Senior Test Engineer - Government Digital Service (G7)

Location

Bristol, London, Manchester

About The Role

The Government Digital Service (GDS) serves as the central digital hub for the UK government, tasked with spearheading the vision for a contemporary digital government. Their key focus areas include integrating public sector services, utilizing artificial intelligence for societal benefits, enhancing digital and data infrastructure, investing in leadership and talent development, procuring innovative growth-focused solutions, and maintaining transparency and accountability.

GDS operates under the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and supports a workforce of over 1,000 professionals across the UK with core hubs in Manchester, London, and Bristol. Their initiatives include managing the world-renowned GOV.UK platform and leading the UK’s geospatial strategy, making a significant national impact through high-priority digital projects.

Position Overview

As a Grade 7 Senior Test Engineer within the Quality Engineering team of the GOV.UK One Login program, you will lead the test engineering function for various product deliveries. Your role encompasses both functional and non-functional testing domains, driving the adoption of quality engineering best practices, enhancing reliability and resilience of software releases, and fostering innovation in testing methods. Mentorship and embedding robust quality approaches throughout the software development lifecycle are integral parts of this role.

Primary Responsibilities

• Lead continuous enhancements by guiding teams in quality engineering practices and optimizing testing processes.
• Serve as a subject matter expert on test engineering by adopting and supporting advanced technologies in both functional and non-functional testing areas such as performance, accessibility, and resilience.
• Oversee the definition of test strategies, planning, and automated test suite implementations to meet acceptance criteria across multiple products.
• Execute Operational Acceptance Testing (OAT) to verify operational readiness of IT systems.
• Analyze requirements from technical, functional, and business perspectives to identify issues and opportunities aligned with strategic goals.
• Influence software architecture and feature design early to promote better quality, testability, and adherence to specifications.

Candidate Profile

• Proven experience leading comprehensive testing phases—including both functional and non-functional testing—across multiple teams, encompassing test strategy development, automation, reporting, and work within CI/CD contexts.
• Skilled in implementing automated test solutions for Mobile, Web UI, and APIs, with solid proficiency in JavaScript or TypeScript programming languages.
• Experienced in spearheading non-functional testing initiatives such as Performance, Accessibility, Resilience, and Compatibility testing, using diverse tools and adhering to industry standards.
• Adaptable team player familiar with Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery environments and capable of deploying relevant tools and promoting ‘shift left’ and ‘shift right’ quality assurance principles.
• Ability to foster a culture emphasizing collective responsibility for quality, enhancing the testing skill set throughout delivery teams.
• Deep understanding of production-level testing practices including observability and monitoring real user experiences to devise risk-based testing strategies ensuring system reliability and actionable user insight.

Additional Information

This position is full-time and located onsite at one of the GDS hubs. The role offers the opportunity to engage directly with some of the UK’s most influential digital government initiatives, contributing to public services used by millions.