Lead Product Quality Analyst

Level: 4

Salary band: £65,000-£75,000

Bonus: 8% performance-based, discretionary

Location: Hybrid - work in our London office a minimum of 2x/wk

Lead Product Quality Analyst – Driving Excellence in Life Sciences Automation

Join Automata: Redefining the Future of Lab Automation

At Automata, we are revolutionizing life sciences through automation—freeing scientists from manual, repetitive tasks so they can focus on groundbreaking discoveries. Our technology bridges robotics, AI, and software to create the next-generation lab automation platform, unlocking efficiency, scalability, and reliability.

From leading NHS trusts to pioneering biotech firms, we are the trusted automation partner for some of the world’s most advanced scientific institutions. And now, we’re seeking a Lead Product Quality Analyst to own and scale our testing strategy, set technical direction for QA, and ensure our products consistently exceed expectations.

Why This Role is a Game-Changer

🔬 You’ll Define What “Quality” Means at Automata

As the technical lead for product quality, you will set standards, design frameworks, and take ownership of QA best practices across software, hardware, and automation systems.

🛠️ Shape QA at the Intersection of Science, Automation, and Engineering

This isn’t a traditional QA role—you’ll be hands-on with robotics, software, and integrated automation platforms. You will drive technical quality decisions and ensure our testing approach is future-ready, scalable, and robust.

🚀 Directly Accelerate Scientific Discovery

Your frameworks and test systems will determine how quickly and reliably scientists can adopt our technology. Your impact will extend beyond QA—shaping how science is done in real-world labs.

Your Mission: Own Quality Strategy and Execution

As Lead Product Quality Analyst, you’ll be both hands-on and strategic—responsible for designing and executing technical QA solutions, mentoring teammates, and influencing quality across the product lifecycle.

Your Core Responsibilities:

✅ Technical Quality Leadership (30%)

• Define and own Automata’s technical Product QA strategy across hardware, software, and automation systems.
• Serve as the organization’s technical authority on product quality, championing best-in-class end-to-end testing practices and mentoring colleagues across Product, Engineering, and Design to uphold world-class standards in hybrid cloud–edge–hardware system quality.
• Partner closely with Engineering Leads, Product Managers, Customer Success, Deployment, and DevOps teams to optimize development and release processes—embedding quality into every stage of the lifecycle.
• Set and enforce release readiness criteria, driving go/no-go quality decisions.
• Mentor team members and set best practices, without formal line management.

✅ End-to-End Product Testing (25%)

• Architect and execute complex, real-world test suites covering both new features and existing functionality.
• Drive the design, implementation, and scaling of automated testing frameworks to increase efficiency, broaden test coverage, and support diverse test types (functional, integration, regression, performance, reliability, resilience, failover, and safety validation).
• Ensure releases are robust, scalable, and validated against demanding lab environments.
• Test against variability in lab configurations, instruments, and workflows to ensure reliable deployment across diverse customer environments.

📊 Test Reporting & Technical Insights (10%)

• Develop clear, automated, real-time reporting systems that highlight risks, reliability metrics, and trends.
• Provide data-driven insights and quality metrics that directly inform engineering, product, and release decisions.

🔄 Process Optimization & Continuous Improvement (15%)

• Refine QA processes to increase efficiency and accuracy.
• Lead adoption of advanced automation tools and methodologies.
• Embed quality gates, rollback testing, and automated compliance checks into CI/CD pipelines.

⚙️ Tooling & Automation Development (10%)

• Build and maintain internal testing tools that accelerate release cycles.
• Integrate automation frameworks into CI/CD pipelines.

🔬 Hardware & Lab Workcell Oversight (10%)

• Maintain and evolve physical test environments that simulate real-world lab conditions.
• Ensure hardware QA systems are reliable, scalable, and up-to-date.

What We’re Looking For

• Extensive QA experience across integrated hardware–software systems, including robotic automation, IoT, and distributed cloud–edge architectures.
• Proven ability to ensure system quality at scale, with focus on data integrity, synchronization, latency, resilience, and reliability in production-like environments.
• Strong background in performance, stress, and reliability testing, as well as test data management, workflow simulation, and reproducible test environments.
• Familiarity with regulated environments (e.g., GxP, ISO, FDA) and the ability to design QA processes that meet compliance expectations.
• Expertise in automated testing frameworks, CI/CD integration, and scalable test infrastructure design.
• Demonstrated technical leadership—setting strategy, influencing teams, and mentoring peers.
• Collaborative mindset, able to translate field learnings from customer-facing teams into improved QA coverage.
• Analytical, structured problem-solver who thrives on complex, data-driven challenges.

Bonus Points for:

✨ Expertise in lab instrumentation and automation workflows or life sciences.

✨ Background in software development or test tooling design.

Why Automata?

💡 Be the technical authority for QA in a company at the forefront of lab automation.

🚀 Work hands-on with cutting-edge robotics, software, and AI.

📈 Expand your influence—help shape product direction, engineering processes, and QA culture.

🌍 Make a global impact—your work will enable scientists worldwide to accelerate research and healthcare breakthroughs.

Ready to Take the Lead in QA?

If you’re excited about owning technical quality strategy, building future-ready frameworks, and ensuring reliability at scale, we’d love to hear from you. Apply today and help shape the future of lab automation. 🚀

UK Team Benefits:

🍎 Vitality Health Insurance

Private healthcare that incentives a healthy lifestyle

👀 Eye Care

Get your eyes tested once a year on us!

🚗 Salary Sacrifice - EV

Sacrifice some of your monthly salary in exchange for a company car, provided by your Employer

🚲 Salary Sacrifice - Bike & Tech

Sacrifice some of your monthly salary in exchange for bike and tech products, provided by your Employer

🧘🏼 ♀️ Wellbeing & Support

Support for both your physical and mental health

☀️ Wellbeing & Development Allowance

Invest in your own well-being, personal growth, and hobbies

💙 Spill & Employee Assistance Programme

Access the therapy for you and your family through Spill

😊 Additional Leave

Time off for dependents, 'Me days', and volunteering days off

👵🏼 Pension Scheme

Plan for retirement with NEST

🫂 Group Life & Critical Illness cover

Life insurance - for a piece of mind

🎂 Birthday

Time off for your Birthday

We are an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Discrimination of any kind based on race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status is strictly prohibited.