Senior QA Engineer – Functional Automation

About the role

• •We're hiring a Senior Quality Engineer to own functional quality and API test automation for one of our product pods, across the Hyperlayer platform, orchestration engine and HyperJar.
• •This is a hands-on engineering role: you'll write production-quality test code in our Java and REST Assured frameworks, not just execute test plans.
• •You'll work with engineers from the design stage so testability and clear acceptance criteria are built in, with a strong focus on payment flows where edge cases have real financial consequences.
• •You'll use AI-assisted tools day to day to design, generate and maintain tests faster, and help the wider QE team do the same.
• •You'll report into the Head of Solution Architecture & QA and work within the standards set by our Principal Quality Engineer.
• •This role is predominantly office-based in Paddington, London.

What you'll do

• •Review acceptance criteria before work starts, covering edge cases, error paths and non-functional expectations.
• •Turn complex orchestration and payment flows into risk-based test plans, and prioritise high-risk scenarios for automation.
• •Build and maintain your pod's API test suites in Java and REST Assured, going beyond the happy path: auth, idempotency, error codes, retries and data integrity.
• •Write and maintain Pact contract tests (Pact JVM) for your pod's services, including provider verification and can-i-deploy checks in CI.
• •Run structured exploratory testing on new features, especially money movement, onboarding and multi-step journeys.
• •Own scenario-level test data for your suites, using our shared data seeding mechanism.
• •Keep your suites running in CI/CD on every change, within agreed runtime and flake budgets, and fix flaky tests at the root cause.
• •Help investigate production issues with engineering, and add regression tests so they don't recur.
• •Report coverage and quality metrics, and give input to release go/no-go decisions.
• •Use AI tools (e.g. Copilot, Claude) for test generation, test data and defect triage, and share what works with the team.

Essential

• •5+ years in QA or quality engineering, with at least 3 years building API test automation in a product engineering team.
• •Strong Java skills (or another JVM language), writing clean, maintainable framework code, not just test scripts.
• •Deep hands-on experience with REST Assured (and ideally Postman/Newman) for API testing.
• •Hands-on experience with Pact or similar contract testing: consumer and provider tests, a Pact Broker, and verification in CI/CD.
• •Strong functional testing skills: risk-based test design, boundary and negative testing, and clear test plans other people can follow.
• •Solid understanding of REST APIs: HTTP semantics, status codes, auth (OAuth 2.0, JWT) and schema validation (OpenAPI, JSON Schema).
• •Working knowledge of CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI or similar) and diagnosing flaky tests.
• •Practical experience using AI tools to write, review or maintain code and tests.
• •Comfortable in a fast-moving startup environment, balancing speed with the rigour needed when testing financial systems.
• •Willing and able to be in our London office four days per week.

Desirable

• •Experience in fintech, payments or another regulated financial services environment.
• •Familiarity with payment schemes, ISO 20022, card processing or open banking.
• •UI or mobile automation (e.g. Playwright for Java, Selenium, Appium) where it complements an API-first approach.
• •Exposure to AI-driven test tooling, such as self-healing tests or intelligent test selection.
• •Working knowledge of performance testing (e.g. Gatling, JMeter), enough to add basic checks to your pod's suites.

How to apply

Please click on the 'Apply' button, you will be asked to provide an updated CV and answer some questions. For further information about this vacancy, you can contact us at: [email protected].

We will not be offering UK work visa sponsorship for these roles. Candidates will need an existing non-sponsored right to work in the UK.

Working at Hyperlayer

• At Hyperlayer we are proud of our in-office culture. It makes a real difference to the working atmosphere and maximises collaboration in and across teams. This is critical to how we work and learn. Also, we think it makes for a great workplace!
• We value our team and are proud to offer some great benefits:
• •A performance-based employee bonus scheme.
• •25 days annual leave plus bank holidays, a day off on your birthday, and an additional day per year of tenure to a maximum of 30.
• •Critical illness and life insurance cover.
• •AXA PPP Health Insurance, including gym offers.
• •Cycle-to-work scheme.
• •Referral bonus scheme.
• •Workplace nursery scheme.
• Equity, diversity, and inclusion
• Hyperlayer's mission is to make a positive impact on people's lives, making it easier for everyone to manage their money.
• Hyperlayer's commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion is a key part of this; it helps us better serve our customers, employees, and business partners from every background.
• We are constantly learning and striving to do better, and we expect all staff to actively take part in this process.

Data Privacy

As part of our recruitment process, Hyperlayer Limited collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants.

We are committed to being transparent about how we collect and use this data and to meeting our data protection obligations. To read more click here.