Job Title: Test Architect

Reporting To: Chief Product & Technology Officer

Role Overview

The Test Architect owns the end‑to‑end test strategy and test architecture, adhering to best quality engineering standards, across the Catalyx software products and platforms. This role defines the testing vision, designs scalable and maintainable test automation frameworks, and enables teams to ship reliable, secure, observable, and performant software at speed. The Test Architect provides technical leadership and direction to both local and remote testing teams. The Test Architect collaborates closely with development, product management and QA teams to embed quality into the SDLC and lead the adoption of modern engineering practices.

Key Responsibilities:

Test Strategy & Architecture

Define and continuously evolve enterprise-wide testing architecture, patterns, and best practices across all Catalyx software products.
Develop a holistic testing strategy covering functional, non-functional, regression, performance, security, accessibility, and reliability testing.
Create and maintain testing blueprints, standards, frameworks, and tools to ensure consistency across teams and alignment with product roadmaps.
Establish standards for triaging, test levels, test data, environments, and automation guards.
Shape the long-term automation strategy, including CI/CD integration and tool selection.
Eliminate inconsistent testing styles, fragmented approaches, and duplicated effort across teams.
Define what “meaningful coverage” looks like, setting quality benchmarks that prioritise reliability, business value, and risk-based testing.
Lead initiatives to identify and reduce test bloat, consolidating redundant or low-value tests while protecting critical coverage.
Champion a shift-left approach, ensuring testability considerations are integrated early in design and development discussions

Test Framework & Tooling Ownership

Select and standardize tooling and interoperability across all Catalyx software products and technology stacks
Design scalable automation frameworks for UI, API, and microservices applications.
Evaluate and implement new testing technologies and tools (e.g., Playwright, Cypress, Selenium, K6, JMeter, Postman).
Ensure automation is integrated into DevOps pipelines and supports continuous testing.
Mentor and coach test engineers, developers in test, and automation specialists.
Oversee daily operations of the local and remote test team, ensuring clear task ownership, fair workload distribution, and alignment with sprint, release, and milestone targets.
Serve as the primary technical testing authority for architects, engineering leads, and product teams.
Mediate and align competing priorities to keep teams focused on delivering high-quality outcomes within release constraints.
Lead technical reviews for test approach, code quality, automation design, and architecture alignment.
Lead experiments/POCs, publish ADRs, run design reviews focused on testability.
Deliver clear, consistent updates on test progress, automation results, defect trends, and emerging risks.

Technical leadership

Governance, Standards & QA Processes

Set and uphold expectations for quality, documentation, communication, and collaboration, ensuring full compliance with the Catalyx SDLC process.
Define quality KPIs, metrics dashboards, observability practices and reporting mechanisms that communicate testing progress and risk status.
Ensure consistent test coverage, risk-based testing, and adherence to regulatory/compliance standards.
Establish test governance models across all product teams.
Own QA documentation including frameworks, technical guidelines, and architecture artefacts.
Partner with Quality on auditability, traceability, and evidence collection.

Collaboration & Cross-Functional Alignment

Guide teams through decision-making on testing approaches, tools, and architecture, ensuring all voices are heard and trade-offs understood.
Serve as the central coordination point for quality-related initiatives, ensuring visibility, accountability, and smooth execution.
Translate complex testing needs into clear, actionable guidance for engineers, product managers, and other stakeholders.

Engage with product managers to map business requirements to traceable test conditions.
Partner with development leads to design testable architectures.
Collaborate with development teams for security testing standards and vulnerability validation.
Collaborate with the Quality team on release readiness, compliance, and documentation needs.

Innovation & Continuous Improvement

Identify gaps in current QA and automation processes and lead continuous improvement initiatives.
Introduce AI-driven testing tools, autonomous testing, self-healing automation frameworks, and analytics-driven quality models.
Conduct PoCs and evaluate emerging trends in quality engineering.

Qualifications & Skills:

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field.
8+ years of experience in software testing, with at least 4 years in automation or QA architecture roles.
Certifications such as ISTQB Test Analyst / Technical Test Analyst / Test Manager / Test Automation Engineer.
Demonstrated experience designing test frameworks for web, API, and microservices.
Strong working experience with Automation Frameworks, API and integration, and Performance and reliability testing tools.
Experience with C#, Python, JavaScript / TypeScript and SQL for data validation.
Strong experience working in Agile/Scrum, DevOps, or CI/CD-driven organisations.
Experience in regulated environments (e.g., pharma, healthcare, finance).
Strong analytical and architectural thinking.
Excellent debugging and problem-solving skills.
Ability to influence technical teams without direct authority.
Exceptional communication and stakeholder engagement capability.
Ability to simplify complex technical concepts for diverse audiences.
Leadership mindset with mentoring/coaching experience.

Test Architect

Job Description