Quality engineering talent shapes software reliability, release confidence, and customer experience. SGI connects businesses with QA Automation Engineers, SDETs, Test Leads, and Quality Engineers across the UK and Europe through contract and permanent hiring.
Our network includes testing professionals spanning automation, quality engineering, and software testing disciplines. Speak to our team to discuss your hiring plans or next career move.
SGI recruits QA Automation Engineers, SDETs, Senior QA Engineers, Test Automation Leads, Quality Engineers, Performance Test Engineers, Security Test Engineers, Accessibility Test Engineers, API Test Engineers, and Mobile Test Engineers working across Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, Appium, Postman, JMeter, and modern testing environments throughout the UK and Europe.
Build automated testing frameworks that improve release quality and reduce manual testing effort.
Develop automation frameworks using Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, TestNG, and JUnit
Integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines
Improve regression coverage and release confidence
Tools: Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, TestNG, JUnit
Typical salary: £55,000 – £90,000 permanent, or £450 – £600 per day contract
Combine software engineering and testing expertise to build scalable quality practices.
Create automated test frameworks and tooling
Develop quality controls within engineering workflows
Work across Java, JavaScript, Python, Selenium, Cypress, and Playwright environments
Tools: Java, JavaScript, Python, Selenium, Cypress, Playwright
Typical salary: £70,000 – £110,000 permanent, or £500 – £700 per day contract
Lead testing strategy and quality assurance activities across software delivery teams.
Manage test planning, system testing, and regression testing
Coordinate release validation and defect management
Support Agile delivery and cross-functional engineering teams
Tools: Selenium, Jira, TestRail, Postman, CI/CD pipelines
Typical salary: £60,000 – £90,000 permanent, or £550 – £700 per day contract
Own automation strategy, tooling selection, and quality standards across engineering functions.
Define automation roadmaps and framework architecture
Lead teams working with Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, Cucumber, and CI/CD tooling
Improve automation coverage and testing efficiency
Tools: Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, Cucumber, CI/CD tooling
Typical salary: £75,000 – £110,000 permanent, or £600 – £850 per day contract
Embed quality throughout the software development lifecycle.
Implement shift-left testing approaches
Integrate testing into CI/CD environments
Improve software reliability through automation and engineering practices
Tools: Playwright, Cypress, Selenium, Docker, CI/CD pipelines
Typical salary: £60,000 – £95,000 permanent, or £550 – £750 per day contract
Measure system performance, scalability, and resilience under load.
Design and execute performance testing strategies
Use JMeter, k6, and load testing frameworks
Identify bottlenecks and performance risks before release
Tools: JMeter, k6, Gatling, LoadRunner
Typical salary: £60,000 – £90,000 permanent, or £550 – £800 per day contract
Identify vulnerabilities across applications, APIs, and infrastructure.
Conduct security testing and vulnerability assessments
Support secure software delivery practices
Work alongside engineering and security teams
Tools: Burp Suite, OWASP ZAP, Postman, Nessus
Typical salary: £65,000 – £100,000 permanent, or £600 – £850 per day contract
Ensure products meet accessibility standards and regulatory requirements.
Test applications against WCAG standards
Validate user journeys across assistive technologies
Support inclusive product development
Tools: axe, WAVE, JAWS, NVDA, Lighthouse
Typical salary: £55,000 – £85,000 permanent, or £500 – £700 per day contract
Validate application integrations and backend services.
Design API testing strategies
Use Postman and automated API testing frameworks
Support integration and system testing activities
Tools: Postman, REST Assured, SoapUI, Newman
Typical salary: £55,000 – £85,000 permanent, or £450 – £650 per day contract
Deliver quality across iOS and Android environments.
Test mobile applications across devices and platforms
Use Appium and mobile automation frameworks
Support release validation and user experience testing
Tools: Appium, XCUITest, Espresso, BrowserStack
Typical salary: £55,000 – £85,000 permanent, or £500 – £700 per day contract
Build testing capability across automation, CI/CD, quality engineering, and software delivery environments. SGI's large network includes QA professionals, with contract placements completed in an average of 11 days.
