About Counter
Counter is a technology consultancy within the Northcoders Group. We partner with organisations to build high-performing engineering teams that combine experienced technical leadership with emerging and experienced talent, helping clients accelerate delivery while developing long-term engineering capability.
Our teams are led by experienced Counter Tech Leads, who work closely with our clients to provide technical leadership, mentor engineers and embed best practices throughout each engagement. We build mixed-experience engineering teams, bringing together early-career, mid-level and experienced engineers to create collaborative, high-performing teams. This enables individuals to learn from one another, develop their skills and deliver meaningful outcomes together, while ensuring our clients benefit from the right blend of experience.
Your initial employment will be with Northcoders Group on a flexible fixed-term contract for the duration of the engagement. One of the things that makes Counter different from many consultancies is that, where there is mutual interest, individuals may have the opportunity to transition into a permanent role with the client at the end of the project, providing an additional pathway to build a long-term career.
Counter has an established partnership with Manchester Airport Group, supporting the organisation across a number of technology initiatives. As our relationship continues to grow, we're expanding our team to support the next phase of Manchester Airport Group's technology transformation.
You'll join a dedicated Counter engineering team working alongside experienced technical professionals on a live client engagement. This is an opportunity to contribute to meaningful projects, collaborate with engineers across a range of experience levels and continue developing your technical and professional skills within a supportive consultancy environment.
About Manchester Airport Group
Manchester Airport Group (MAG) is the UK's largest airport group, operating Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands Airports. With a clear ambition to become the world's most intelligent airport group, MAG is investing heavily in technology, innovation and digital transformation to create smarter, more connected experiences for both passengers and colleagues.
As part of this journey, MAG is modernising the way it approaches software engineering, testing and quality assurance. The organisation is investing in automation, performance and security testing, AI-enabled quality engineering and modern delivery practices to improve the speed, quality and reliability of its technology platforms.
Working on this programme, you'll contribute to large-scale, business-critical systems while helping to shape the future of engineering and quality practices within one of the UK's leading transport organisations. It's an exciting opportunity to work alongside experienced technical professionals, influence meaningful change and develop your career on projects with real impact.
Leadership Expectations & Values:
Our Purpose:
At MAG, our role is to connect our customers to the world with great airport experiences and innovative travel services.
Our Culture:
We create a culture of collaboration, trust and challenge to deliver exceptional performance, guided by our values.
Our Leadership Expectations:
Delivers Performance:
- Clearly articulates the strategy, helping everyone understand the part they play
- Cuts through and prioritises, giving teams what they need to focus on what matters most
- Communicates clearly, tailoring messages and empowering the team to take ownership
Creates Clarity:
- Thinks broader, removing silos, creating a culture of collaboration, and one team
- Makes sound decisions, taking calculated risks and accountability for outcomes, removing barriers to high performance
- Delivers great feedback, continually growing self and others so people can be their best
Encourages Connection:
- Builds strong, future-focused teams with a growth mindset who drive continuous improvement
- Acts with respect and integrity, understanding the impact they have on others and the culture they create
- Always authentic, fostering a culture of trust and inclusion which embraces diversity of thought
Our Values:
- People at our core
- Growing every day
- Power of teamwork
- Safe hands
- Sustainable future for all
About the role
As a Senior Test Engineer, you'll play a key role in helping Manchester Airport Group modernise its approach to quality engineering. Working alongside Counter's Tech Lead and the wider engineering team, you'll help embed modern testing practices, encourage closer collaboration between development and testing, and influence how quality is built into the software delivery lifecycle.
This is a hands-on engineering role with leadership responsibilities. You'll work closely with technical and non-technical stakeholders, helping explain technical decisions, challenge existing ways of working and support the wider team in adopting new approaches.
We're looking for someone who enjoys mentoring others, sharing knowledge and continually looking for opportunities to improve engineering practices. You'll be encouraged to experiment with modern tooling, including AI-assisted engineering, while working within appropriate governance and security requirements.
Essential
- Previous experience in a Test Engineer or Quality Engineer role
- Strong stakeholder management skills
- Ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical audiences
- Experience building automated testing solutions
- Understanding of modern Quality Engineering practices
- Experience working within Agile teams
- Understanding of CI/CD pipelines
Desirable
- Previous experience within regulated environments
- Experience leading or mentoring engineers
- Existing security clearance (or ability to obtain)
- Cloud platform experience
- AI tooling experience within engineering
-
Python
- Locust
- Selenium/Appium framework
- Playwright
- JavaScript/Typescript
- BitBucket
- Azure DevOps
- Atlassian (Jira)
- Snyk
- BrowserStack
- Cloud experience beneficial for the senior
- Understanding CI/CD
-
This role offers a flexible hybrid working arrangement. Candidates who live within a reasonable commuting distance of Manchester Airport are expected to work from the office approximately three days per week. For those based further afield (up to around a 1.5-hour commute), attendance of approximately once every two weeks may be considered.
- We'll discuss your location and commuting preferences as part of the recruitment process to ensure the arrangement works for both you and the team.
- To be eligible for this role, you must have Permanent Right to Work in the UK, and be happy to have the following checks completed by either Northcoders or the Hiring Partner:
- Evidence of right to work
- Enhanced DBS check
- Five years of employment covering gaps with evidence
Please note: We are unable to sponsor Skilled Worker visas at this time. Applicants must have the existing, legal right to work in the UK, at least for the duration of the engagement. Visa sponsorship is not available for this role.
Counter, a consultancy brand under the Northcoders Group, adopts a model where we help clients attract, onboard, upskill and integrate talent into their businesses, in order to give the team a seamless start to long and successful careers there.
Counter teams are formed for our clients by deploying a Counter Tech Lead to work within the client’s organisation in order to hire appropriate team members and then to work in collaboration with them directly on live clients projects. Providing support, extra training and all the guidance to fast-track the individuals’ journey within that organisation.
Read more at https://counter.partners
