Senior QA Engineer

Senior Software Quality Assurance Engineer – Join Darwin Partners

Paris

Permanent / Freelance / Contractor

Paris preferred – Open to candidates based elsewhere with regular travel (4 days per month)

Start date : ASAP

Darwin Partners, a true career partner

At Darwin Partners, we don't just recruit: we support our consultants throughout their careers by connecting them with projects that match their expertise and ambitions.

With a dynamic, impact-driven culture, we connect top IT talent with ambitious projects while building strong, authentic and long-term relationships.

Our clients ?

Innovative companies across a wide range of industries, working on high-value projects covering software development, QA & testing, infrastructure, cloud, data, functional roles and agility.

Our commitment ?

Regular follow-up, active listening and genuine proximity with our consultants and partners.

Our promise ?

Challenging projects, real flexibility and opportunities that match your skills and career ambitions

Your mission, should you choose to accept it

We are currently looking for a Senior Software Quality Assurance (SQA) professional to join one of our clients in Paris and contribute to the quality of complex, business-critical applications.

This role offers a genuine balance between functional manual testing (50%) and test automation (50%).

You will work closely with Business Analysts, Developers, Product Owners, Scrum Masters and business teams, combining strong functional understanding with hands-on QA and automation expertise.

Your responsibilities

• Analyse business and technical requirements to identify risks, gaps and test scenarios early in the development lifecycle
• Define and maintain comprehensive test strategies, test plans and test cases
• Design scenarios covering functional requirements as well as complex, exceptional and edge cases
• Execute functional, end-to-end, exploratory and manual testing
• Design, build and maintain automated tests using Robot Framework and Python
• Automate testing across web, API and service layers
• Integrate automated testing into GitLab CI/CD pipelines
• Perform SQL-based data validation and reconciliation across systems, APIs, databases, files and reports
• Prepare and maintain reliable test environments and test data
• Leverage AI / GenAI tools to accelerate test design, test data generation, automation and analysis
• Identify, document and track defects through to resolution
• Support UAT and contribute to the investigation of production issues
• Ensure traceability between requirements, test cases and defects
• Define and monitor quality metrics including test coverage, defect leakage and escaped defects
• Analyse recurring defects and incidents to identify root causes and continuously improve quality
• Share QA best practices and provide guidance to other testers within the team

The profile we're looking for

5+ years of experience in Software Quality Assurance / Testing

Strong experience across both functional manual testing and test automation

At least 3 years of hands-on test automation experience

Strong knowledge of QA methodologies, test design, exploratory and risk-based testing

Hands-on experience with Robot Framework

Good programming and scripting skills in Python

Strong SQL skills for data validation and reconciliation

Experience testing web applications, APIs and complex systems

Experience with GitLab and CI/CD environments

Experience with Jira, Confluence and Xray, or equivalent tools

Experience working in Agile/Scrum environments

Familiarity with cloud and/or containerised environments

Experience or a strong interest in using AI / GenAI within software testing

Strong analytical and critical-thinking skills, with the ability to understand complex business scenarios beyond written specifications

Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and business stakeholders

Senior mindset with the ability to guide, support and coordinate other testers

Fluent French and English are mandatory

Experience with highly transactional, regulated or business-critical systems is a strong plus

Previous experience as a Business Analyst, Product Owner or Scrum Master is appreciated

ISTQB, CFTL, TMAP or Agile certifications are valued

What makes Darwin Partners different

A human and personalised approach: more than 160 employees and consultants involved in high-impact projects.

Strategic and technically challenging assignments

Tailored career support with opportunities to develop your expertise and c