Senior Quality Assurance Team Lead (Financial Services)-Contract Our Financial client is seeking a highly experienced, hands‑on Senior Quality Assurance Team Lead to join a major banking technology programme within the South African financial services sector. This role is ideal for a strong technical QA professional who can combine strategic leadership with active involvement in testing delivery, automation, stakeholder engagement, and quality engineering best practices. The successful candidate will lead a small‑to‑medium QA team while remaining technically involved in the delivery lifecycle across complex enterprise banking systems, APIs, digital platforms, and integration environments. Key Responsibilities Lead and mentor QA Engineers and Test Analysts within an Agile delivery environment Drive quality assurance best practices across the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) Coordinate testing activities across multiple workstreams and project releases Ensure delivery quality, stability, and compliance within enterprise banking platforms Work closely with Developers, Business Analysts, Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and Project Managers Actively participate in functional, integration, regression, and end‑to‑end testing Develop and maintain automated testing frameworks and scripts Perform API testing and backend validation across complex integrations Assist with defect triage, root‑cause analysis, and production issue investigations Execute SQL/database validation and reconciliation testing where required Support continuous testing initiatives within CI/CD pipelines Collaborate with DevOps and Engineering teams to improve deployment quality and release stability Ensure testing aligns with enterprise banking standards and governance requirements Validate high‑volume transactional processing and integration flows Provide regular reporting on testing progress, risks, quality metrics, and delivery readiness Required Skills & Experience Mandatory Experience: 10 years of experience in Software Quality Assurance Minimum 3 years of experience leading QA/Test teams Proven experience within Banking, Financial Services, FinTech, or enterprise transactional systems Strong hands‑on testing and automation capability Technical Skills: API testing tools such as Postman or RestAssured Selenium — browser UI automation / functional testing (web) SQL and database validation testing JMeter — performance / load testing (HTTP, APIs, queues, etc.) CI/CD tools such as Jenkins or Azure DevOps Jira and Agile delivery methodologies Performance testing experience using JMeter or LoadRunner advantageous Exposure to microservices and cloud‑based architectures advantageous Other: Playwright, or Cypress Helium — Python wrapper over Selenium, simpler API Appium — mobile app UI automation (iOS & Android) Test management tools such as Zephyr, Xray, or qTest Qualifications Relevant Degree or Diploma in Information Technology, Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field ISTQB certification advantageous Agile or Scrum certifications beneficial Personal Attributes Technically strong and detail‑oriented; proactive, hands‑on leader; comfortable working in fast‑paced enterprise environments; strong communication and stakeholder management skills; solutions‑driven with excellent analytical thinking #J-18808-Ljbffr