Senior QA Tester

In Benefit Supporting Services (BSS), you will help safeguard and improve the quality of the legacy benefit systems that millions of citizens rely on. You will take ownership of risk based testing across VME and mainframe applications, ensuring that every change is robust, reliable, and ready for live service.

You will work alongside dedicated testers, developers, and business analysts, collaborating closely with stakeholders across DWP Digital. Your role will involve planning and delivering system and acceptance testing, assuring batch and interface changes, and applying a shift left approach to prevent defects early. You will also have opportunities to guide and develop colleagues, sharing expertise and helping uplift capability across the team.

Your contribution will strengthen essential services, protect vulnerable customers, and support the department’s wider transformation as we maintain and modernise our legacy platforms., * Lead and deliver system and acceptance testing for functional and non-functional changes across one or more mainframe systems.

• Assure batch and interface processing, identifying and mitigating risks.
• Collaborate with developers and business stakeholders to resolve defects and improve processes.
• Share knowledge and support the development of junior testers and associates, with the potential for line management responsibilities.
• Document test activities and ensure effective handover to support continuity and skills transfer.
• Coach colleagues, uplift capability across the team, and take on line management responsibilities where required., Existing Civil Servants who secure a new role on lateral transfer will maintain their current substantive salary.

Existing Civil Servants who gain promotion will move to the bottom of the grade pay scale or receive a 10% increase applied to their current substantive salary, whichever is greater.

Any temporary allowances that you are currently in receipt of will not form part of the calculation to determine your pay. Any allowances that are in payment will cease when you move into your new role., Ensure that all examples provided in your statements are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. If you choose to use gen-AI to support your statements, you must follow the guidelines outlined in the Artificial intelligence and recruitment guide. The sift panel will use the information in your employment history, personal statement, and technical statement to assess your experience, skills and knowledge. An initial sift will be conducted using the technical statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift will be progressed to a full sift. If you do progress to a full sift, you will be provided with one combined overall assessment score for both your employment history and Personal Statement., If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.

All successful candidates and those placed on reserve will be posted in merit list order by location.

For these vacancies, we strongly recommend that applicants consult with an immigration specialist or qualified advisor to assess their eligibility for Visa Sponsorship before deciding to apply. Please note that while we consider sponsorship requests in accordance with current DWP guidance and Home Office policy, sponsorship cannot be guaranteed.

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. 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. Applications will be screened and if evidence of plagiarism or copying examples/answers from other sources is found, your application will be withdrawn. Internal DWP candidates may also face disciplinary action., * UK nationals

• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Do you have experience in Presentation skills?, Do you have hands on experience of Virtual Machine Environment (VME) and mainframe testing along with a knack for risk based test planning?

Are you ready to lead testing, raise quality standards, and coach others to succeed?, * Proven experience testing critical batch processes and interface components in legacy environments. Skilled at ensuring data flows and processing behaviour remain reliable after change, with the ability to spot and mitigate risks such as data issues, processing failures and interface errors.

• Able to plan, design and carry out system and acceptance testing across both functional and non functional requirements. Confident maintaining clear traceability between tests, requirements and defects, and capable of leading test delivery to meet expectations on quality, timelines and cost.
• Strong problem solving ability with a focus on understanding root causes, identifying improvements and providing evidence based recommendations. Comfortable analysing findings and presenting them clearly to both technical and non technical audiences.
• Work effectively within a small, focused team and support others to build their skills and confidence. Willing to share knowledge, lessons learned and practical insights to help mentor and develop junior colleagues.
• Excellent communication skills, able to clearly report on testing progress, risks and results. Comfortable working with delivery teams to understand requirements, discuss testability and ensure shared understanding across stakeholders.

4. Technical statement (up to 250 words). The following statement is aligned to the required technical skill of Testing. This statement should be used to provide example(s) of how you meet the criterion below:

• Demonstrable experience testing VME, mainframe, or other large integrated legacy applications. Strong ability to understand and work within complex and business critical systems built on legacy technology stacks such as COBOL., You must meet the security requirements before you can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check.

You must have resided continuously in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years, 2 of which must have been the immediately preceding years from the point of applying for this job., Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check .

Alongside your salary of £44,447, Department for Work and Pensions contributes £12,876 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

We also have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:

• Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
• Generous annual leave – at least 25 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro–rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
• Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
• Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
• Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year’s continuous service.
• Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
• An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women’s Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.

Hybrid Working

This role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work.

If a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for the role and for you, you will normally be required to spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted working hours from your DWP office.