Job Description

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Principal QA Engineer, Strat. Partners

Job Requisition ID: 28318
Job Closing Date: 29/09/2025
Glasgow, GBR, G511DA
| London, GBR, W1A 1AA
| Newcastle-upon-Tyne, GBR, NE991RN
| Salford, GBR, M50 2QH
JOB DETAILS
JOB BAND: E
CONTRACT TYPE: Permanent
DEPARTMENT: Product Group Enablement
LOCATION: London Or Salford Or Newcastle Or Glasgow This is a hybrid role and the successful candidate will balance office working with home working
PROPOSED SALARY RANGE: 90,000 - 100,000 The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights
We're happy to discuss flexible working. If you'd like to, please indicate your preference in the application - though there's no obligation to do so now. Flexible working will be part of the discussion at offer stage.
PURPOSE OF THE ROLE
As a Principal QA Engineer, you will play a strategic role in ensuring the delivery of high-quality software by third parties working in partnership with BBC leaders across Product Group.
You'll apply an understanding of digital products and technologies to be responsible for shaping and driving quality standards in relation to work with partners as well as influencing internal quality strategies. You'll collaborate closely with product, engineering, test and design teams throughout the Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC) and work in lock-step with Test leadership.
Your deep understanding of quality assurance best practices, together with your knowledge of software development will be critical in shaping scalable, efficient, and reliable solutions that deliver value for our audiences.
WHY JOIN THE TEAM
Join a team where quality is not just a buzzword but a strategic priority. As a Principal QA Engineer within Product Group's Enablement team, you'll be at the heart of shaping how the BBC assures the quality of its exceptional software experiences through trusted third-party partnerships.
You'll collaborate with cross-functional teams across product, engineering, test, and design, influencing quality standards that impact millions of users. This is a unique opportunity to drive meaningful change, work with passionate professionals, and help define scalable, audience-focused solutions in one of the world's most respected media organisations.
YOUR KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND IMPACT

• In partnership with Test and Engineering leadership across Product Group, you will lead the design and implementation of test strategies across multiple products supported through third party suppliers.
• Champion quality throughout the product development lifecycle (PDLC), from requirements analysis to deployment and maintenance.
• Work with leadership across Engineering - both in the BBC and with partners - to embed best practices, such as integrating automated quality checks into CI/CD pipelines and agile workflows.
• Define and maintain quality metrics and KPIs to measure and improve software reliability and performance.
• Evaluate and implement new tools, technologies, and methodologies to enhance testing capabilities.
• Support initiatives to reduce defect leakage and production incidents
• Advocate for testability, observability and quality in architecture and design discussions.

As one of Product Group's most senior technical leaders, you will mentor aspirant technical leaders across Product Engineering and be a visible technical leader for that community.
YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
ESSENTIAL CRITERIA:

• Proven experience in senior-level or principal QA roles , with a strong track record of leading quality engineering or testing in complex software environments impacting multiple teams including either web or mobile front end testing experience.
• Deep understanding of the SDLC, agile methodologies, and DevOps practices and familiarity with shift left practices.
• Familiarity with the benefits and challenges involved in test automation frameworks and opinions about how you see generative AI solutions playing a role in this space in coming years (e.g., Selenium, Cypress, Playwright) and scripting languages (e.g., Python, JavaScript).
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a keen eye for detail.
• Experience with hands on functional and exploratory testing
• Strong understanding of non-functional testing practices, including performance and security
• Excellent communication and leadership skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate across teams.

DESIRED BUT NOT REQUIRED:

• Experience in cloud-native applications and microservices architecture.
• Familiarity with AWS services
• Familiarity with performance monitoring tooling

If you can bring some of these skills and experience, along with transferable strengths, we'd love to hear from you and encourage you to apply.
Disclaimer
This job description is a written statement of the essential characteristics of the job, with its principal accountabilities, incorporating a note of the skills, knowledge and experience required for a satisfactory level of performance. This is not intended to be a complete, detailed account of all aspects of the duties involved.
Please note: If you were to be offered this role, the BBC will conduct Employment screening checks which include Reference checks; Eligibility to work checks; and if applicable to the role, Safeguarding and Adverse media/Social media checks. Any offer made is conditional on these checks being satisfactory.
For any general queries, please contact:
Redeployment
The BBC is committed to redeploying employees seeking suitable alternative employment within the BBC and they will be given priority consideration ahead of other applicants. Priority consideration means for those employees seeking redeployment their application will be considered alongside anyone else at risk of redundancy, prior to any individuals being considered who are not at risk.
Information at a Glance
This is your BBC
At the BBC you can create and innovate in an inclusive environment while contributing to some of the world's best loved content, and the BBC's mission to inform, educate and entertain.
Life at BBC
Here you will benefit from:

• Fair pay and flexible benefits including a competitive salary package, a flexible 35-hour working week, 25 days annual leave with the option to buy an extra 5 days, a defined pension scheme and discounted dental, health care and gym.
• Excellent career and professional development.
• Support in your working life, including flexible working which you can discuss with us at any point during the application, selection or offer.
• A values-based organisation where the way we do things is important as what we do.

Benefits may vary if you are joining on an FTC basis.
Learn more about life at the BBC and our values in our candidate pack.
You belong
We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual's unique contribution, so all our employees feel that they can belong, thrive and achieve their full potential.
We want to attract the broadest range of talented people to join us. The more diverse our workforce, the better able we are to respond to and reflect our audiences in all their diversity.
We welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief.
Find out more about diversity, inclusion and belonging in our strategy below.
Disability confident
We are a disability confident employer. If you need to discuss adjustments or access requirements for the interview process, or to carry out this role, please contact us via email and we'd be happy to discuss:
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BBC Group and Public Services, Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London, United Kingdom, W1A 1AA. BBC Studios Distribution Limited, company no: 01420028, registered address: 1 Television Centre, 101 Wood Lane, London, United Kingdom W12 7FA.
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Skills Required