Job Description:

QA / Test Engineer – Data (Outside IR35 Contract)

Department: Data & Technology
Location: Manchester (Hybrid – 3 days per week onsite)
Reporting to: Engineering Delivery Lead
Contract Type: Outside IR35 - 6 months initial
Day rate: £350-375 per day
Direct Reports: None

About the Business

Our client is a well-established international consumer brand operating across multiple global markets, serving millions of customers every year through a high-volume retail and digital ecosystem.
As part of a significant business-wide transformation, they are investing heavily in modernising their data estate to become a more customer-centric, digitally enabled organisation. This is a key opportunity to join during a major phase of growth and transformation.

About the Programme

This role sits within a large-scale data modernisation programme focused on replatforming and transforming enterprise-wide reporting and analytics capabilities.
Over the next 9–12 months, the business is migrating from legacy on-premise data warehouses to a modern cloud-based architecture built around Snowflake, dbt, Fivetran, and Azure. The programme spans multiple international markets and is business-critical, with strong visibility from senior leadership.
The environment is fast-paced, highly collaborative, and focused on delivering a scalable, reliable data platform.

The Role

The QA / Test Engineer will play a key role in ensuring the accuracy, reliability, and integrity of the new data platform.
This is a specialist data testing role rather than traditional application or UI testing. The focus is on validating data pipelines, transformations, reconciliations, and automated quality frameworks across a modern cloud stack.
Working closely with Data Engineers, Business Analysts, and stakeholders, you will design and implement robust testing frameworks covering dbt models, data reconciliation, regression testing, and CI/CD integrations.
The fixed-term route will focus heavily on parallel running and migration cutover activities.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and execute testing strategies across the modern data platform, including unit, regression, reconciliation, and data quality testing.
• Build and maintain dbt test frameworks (generic, singular, and custom tests).
• Develop automated reconciliation suites comparing outputs between legacy warehouse environments and new cloud-based outputs at row, column, and aggregate levels.
• Embed testing into CI/CD pipelines to prevent defects reaching production.
• Define and own the wider data quality framework, including monitoring, alerting, and remediation processes.
• Translate business requirements into testable and automated validation criteria.
• Investigate and document data quality issues identified through monitoring or business users.
• Maintain regression coverage for critical business reporting datasets.
• Promote testing best practices across engineering teams, improving test coverage and code quality.
• Support release sign-off and contribute to go/no-go deployment decisions.
• Partner with business stakeholders during UAT cycles to ensure successful delivery.

Skills & Experience Essential

• 3+ years’ experience in QA, Test Engineering, or Data Quality Engineering within data platform environments.
• Strong SQL skills, including complex query writing for reconciliation and validation.
• Experience building automated testing frameworks in modern data stacks (e.g. dbt, Great Expectations, Soda, Python-based frameworks).
• Hands-on experience with at least one modern cloud data warehouse (Snowflake preferred).
• Experience integrating tests into CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, or similar).
• Strong understanding of data validation, transformation testing, and reconciliation methodologies.
• Comfortable working with Git-based workflows and pull request processes.
• Strong written communication and defect documentation skills.
• High attention to detail with a pragmatic, delivery-focused mindset.
• Must have the right to work in the UK without sponsorship.

Desirable

• Experience supporting data migration or modernisation programmes.
• Background in reconciling legacy warehouse platforms (MSSQL, Oracle, Teradata) with cloud-based platforms.
• Python for test automation.
• Experience testing downstream BI outputs (Power BI or similar).
• ISTQB or equivalent certification.
• Exposure to data observability tools (Monte Carlo, Bigeye, Elementary).
• Experience in retail, hospitality, e-commerce, or other high-volume transactional environments.

Why Apply?

• Genuine opportunity to own and shape data quality within a major transformation programme.
• Work with a modern data stack: Snowflake, dbt, Fivetran, Azure.
• High-impact work supporting critical reporting for finance, operations, and commercial teams.
• Opportunity to influence engineering best practices in a growing data function.
• Competitive salary and benefits package.
• Hybrid working model based in Manchester.