Lead Test Engineer
Home Office
Apply before 11:55 pm on Sunday 15th December 2024
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About the job
Job summary
We are looking for people who are passionate about Quality. Do you want to be part of the award-winning Home Office Quality Assurance and Testing Team (QAT) within Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT)?
Quality is at the heart of everything we do. We provide a large-scale shared service, delivered through 750 QA professionals. It supports services that are essential for the UK.
A strong continuous improvement culture underpins the way we work, making advancements on how quality is delivered and assured in groundbreaking DevOps environments, including cloud platforms. We are a well-established, well-knit team of quality specialists and among the best in the industry!
We recently won the Testing Team of the Year at the 2024 European Software Testing Awards and were also re-certified at TMMi level 5 earlier this year, receiving the best score globally.
Job description
Our Lead Test Engineers are held in high regard, well sought after, and highly valued members of the teams they work in.
We are seeking individuals with the skills required to solve engineering challenges of QAT approaches and build strong collaborator relationships. Working alongside impactful multi-disciplinary teams, you will use your technical, delivery and leadership skills to drive outstanding, industry standard quality engineering practices. Your success will be linked to the success of the teams you work with, and you will play a pivotal role in helping your team deliver outcomes, safely and securely.
You will be working in the Data Services and Analytics (DSA) area of the organisation. The mission of DSA is to be the leading provider of data insight services in Government. DSA hosts one of the most advanced data analytics centres in government, who strive to lead the way in the appropriate and proportionate use of data and analytics to deliver joined-up, intelligent services that unlock the value from data and improve decision making, policy and operations.
In return, we will invest in your learning and development, and you will be supported by guides in your job family, while having opportunities to mentor and be mentored. You will be a member of the test engineering practice. We invest in adopting innovative technology. We are actively developing quality strategies to assure AI based solutions, as well as its safe usage in quality engineering. Our test engineering practice will be a core part of these strategies.
QAT/Engineering Tools and Technologies we use:
We have a wide portfolio of projects, and our vast estate covers a whole range of tools. The below is sample snapshot of some tools we use:
- Frameworks: Pytest, Serenity BDD (Selenium + RestAssured), Cypress, Playwright, Karate, and several bespoke frameworks.
- DevOps: AWS, Jenkins, Drone, Docker, Kubernetes,
- Performance testing: JMeter
- Other tools: Axe, ZAP, SonarQube
- Observability and Monitoring: Grafana, Dynatrace
What you will do
Your main day to day responsibilities will be:
- setting the programme or product level strategy for the initiation, delivery and development of QAT solutions and working independently to deliver end to end QAT services.
- ownership of existing test frameworks and actively reviewing them, innovate and identify need for new frameworks, and delivering these at scale.
- leading and coaching a team of test engineers and helping solve technical challenges that the team may require assistance with, evaluating efficacy of test engineering processes across projects and suggesting improvements.
- managing test infrastructure usage and determining approach to running distributed, parallel tests. Using container & cloud technology to orchestrate faster, scalable tests while optimising costs.
- working with teams to promote use of code scan, code quality, accessibility testing and observability tools.
- promoting convergence, creating shared capabilities and data driven approaches within test engineering and participating in the QAT Test Engineering community.
Person specification
UK residency and security requirements - You need to have lived in the UK for the past 5 years.
Essential criteria
As a Lead Test Engineer you will have experience of:
- programming using Python, Java and JavaScript to write secure, reusable, and maintainable automated tests and test utilities. You should be able to use concepts like thread management, synchronisation, resource, and memory management to increase the efficiency of test engineering solutions. Using scripting languages like Bash or PowerShell.
- defining tools like Pytest-BDD, Selenium for front-end automation, Rest Assured for API testing, Serenity BDD, build tools like Maven or Gradle and using Git to manage branches and merge requests through distributed version control. A solid understanding of protocols and architectural styles involved in implementing UI and backend API for applications.
- working with unit test frameworks like Junit or Pytest, assertion libraries and data serialisation tools.
- working with POM test design pattern and SOLID code design principle and implementing coding guidelines and standards.
- extensively using CI/CD tools such as Drone and Jenkins for pipeline automation and a solid understanding of release pipeline concepts. Familiarity with containerization platforms like Docker and container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes.
- ability to actively engage with performance testing engineers and work alongside them to identify performance bottlenecks. Ability to read, interpret and articulate performance reports.
