Software Engineering
QA Engineer Jobs & Careers
Looking for your next QA Engineer opportunity?
HOK Consulting connects QA Engineers with organisations improving the quality, reliability and performance of software applications, digital products and platforms across permanent, contract and interim opportunities.
Whether your experience covers manual testing, automated testing, APIs, Selenium, Cypress or modern software delivery environments, explore current opportunities or upload your CV to join HOK’s technology talent network.
Current QA Engineer Jobs
Explore current QA Engineer opportunities available through HOK Consulting.
Can’t see the right QA Engineer role?
If there are currently no suitable QA Engineer vacancies listed, upload your CV and tell us what you’re looking for. Our team can contact you when a relevant permanent, contract or interim opportunity becomes available.
What Does a QA Engineer Do?
QA Engineers help organisations ensure software applications and digital products work reliably, meet requirements and provide a consistent experience before and after release.
The role can involve manual and automated testing, test planning, defect investigation, API testing and close collaboration with software engineering teams throughout the development lifecycle.
QA Engineers often work alongside developers, Test Automation Engineers, Technical Leads, product teams and DevOps professionals to identify issues early, improve software quality and reduce the risk of defects reaching production.
QA Engineer Skills & Experience
The exact requirements vary between organisations, but QA Engineer roles commonly involve experience across areas such as:
- Quality Assurance
- Software Testing
- Manual Testing
- Automated Testing
- Test Planning
- Regression Testing
- Integration Testing
- API Testing
- Selenium
- Cypress
- REST APIs
- JavaScript
- TypeScript
- Java
- Python
- SQL
- CI/CD
- Cloud-Native Development
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Microsoft Azure
- Google Cloud Platform
Some QA Engineers focus primarily on exploratory and manual testing, while others combine quality assurance with increasingly sophisticated automated testing and continuous delivery practices.
Strong analytical skills, attention to detail and the ability to understand how software behaves across different scenarios are particularly important when identifying defects and helping engineering teams improve quality.
Typical QA Engineer Responsibilities
- Creating and maintaining software test plans and test cases
- Testing new features, applications and software changes
- Performing functional, regression and integration testing
- Identifying, documenting and tracking software defects
- Testing APIs and integrations between systems
- Supporting automated testing using tools such as Selenium and Cypress
- Investigating software behaviour and reproducing reported issues
- Working with developers to understand and resolve defects
- Supporting quality assurance throughout the software development lifecycle
- Contributing to release readiness and acceptance activities
- Improving testing processes, coverage and quality standards
- Working with engineering, product and DevOps teams to improve software reliability
Responsibilities vary depending on the organisation, product and whether the role focuses primarily on manual quality assurance, automation or a combination of testing approaches.
QA Engineer Salary Expectations
QA Engineer salaries vary according to experience, location, automation expertise, sector and the complexity of the software and platforms being tested.
Permanent QA Engineer
Around £47,500 per year
UK median advertised salary
Contract QA Engineer
Around £450 per day
UK median contract rate
Senior QA Engineers and professionals with strong automation, API testing, cloud, financial services or complex software delivery experience may command higher salaries or contract rates.
Salary information is provided as a general UK market guide and can vary significantly between individual roles.
QA Engineer Career Progression
Quality Assurance can lead into senior QA, test automation, quality engineering and wider software engineering leadership positions.
Typical QA Engineer Career Path
Alternative Career Paths
QA Engineers may also progress into roles such as:
- Test Automation Engineer
- Quality Engineering Lead
- Software Engineer
- Technical Lead
- Engineering Manager
- Head of Quality Engineering
The right progression depends on whether you want to deepen your quality assurance expertise, specialise in automation, move further into software engineering or take responsibility for testing and engineering teams.
Your Next Move
Looking for Your Next QA Engineer Opportunity?
If you’re considering your next permanent position, contract assignment or interim opportunity, send HOK Consulting your CV.
Tell us about your quality assurance experience, the testing tools and environments you work with and the type of opportunity you’re looking for.
Specialist Recruitment
Software Engineering Recruitment
Quality Assurance forms part of HOK Consulting’s wider Software Engineering recruitment expertise, connecting organisations with professionals across software development, quality engineering, test automation, architecture and technical leadership.
Hiring?
Recruiting QA Engineers?
HOK Consulting supports organisations looking for experienced QA Engineers across permanent, contract and interim requirements.
Whether you’re improving software quality, expanding testing coverage, strengthening automated testing or scaling a wider engineering team, speak to HOK about your requirements.