QA Quality Cell Lead (Test Automation/AI-Driven Testing) - Full Remote Global (Portugal preferred)

Title: QA Quality Cell Lead (Test Automation/AI-Driven Testing) - Full Remote Global (Portugal preferred)

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY
Join a well-established UK-based digital retail and financial services organisation with a strong focus on technology, customer experience and innovation. As Quality Cell Lead, you will define and lead quality engineering across multiple engineering cells. This is a hands-on technical leadership role: you will build quality into products from the outset rather than checking it only at the end. You will also play a key part in shaping AI-agent-driven testing.

PROJECT & CONTEXT
The company is running a major technology transformation programme. It includes a new website, order management, customer service and a credit platform. The programme is at a critical stage, with staged customer cohort go-lives running from October through February. You will own the quality and test strategy and work closely with Technical Leads, Product Owners and engineering teams. Your scope covers functional, integration, end-to-end, regression, performance and UAT testing. You will also oversee AI-driven test generation, execution and defect detection, and own technical acceptance criteria and quality KPIs.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR (Required)

• Senior experience in software quality engineering, QA or testing, in a lead role
• Strong experience defining test strategies, quality standards and testing frameworks
• Hands-on expertise in functional, API, integration, regression, end-to-end and user acceptance testing
• Experience with test automation, CI/CD pipelines and continuous testing
• Knowledge of performance, load and stress testing for critical services
• Experience with quality metrics, defect management, test coverage and service acceptance
• Experience using AI coding agents and AI-driven testing tools, with the ability to validate AI-generated tests for accuracy and coverage
• Strong understanding of software development fundamentals, code reviews and requirements management
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and stakeholder management skills
• English level B2 (Upper Intermediate) or higher, with excellent written and verbal communication
• Proven ability to work independently with distributed teams in a fully remote setup

NICE TO HAVE (Preferred)

• Experience in financial services, credit platforms or regulated environments
• Background in large-scale transformation programmes with staged go-lives
• Experience building quality roadmaps and reporting on quality KPIs at leadership level
• Based in Portugal