SFIA capability framework
Skills for the Information Age (SFIA) is the technical framework that sets the standard capability and development of all Quality Assurance & Testing levels in the Home Office. This is a link to the capability framework: All skills A–Z — English (sfia-online.org)
We use set SFIA technical skills to form our interview questions and we will assess you against these technical skills during the selection process.
SFIA levels of responsibility – Use the SFIA Levels of responsibility to understand what would be expected for each Technical Skill listed below.
SFIA Technical skills
The essential technical skills listed above are reflective of the Home Office Government Digital and Data Profession Career Framework. Please see below for the relevant skills required for your role.
Technical skills
We will assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Strategic Planning (ITSP) – Level 4
- Domain Experience – Level 4
- Test, Analysis, Design and Execution – Level 3
- Automation and Tooling – Level 4
- Performance Testing – Level 4
- Integration and Assurance – Level 3
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Changing and Improving
- Making Effective Decisions
Benefits
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
Why work for us...
- A highly competitive pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
- 25 days annual leave on appointment rising 1 day per year up to 30 days, plus 8 days public holidays and 1 day for the King’s Birthday.
- Flexible working options to enable you to achieve the work life balance that is right for you including; Full time, part-time, flexi time, compressed hours and job sharing.
- A hybrid working model of a minimum 60% of your contracted hours in the workplace and 40% remote.
- Training and development opportunities tailored to your role, including access to technical and professional accreditations.
- Access to funded qualifications (subject to approval)
- A capability allowance reviewed annually.
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
- Enhanced parental leave schemes.
- Annual performance-based bonus and recognition awards.
This link is to a short guide to employee benefits: Benefits - Home Office Careers
Why join our QAT Community in the Home Office?
The QAT Testing Team won the best Team of the Year at the 2024 European Software Testing Awards! This prestigious win reflects our dedication to excellence and innovation in Quality Assurance and Testing.
This is a huge opportunity to be a part of our growth journey and build your capability and expertise. Quality Assurance and Testing (QAT) is an important part of the Home Office mission. Everyone is responsible for quality, and we have a team of skilled people who make sure quality is delivered in the most effective way. This means getting fast feedback, understanding how a service performs, and helping the development team to make more informed decisions. We value automating as much of the test effort as possible allowing our team of specialists and domain experts to undertake better evaluations.
You can see more here Quality, Assurance and Testing - Home Office Careers
There is a link to how it feels to work in QAT on our GOV.UK site here: Day in the life of a QAT'er
The advertised role is part of the Home Office Government Digital and Data Profession. This role has access to a Digital Capability-Based Allowance. Applicants who are successful at interview will be invited to complete a Capability and Skills Assessment post-interview. Any allowance awarded will be based on the assessment of your capability against the six skills advertised for this role. Please see the attached candidate pack for more information.
The allowance values are set by the Home Office, subject to remaining in a qualifying role, and are non-pensionable. This allowance is non-contractual, subject to an annual review and could be withdrawn at any time.
For both new entrants and existing civil servants, the total compensation offer is a combination of base salary and, if applicable, a capability-based allowance. New entrants to the Civil Service will start on the pay range minimum. For existing civil servants, our policies on level transfer and promotion will apply.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and 1000 word personal statement.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Please note your CV and personal statement should include all relevant experience that relates to our essential skills criteria listed in the advert and role description. Use STAR format in your examples.
Remove information that identifies you (for example your name, age or place of education) so that you will be judged on merit alone and not your personal background, circumstances, race or gender.
(Do NOT include e-mail addresses or links to online profiles, resumés, or prior work, either personal or business. Active links or e-mail addresses will result in your application being rejected)
Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. All applications are screened for plagiarism, copying, and generating of examples/ answers from internet sources including Artificial Intelligence. If detected, the application may be withdrawn from the process.
Further action, including disciplinary action, may be considered in such cases involving civil servants. Providing false or misleading information would be contrary to the core values of honesty and integrity expected of all civil servants.
Stage 1: Application sift
The sift will be held on the CV and Personal Statement. Please read the Essential skills for this position carefully. We will only consider those who meet the listed requirements.
Stage 2: Interview
If you’re successful at stage 1, you will be invited to an interview.
This will consist of two parts:
- A 30-minute technical discussion that will assess your proficiency in using and developing approaches for quality engineering in the data science space.
