Principal Engineer - Quality Enablement

About IRIS

IRIS Software Group is one of the UK's largest privately held software companies, trusted by 100,000+ businesses, schools and accountancy firms to keep their operations running. Our software pays 1 in 6 UK employees, supports over 12,000 schools, and is relied on by 91 of the top 100 UK accountancy firms.

We're a Great Place to Work® certified employer, recognised for our commitment to well-being, inclusion and development - and we're growing fast.

IRIS is in the middle of a step-change in how we build software.

Our Agentic SDLC programme is moving the organisation from tool-assisted engineering to agentic as the default way of working, with a 3x productivity target for FY27. As coding velocity rises, the constraints on quality shift. Manual testing as the dominant model no longer fits and the legacy assumption that parts of our estate "cannot be automated" is being actively disproved by modern AI-assisted tooling.

We're looking for an exceptional Quality Engineering leader to define and drive what quality engineering looks like at IRIS in this new world.

This is a strategic transformation role first, and a delivery role second. You'll set the vision, establish standards, lead organisational change, and build the quality engineering model that supports the next generation of software delivery at IRIS.

The destination is clear: smaller, more specialist quality engineering functions, confident in automation, embedded in pods, owning curated end-to-end capability per product, and over time extending into performance, resilience, and chaos engineering.

Importantly, this is a quality strategy, not a cost exercise. Our focus is on better product quality, faster feedback loops, lower defect leakage, and creating a quality function whose impact compounds rather than scales linearly with engineering output.

What You'll Be Doing:

Quality Engineering Strategy & Transformation

You'll own the global quality engineering strategy across all five Product & Engineering divisions and define the destination model for Quality Engineering across IRIS.

Key responsibilities include:

• Own the global quality engineering strategy across all five P&E divisions, including the destination model for the QE function and the transition path to it.

• Lead the automation maturity assessment across the estate — baseline current state, including the legacy and on-prem portfolio, and build the evidence base for subsequent decisions.

• Support defining and transitioning to the right Eng:QA ratio by pod archetype and divisional context.

• Define and own the standards for automated testing across the toolchain: unit, integration, contract, E2E, and AI-generated test coverage. Integrate with the standard PDLC and the agentic workflows being rolled out.

• Establish the curated E2E capability suite per product line, what is owned centrally, what sits in pods, and how it is maintained.

• Partner with the Director of Agentic SDLC on the QE-specific elements of bootcamp cohorts, agentic workflows for test generation, and the upskilling pathway for manual testers moving toward automation engineering.

• Provide the evidence and framing the divisional VPs need to lead the QE workforce conversation in their divisions, supporting the destination model, the upskilling pathway, and the honest position on roles that cannot make the transition.

• Support the small specialist Quality Engineering practice that can carry the standards, tooling choices, and harder testing problems that don't belong in any single pod.

Practice Leadership

You'll build influence across a large engineering estate while leading a specialist quality practice.

You'll:

• Build and lead a small, senior, specialist central Quality Engineering practice.

• Lead the global QE community of practice across approximately 170 QA professionals.

• Define development pathways from manual testing to automation engineering and specialist disciplines.

• Partner with Engineering VPs to drive capability maturity across divisions.

• Develop a Quality Engineering career framework aligned with broader engineering frameworks.

Future-Focused Growth

• As the practice matures, you'll help shape several strategic growth areas:

• Performance and scalability testing as a first-class discipline.

• Resilience and chaos engineering across critical services.

• The evolution of IRIS's future Scalability & Resiliency practice and eventual SRE capability.

• Quality signals as a product input through the integration of observability, telemetry, and customer experience data.

What We're Looking For

Essential Experience

• Experience leading quality engineering at scale in a multi-product, multi-team software organisation. B2B SaaS background strongly preferred.

• A track record of moving a QE function from manual-dominant to automation-dominant, not as a theoretical exercise but in an organisation with real legacy, real customer commitments, and real people to bring with you.

• Deep working knowledge of modern automated testing across the stack, unit, integration, contract, E2E, performance and of AI-assisted testing where it is genuinely useful versus where it is hype.

• Experience supporting and driving specialist QE functions/Team that influences a much larger distributed engineering estate. Comfortable with the team topologies model and the distinction between enabling teams, platform teams, and stream-aligned pods.

• Exposure to performance, resilience, or chaos engineering at a meaningful level, enough to credibly grow the role into those areas. Full SRE leadership experience is welcome but not required at hire.

Leadership Style & Approach

We are looking for someone who:

• Leads with quality, not headcount. Holds the line on the destination model even when the conversation is uncomfortable.

• Is direct and clear, comfortable challenging peers, including the Programme Director and the CTO, with evidence and a point of view.

• Builds trust with engineers and QAs on the ground as well as with VPs in the room.

• Is comfortable operating with incomplete information and adjusting as evidence builds.

• Brings opinions, not just frameworks.

Nice to Have

• Experience in regulated or compliance-heavy software environments.

• Familiarity with modern agentic engineering tools such as Cursor, Copilot, CodeRabbit and Claude Code.

• Experience working within federated operations or platform engineering models.

Why You’ll Love Working Here

• Impact: Your work will influence millions globally.

• Growth: Continuous learning and career development opportunities.

• Belonging: A culture that celebrates diversity and empowers every individual.

Remote Working

Please be advised, permanent remote working, is only available to those living more than 25 miles (in a direct line) from their nearest IRIS office.

Ready to Apply?

Click Apply - we’re excited to learn about your unique perspective and experience. If you need adjustments during the process, let us know. We’re committed to making this opportunity accessible to everyone.

What to expect from our hiring process

Our process is designed to be fair, transparent and straightforward. Stages vary depending on the role — more senior positions may involve additional steps, and some areas include role-specific assessments such as a technical test or case study — but typically you can expect:

• Application review — we assess your experience and potential

• Initial call — a short conversation to learn about you and share more about the role

• Skills assessment — tailored to the position, e.g. case study, coding challenge or portfolio review

• Final interview — meet the team and explore how you'll make an IMPACT at IRIS

We'll always walk you through the specific stages at the start of the process so you can prepare with confidence.

If you need any adjustments or accommodations during the process, let us know, we’re committed to making this experience accessible for everyone.