable architectures.
4. Design and implement testing strategies for performance, scalability, security, and reliability, leveraging monitoring and observability systems to proactively address issues.
5. Shape and execute the QA innovation roadmap, identifying opportunities to enhance processes, tools, and methodologies.
6. Ensure adherence to industry and regulatory standards (e.g., GDPR, WCAG, OWASP) and align QA processes with organizational compliance requirements.
7. Conduct risk assessments, cost analysis, and resource estimations to optimize QA workflows and improve efficiency.
8. Lead post-release reviews, embedding lessons learned into future workflows and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
9. Act as a mentor and reviewer for QA Engineers, supporting their growth and ensuring consistent, high-quality deliverables.
10. Drive automation-first principles, eliminating manual dependencies, and enabling faster, more reliable software delivery.

Experience

You are a Principal QA Engineer who thrives on leveraging automation to deliver efficient, reliable, and scalable solutions. You excel at removing manual dependencies, enabling faster and more reliable software delivery, and ensuring quality is a shared responsibility. Security and compliance are integral to your strategies, and you align testing efforts with broader business and product goals to drive innovation and user satisfaction.

You are an excellent communicator who can work effectively across teams, translating technical challenges into effective solutions. You thrive in dynamic environments, tackling challenges with adaptability, creativity, and a continuous drive for improvement. As a mentor and collaborator, you inspire teams to achieve excellence and continuously improve.

Skills and Experience

1. Proven experience in a technical leadership role or similar capacity within quality assurance.
2. Expertise in designing and implementing scalable automation frameworks, with a focus on efficiency and eliminating manual QA dependencies.
3. Strong understanding of CI/CD pipelines and experience scaling test frameworks in Kubernetes environments.
4. Demonstrated ability to test and validate system performance, identify bottlenecks, and ensure smooth user experiences, supported by experience with monitoring and observability tools.
5. Deep knowledge of API testing, distributed systems, authentication/authorization mechanisms, and database testing to ensure quality and data integrity.
6. Strong understanding of security, networking, and database concepts as they apply to quality assurance and testing strategies.
7. Familiarity with regulatory and industry standards such as GDPR, WCAG, OWASP, and the ability to integrate compliance into QA processes.
8. Experience conducting risk assessments, cost analysis, and resource estimations to optimize QA workflows.
9. A proven track record in mentoring and collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver quality-focused outcomes.
10. Ability to align testing processes with business objectives, contributing to user-focused outcomes and product innovation.
11. Analytical and problem-solving skills with a proactive approach to addressing complex technical challenges.
12. A continuous learning mindset, staying updated on emerging tools, technologies, and practices to enhance QA processes.

What's in it for you?

At RM we have My Work Blend @RM which provides office-based colleagues with multi-location and hybrid working options. As well as your office base, you can spend a proportion of your time working at other locations that suit your role and your life, including home, other offices, customer sites, distribution centres or on the move. We encourage you to discuss arrangements for this role with your potential line manager during the recruitment process.

As well as a competitive salary and our core benefits package which includes private medical healthcare, life assurance and a Group Personal Pension Plan with higher contribution levels available, some roles are also eligible for a performance-related bonus. There are lots of voluntary benefits too. You could buy additional annual leave, join our dental plan, sign up for a health assessment, or take part in our cycle to work scheme. You could even earn yourself an extra bonus for successfully recommending a friend or family member for a position within RM.

To better reflect the society that we serve, we're committed to building a diverse workforce and creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for all. To achieve this, we create teams of talented people from different backgrounds and experiences and strive to be a business where our people can bring their whole selves to work, we also want to make the recruitment process as inclusive as possible for everyone. Should you require additional support with your application or through the interview process, please contact us at recruitment@rm.com.

Unfortunately, we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role.