- This will be followed by a 60-minute panel interview.
The technical discussion will be a whiteboarding exercise during which you will have an opportunity to demonstrate your experience in Data Analysis and Reporting, Data Ingestion and Manipulation, Data Validation and Testing and cloud hosting (AWS).
The interview will include a review and discussion of your completed technical assessment and questions to explore your technical skills, experience and behaviours relevant to the role.
Sift and interview dates
Sift will be conducted week commencing 16th December 2024.
Interviews will be held from 8th January 2025 (Subject to the Panel’s operational requirements/priorities).
Interviews will be conducted remotely via MS Teams.
We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.
Further Information
We value diversity and inclusion and welcome applications from the widest diversity of backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. We particularly encourage applications from women, people with disabilities and LGBT+ as they are currently under-represented in the Home Office at this grade level. Appointments will be made on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.
Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. Where this is the case, employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in the office. Applicants can raise any queries to the email address at the bottom of the advert.
Please read the Essential skills for this position carefully. We will only consider those who meet the listed requirement.
If you have previously made an unsuccessful application for a role with the same essential skills and are not able to demonstrate how you have developed these skills since your last application please reconsider applying as your application is unlikely to be successful.
Reserve list
A reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position.
UK residency and security requirements
Please note that this role requires Security Check (SC) clearance, which would normally need 5 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years.
However, in exceptional circumstances security clearance applications for candidates who have been present in the UK for at least 3 of last 5 years may be considered. Failure to meet this residency requirement will result in your security clearance application being rejected.
Visa Sponsorship
We are unable to sponsor any individuals via Skilled Worker Sponsorship / Tier 2 (General) work visas as we do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License.
Capability Allowance
The advertised role is part of the Home Office Government Digital and Data Profession. This role has access to a Digital Capability-Based Allowance. Applicants who are successful at interview will be invited to complete a Capability and Skills Assessment post-interview. Any allowance awarded will be based on the assessment of your capability against the six skills advertised for this role. Please see the attached candidate pack for more information.
The allowance values are set by the Home Office, subject to remaining in a qualifying role, and are non-pensionable. This allowance is non-contractual, subject to an annual review and could be withdrawn at any time.
For both new entrants and existing civil servants, the total compensation offer is a combination of base salary and, if applicable, a capability-based allowance. New entrants to the Civil Service will start on the pay range minimum. For existing civil servants, our policies on level transfer and promotion will apply.
Job offers to this post are made on the basis of merit. We often have similar roles available at different grades. If a candidate is suitable for a similar role or a lower grade than they have applied for, we may offer the candidate that role without the need to go through a further selection process providing the role has the same competencies and essential skills.
Working at the Home Office
Every day, Home Office civil servants do brilliant work to develop and deliver policies and services that affect the lives of people across the country and beyond. To do this effectively and fairly, the Home Office is committed to representing modern Britain in all its diversity, and creating a welcoming, inclusive workplace where all our people are able to bring their whole selves to work and perform at their best.
We are flexible, skilled, professional and diverse. We work to recruit and retain disabled staff and area Disability Confident Leader. We are proud to be one of the most ethnically diverse departments in the civil service. We are a Social Mobility Foundation top 75 employer.
New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.
Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant's details held on the IFD will be refused employment.
For further information please see the attached notes for candidates which must be read before making an application.
Existing Civil Servants should note that some of the Home Office terms and conditions of employment have changed. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the Terms and Conditions they will adopt should they be successful in application and should refer to the notes for candidates for further details.
For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting
In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service /on your behalf.
However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.
Transfer Terms: Voluntary.
If you are invited to an interview you will be required to bring a range of documentation for the purposes of establishing identity and to aid any pre-employment checks.
Please see the attached list of Home Office acceptable ID documents.
You will need to meet the nationality requirements for this role and obtain the necessary security clearance to take it up. For meaningful security checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time. Learn more on our website. Security Checks - Home Office Careers
Any move to the Home Office from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk
Reasonable Adjustments
If a person with disabilities is at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:
- Contact Government Recruitment Service via grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs
- Complete the “Assistance Required” section in the “Additional Requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you are deaf, a language service professional
If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ‘Contact point for applicants’ section.
Feedback
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Nationality requirements
Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
Diversity and Inclusion
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : AC Recruitment Team
- Email : acrecruitment@homeoffice.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Further information
