Who we are and what we do
Hodder Education is the home of accessible, future-proofed educational resources where we put students, teachers and parents at the heart of everything we do. Our goal is to help every teacher and learner across the globe to succeed by creating and delivering high-quality content and support.
Hodder Education is a division of Hachette, one of the largest publishing groups in the UK, with 12 publishing divisions and over 60 imprints. Everyone here is proud to be in the business of opening doors and minds.
What you'll be doing
We are looking for an experienced QA Test Lead with strong, hands-on testing expertise and proven ability to manage QA processes. This role requires direct involvement in testing platform/server updates, bug fixes, new features, and approved projects to ensure they meet our quality standards. In addition, the QA Test Lead will also be responsible for managing QA processes, governance, and best practices while introducing and implementing automated testing strategies. The ideal candidate will be able to balance hands-on testing with leadership in driving overall QA effectiveness.
Who we are looking for
Key Responsibilities
QA Management:
QA Framework and Standards:
Test Planning and Execution:
Automation and Improvement:
Key Skills and Experience
Technical Skills:
Analytical Skills:
Personal Attributes
Qualifications
Our staff are our greatest asset, and our benefits reflect this:
The role will be based at our London office, Carmelite House, with a blend of in-office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week.
Our commitment
Hachette employs people on the basis of their abilities. We aim to attract and develop talent from a base as broad as the world of readers we want to reach, with a wide and representative range of age, faith, disability, race, gender, sexuality and socio-economic, regional and cultural backgrounds.
If you are shortlisted and need us to make any adjustments to help you attend for interview, please let us know.
The Book Trade Charity offers financial support to people looking to enter the book trade but who may struggle to afford the costs of attending interviews and undertaking junior roles. For more information visit www.booktradeentrysupport.org
Hodder Education is the home of accessible, future-proofed educational resources where we put students, teachers and parents at the heart of everything we do. Our goal is to help every teacher and learner across the globe to succeed by creating and delivering high-quality content and support.
Hodder Education is a division of Hachette, one of the largest publishing groups in the UK, with 12 publishing divisions and over 60 imprints. Everyone here is proud to be in the business of opening doors and minds.
What you'll be doing
We are looking for an experienced QA Test Lead with strong, hands-on testing expertise and proven ability to manage QA processes. This role requires direct involvement in testing platform/server updates, bug fixes, new features, and approved projects to ensure they meet our quality standards. In addition, the QA Test Lead will also be responsible for managing QA processes, governance, and best practices while introducing and implementing automated testing strategies. The ideal candidate will be able to balance hands-on testing with leadership in driving overall QA effectiveness.
Who we are looking for
Key Responsibilities
QA Management:
- Lead the QA efforts across multiple projects and platforms.
- Supervise and guide internal and external teams, including QA testers, product owners, architects, project managers, and developers, ensuring alignment with project requirements and adherence to testing standards.
- Collaborate with project managers and developers on test planning and execution, participating in stand-ups to track progress and resolve issues, and ensuring high-quality deliverables through comprehensive testing before release.
QA Framework and Standards:
- Establish a consistent QA framework and process that applies to all projects, covering functional and non-functional requirements.
- Implement QA governance with a strong focus on defect reporting frameworks, clearly communicating testing policies across the organisation and with external partners.
- Apply Agile and Scrum methodologies to ensure all teams consistently follow the defect reporting process and maintain adherence to testing standards throughout the project lifecycle, promoting effective collaboration and continuous improvement.
Test Planning and Execution:
- Lead and participate in all testing phases (unit, integration, regression, performance, and UAT), ensuring project needs are met.
- Collaborate with QA Testers on test plans and scripts and troubleshoot issues with development teams.
Automation and Improvement:
- Develop and lead a strategy for automating bug testing where possible to improve efficiency and reduce manual testing overheads.
- Continuously review and improve QA processes, incorporating best practices in the industry to ensure efficient and effective testing.
Key Skills and Experience
Technical Skills:
- Proficient in QA processes and project management, with hands-on experience using Selenium, JIRA, Jenkins, Postman for API testing, Apache JMeter for performance testing, and CI/CD tools to optimize testing and development workflows.
- Knowledge of data warehouse (DWH) and ETL testing, including batch processing and scheduling, as well as a range of databases from SQL to non-SQL, Microsoft Technologies and Azure DevOps
- Ability to interpret design and architecture documentation and translate them into effective test scripts and plans.
- Ability to maintain comprehensive and accurate QA documentation.
Analytical Skills:
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to identify issues quickly and develop effective solutions.
- Ability to drive continuous improvement initiatives and process optimization.
Personal Attributes
- Highly collaborative
- Excellent communication skills
- Agile and flexible
- Self-motivated
Qualifications
- Significant experience in QA with proven experience in a line-management role (essential)
- Experience with QA automation tools and techniques (essential)
- Familiarity with educational platforms or publishing environments (desired)
Our staff are our greatest asset, and our benefits reflect this:
- 28 annual leave days per year, increases to 29 days after 2 years' service and goes up to 30 days after 5 years' (+ bank holidays)
- Private medical insurance
- Generous pension schemes
- Rent deposit loans
- 2 community days per year
- Summer hours (finishing at 1pm on Fridays during the summer months)
- Retail discounts through Hachette rewards
- Cycle to Work scheme
- Eye care vouchers
- Wide-ranging training library
- Development programmes (including mentoring)
- Up to 70% off book purchases
- A charity bookshelf
- 12 Staff-led employee networks that are voluntary, including Gender Balance, Thrive, Pride, All Together, Wellbeing and religious networks
- Season ticket loans
- And much more!
The role will be based at our London office, Carmelite House, with a blend of in-office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week.
Our commitment
Hachette employs people on the basis of their abilities. We aim to attract and develop talent from a base as broad as the world of readers we want to reach, with a wide and representative range of age, faith, disability, race, gender, sexuality and socio-economic, regional and cultural backgrounds.
If you are shortlisted and need us to make any adjustments to help you attend for interview, please let us know.
The Book Trade Charity offers financial support to people looking to enter the book trade but who may struggle to afford the costs of attending interviews and undertaking junior roles. For more information visit www.booktradeentrysupport.org
