Principal Test Engineer & Engineering Leader

Experienced technical leader in both management and individual contributor roles, with a record of delivering measurable outcomes through strategic quality initiatives, cross-functional collaboration, and engineering maturity uplift.

I specialise in aligning testing strategy with business outcomes, scaling high-quality engineering practices, and driving compliance and reliability at pace. I mentor senior quality and engineering leaders, shape large-scale quality transformations, and embed pragmatic, automated testing practices across organisations.

GenAI for Test EngineeringRegulatory delivery at scaleDeveloper ExperienceDORA Metrics

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Experience

Principal Test Engineer

Feb 2021 – Present

•Part of the central Tech Standards Architecture team, driving testing and quality practices across Booking.com and giving technical leadership across the software engineering lifecycle.
•Key collaborator on the company-wide Quality Strategy and leader of its rollout workstream, including GenAI guidance for test case and test data generation, SonarQube quality profiles, and refreshed DORA-based metrics.
•Architectural lead on Developer Experience; contributed to documentation standards, environment strategy, and engineering maturity, achieving broad adoption of Tech Guiding Principles across critical services.
•Led DMA compliance testing and rollout: daily release plans, company-wide fire drills, production monitoring and fast remediation to deliver on-time against EU regulatory deadlines.
•Drove adoption of unit and contract testing via a train-the-trainer model: unit test adoption 29% → 93%, contract testing 29% → 50%, elevating code releasability from E → B in 9 months.
•Mentored Principal / Senior Test Engineers and Engineering Managers in Test; built cross-business-unit collaboration and career progression pathways.

Senior Engineering Manager – Test

Feb 2019 – Feb 2021

•Led Engineering Managers in Test across Manchester, London, and Amsterdam (organisation size ~40 including indirect reports).
•Built working practices between UK-based Transport and Netherlands-based Accommodation units for the first time, improving cross-functional integration.
•Created learning paths, competencies and training materials for automation, web, and native app quality practices.
•Scaled frontend and backend automation frameworks around AWS-native microservices and event-driven systems (CloudWatch, Kinesis, DynamoDB).

Test Engineering Lead

Sep 2017 – Feb 2019

•Built testing as a function in a startup-style environment: hiring, team structure, embedded testers, environments, release process.
•Introduced automation (Selenium/Java via BrowserStack, RestAssured API tests in Bamboo CI).
•Enabled an 11× increase in release frequency by pushing incremental delivery and quality-first practices.

Test Manager (TV & Radio – Mobile)

Mar 2015 – Sep 2017

•Led up to 25 engineers delivering BBC iPlayer and BBC iPlayer Radio on iOS / Android, including contractors and permanent staff.
•Owned Test Strategy, shortening mobile regression from two weeks to two days via risk-based coverage, exploratory testing and pairing.
•Worked on BBC-wide initiatives: supplier selection, on-device automation, and Test Craftsmanship community.
•Actively involved in inclusive hiring and early-career schemes (Leonard Cheshire Change 100, Extend, Apprenticeships & Graduates).

Featured Work

Quality Strategy & GenAI Guidance

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Company-wide Quality Strategy, GenAI prompts for test case / data generation, SonarQube quality profiles, and DORA-aligned evaluation metrics. (Public summary / guidance link here.)

GenAIDORASonarQube

Automation Challenge Platform

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Hands-on backend and frontend automation challenges (Playwright, RestAssured, Pact) used for onboarding, upskilling and hiring. Includes failing tests, mutation coverage angles, and quality scoring.

PlaywrightRestAssuredPact

DMA Compliance Rollout Framework

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End-to-end test strategy and coordinated release execution for Digital Markets Act compliance: daily release plans, fire drills, stakeholder comms, and production monitoring. Delivered on-time against EU regulatory deadlines.

ComplianceObservabilityRelease Ops

Unlock Programme Quality Uplift

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Shift-left / Train-the-Trainer programme that increased core service unit test adoption from 29% to 93% and contract testing from 29% to 50%, moving releasability from E → B in 9 months.

Shift LeftTrain-the-TrainerQuality Uplift

Skills & Focus Areas

Software Testing & Quality
Engineering Leadership
Strategic Programme Leadership
Engineering Tech Strategy
Automation Framework Design (Playwright, TestCafe, RestAssured)
Contract Testing (Pact)
DORA Metrics & Engineering Maturity
GenAI in Test Engineering
AWS (CloudWatch, Kinesis, DynamoDB)

Certifications

Architecting on AWS2021
Developing on AWS2021
Association for Project Management - APMP (IPMA Level D, SCQF Level 7)2012
ISTQB Foundation Certificate in Software Testing2007

Contact

Open to senior quality / test engineering leadership roles (Director / Head of Quality / Head of Test / Principal Quality Engineering Architect) and strategic consulting around quality transformation, test strategy, or developer experience.

For speaking, advisory, or collaboration queries, the best way to reach me is email.

Email me View GitHub