SGI recruits frontend professionals across permanent, contract, and senior-level hiring throughout the UK and Europe.
Permanent hiring for organisations building long-term testing and quality engineering capability. Clients benefit from access to SGI’s specialist QA and test automation network and expertise across automation, CI/CD, and quality engineering disciplines.
Who it's for: SaaS, FinTech, HealthTech, and enterprise technology businesses building permanent testing and quality engineering teams.
When to use it: Building long-term quality engineering capability with permanent QA, automation, and SDET hires.
Contract QA placements are completed in an average of 11 days. Access experienced QA Automation Engineers, SDETs, and Quality Engineers for release cycles, transformation programmes, automation projects, and short-term delivery requirements.
Who it's for: Engineering and delivery teams needing experienced testing talent at pace.
When to use it: Covering release cycles, transformation programmes, or automation projects with short-term or interim QA capacity.
Targeted search for Test Managers, Heads of Quality, QA Leads, and senior quality engineering professionals. Structured screening focuses on testing strategy, automation maturity, leadership capability, and delivery alignment.
Who it's for: Organisations hiring senior or leadership-level quality engineering talent.
When to use it: Appointing a Test Manager, Head of Quality, or QA Lead where a confidential, structured search is needed.
Our QA consultants have placed testing professionals across SaaS, FinTech, HealthTech, and enterprise technology businesses.
Specialist Automation Networks
The SGI QA network includes 8,825 professionals across Playwright, Cypress, Selenium, Appium, and modern automation environments. This provides direct access to experienced testing talent across both contract and permanent markets.
Explore opportunities across automation testing, quality engineering, software testing, and QA leadership positions.
Our network includes employers ranging from scale-ups to enterprise technology businesses across the UK and Europe.
Strong QA engineers combine testing expertise, automation capability, and an understanding of software delivery practices, allowing them to improve release quality while working effectively across Agile engineering teams and CI/CD environments.
The most in-demand professionals demonstrate experience across automation frameworks, defect prevention, test planning, regression testing, and collaboration with software engineers. Employers increasingly prioritise automation capability alongside traditional testing expertise.
Contract QA placements through SGI are completed in an average of 11 days, giving businesses access to experienced automation and testing professionals without lengthy hiring processes.
Permanent hiring timelines vary depending on seniority, specialism, and market conditions. Roles requiring Playwright, Cypress, Selenium, and quality engineering expertise typically attract the strongest competition across current hiring activity.
Yes. SGI recruits manual testers, QA Automation Engineers, SDETs, Test Automation Leads, and Quality Engineers across modern software delivery environments throughout the UK and Europe.
Our network spans manual testing, automation testing, quality engineering, performance testing, API testing, accessibility testing, and mobile testing disciplines across both contract and permanent markets.
Automation testing roles require scripting and programming skills across languages including Java, JavaScript, Python, and C#, alongside experience with frameworks such as Selenium, Cypress, and Playwright.
Manual testing roles focus more heavily on test execution, defect management, user acceptance testing, and quality assurance processes. Quality Engineering positions increasingly combine software engineering and automation expertise.
SGI assesses testing professionals against technical capability, automation experience, delivery environment fit, and practical testing expertise relevant to the role being hired.
This includes reviewing automation frameworks, testing methodologies, CI/CD experience, Agile delivery exposure, quality engineering practices, and examples of how candidates have improved software reliability and release quality.
Traditional QA focuses on validating software quality through testing, defect identification, regression testing, and release sign-off activities, while Quality Engineering embeds automation, testing, and quality practices throughout the software development lifecycle.
In a modern engineering team, a QA engineer may execute manual regression testing before release, while a Quality Engineer builds automated Playwright or Cypress frameworks that run continuously within CI/CD pipelines. This approach improves release speed, software reliability, and defect prevention throughout development.
