Automation Engineer

Posting date:	06 January 2026
Hours:	Full time
Closing date:	05 February 2026
Location:	Leicester, Leicestershire, LE1 1SH
Company:	Hastings Direct
Job type:	Permanent
Job reference:	60012747_1767710340

Summary

We're a digital insurance provider with ambitious plans to become The Best and Biggest in the UK market. Over the past few years, we've made significant investments in our data and tech capabilities, particularly within our CIO function. Our CIO team is at the forefront of driving innovation and ensuring our technology infrastructure supports our ambitious goals. We've nurtured our 4Cs culture, fostering collaboration, creativity, and continuous improvement.

We're proud of the journey we're on as a company and know that our continued success will rely on the contribution of our talented colleagues. The CIO team plays a crucial role in this journey, working on cutting-edge projects that enhance our digital presence and improve customer engagement.

We provide insurance to nearly four million customers, but we know there's even bigger opportunity out there. The fact you're now reading this job advert means we've tempted you to find out more about #lifeatHD - we really hope you like what you see, and you'll join us to share in the success of the exciting chapter that lies ahead.

We understand some people may not apply for jobs unless they feel they tick every box. If you are excited about joining us and think you have some of what we are looking for, even if you're not 100% sure, we would love to hear from you. Our CIO team is always looking for passionate individuals who are eager to make a difference and contribute to our success.

Job Details

• You will be working as an individual collaborator on one of many sprint teams alongside colleagues that cross multiple disciplines.
• You will be actively taking part in sprint ceremonies; sharing updates and blockers in daily standups, estimating and committing in sprint planning or helping your team move forward in their behaviours by providing input in sprint retrospectives.
• You will ensure user stories are captured in accordance with your teams' definition of ready, because you know how important that is to the quality of a delivered feature.
• You will ensure work items meet your team definition of ready, ensuring we are only building features from a common understanding.
• You will ensure work items are only complete when they meet the team definition of done and you will not be afraid to call this out.
• You will regularly collaborate with colleagues to write Acceptance Criteria that describe business rules for both functional and nonfunctional behaviours, the bedrock of quality test scenarios.

Skills we would love you to have

• You will be comfortable collaborating on an Agile sprint team in at least than one of its forms: Scrum, Kanban, Safe.
• You will be confident and vocal in sprint ceremonies like stand-ups, planning, retrospectives, 3-amigos and backlog elaboration.
• You will be familiar with contributing to backlog management in Jira or Octane, collaborating with colleagues to define work items, and recording your own activity in tasks.
• You will be familiar with test case management in tools such as Octane or X-Ray, ensuring your test scenarios and test results are traceable to work items for features.
• You can confidently collaborate in writing acceptance criteria using declarative gherkin to capture business rules that you can then run as automated tests with Cucumber.
• You will possess strong coding skills that you can demonstrate in implementing automated tests in one or more of Java, JavaScript, Typescript, C#.
• You will be comfortable with Source control using GitHub to collaborate with others and share your code.
• You will be skilled with user interface automation with Selenium & Selenium Grid, Playwright or Cypress.
• You will be able to implement tests against API either in code or via tools such as SoapUI, Postman.

Unfortunately we are unable to progress with candidates that require sponsorship at this time.

What we offer

Join us and you'll find a different way of doing things. We call it the 4Cs. We focus on getting it right for our colleagues, customers, company, and community. As one of our colleagues, you'll be helping to drive our growth, so in return, we'll give you all the support, training and development you need. Not to mention plenty of recognition and rewards, and the scope to voice your ideas and put them into practice.

Reward
Salary - Attractive salary based on experience (pay reviews also completed each year)
Flexible Working - We champion a flexible and hybrid working approach so please speak to your recruiter to discuss in more detail, including days in the office and at home.
Competitive Bonus Scheme - All colleagues are eligible for our annual 4Cs performance bonus, which is usually paid in March. The scheme is based on Hastings' performance against our business goals and your own personal performance.
Physical Wellbeing - We like to help our colleagues take a proactive approach in keeping themselves well, that's why we fund our colleagues to be able to claim against everyday health care through our healthcare cash plan.
Financial Wellbeing - As well as providing you with 4x your salary with our life assurance cover and income protection at no extra cost, pension contribution match up to 10%, we are proud to provide you with an AWARD WINNING package which includes - discounts and cashback at everyday retailers and on our own products, fee free independent mortgage advice, and free access to financial wellbeing support.
Mental Wellbeing Programme - At Hastings Direct we understand that mental health cannot not be scheduled, that's why we have a range of support to help you keep yourself well. We have the thrive mental health app, our colleague assistance programme available 24/7, our own in-house mental health first aiders, support groups and a dedicated team to make sure we are covering your needs
There's more! - 25 days annual leave +bank holidays, with the option to buy or sell one of your contracted weeks, access to private healthcare, dental plans, discounted health assessments, cycle to work and tech schemes, discounted and free onsite facilities, social events throughout the year and much more. Most of our benefits and wellbeing resources are available to colleagues from their first day whilst some optional benefits, which involve committing to a 12-month payment schedule, are available as soon as you have completed your probationary period.

Our 4Cs principles are simple: we believe by creating the right culture for our colleagues and giving them the right tools to do their job, we'll deliver good outcomes for every customer, helping us to grow the company profitably and sustainably and allowing us to invest in the communities we serve.

We deliver good outcomes for our customers every time by providing great products at the right price with our simple and straightforward service. We treat customers like we want to be treated - fairly, respectfully and with their best interests at heart.

Hastings Group is an equal opportunities employer which means we treat people fairly. We welcome applications from all suitably skilled persons regardless of their gender, age, race, disability, ethnic background, religion/belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or marital/family status. Please also note that we have a thorough referencing process, which includes credit and criminal record checks.