Lead Test Engineer

In this role, you will work across multiple products and platforms, providing strategic test leadership, supporting delivery teams, and influencing senior stakeholders to embed best practice and continuous improvement.

As a Lead Test Engineer, you will play a strategic role in shaping and embedding consistent testing best practices across HMRC’s complex digital ecosystem.

Your responsibilities will include:

Leadership & Collaboration

• Lead, coach, and mentor test engineers across programmes, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and professional development.
• Collaborate with product, platform, and delivery teams to ensure testing is integrated early and effectively within agile workflows.
• Influence and engage with senior stakeholders across HMRC and supplier organisations to drive quality outcomes.

Test Strategy & Implementation

• Define and implement risk-based, shift-left testing strategies across diverse platforms and services.
• Ensure testing approaches align with business priorities, technical architecture, and delivery timelines.
• Promote consistent standards and practices across internal teams and third party suppliers.

Technical Excellence & Problem Solving

• Apply advanced testing techniques to solve complex technical challenges and improve delivery confidence.
• Provide expert guidance on functional, non-functional, and automation testing, including performance, security, and accessibility.
• Identify and drive opportunities for innovation and efficiency in testing processes.

Tooling & Governance

• Evaluate, implement, and optimise test tooling, including AI-assisted solutions, to support continuous integration and delivery.
• Establish governance frameworks for supplier-led testing activities, ensuring alignment with HMRC standards and compliance requirements.
• Support tooling integration with platforms and services.

Quality Assurance & Risk Management

• Ensure quality is built in from the outset by validating requirements and test coverage across the lifecycle.
• Lead retrospectives and continuous improvement initiatives to enhance test effectiveness and reduce delivery risk.
• Produce clear, actionable reports and insights to inform decision-making and assurance activities.

Person specification

We’re looking for a disciplined and technically strong test leader with deep experience in platform engineering and modern automation practices. You’ll bring hands-on expertise across test automation, CI/CD and cloud-based services, enabling you to shape testing approaches that support fast, reliable and secure delivery.

You’ll confidently guide teams and influence engineering decisions, ensuring testing is embedded early and aligned with DevOps and shift-left principles. You must be comfortable engaging with stakeholders at all levels, translating complex technical issues into clear insights that drive quality outcomes across a multi-team, multi-supplier environment.

You’ll be passionate about good testing practice, proactive in identifying risks, and motivated to coach others in automation, tooling and continuous improvement. Your leadership will help shape the future direction of testing across our platform ecosystem by working closely with product and service owners., We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions
• Changing and Improving, If you have an HMRC online account already, sign straight in using your ID and password. If not, you can prove your identity by answering some questions or providing your photo ID.

You’ll then be able to access the app quickly and easily by signing in using a 6-digit PIN, your fingerprint, or facial recognition.

You can find guidance for technical issues on GOV.UK: Technical support with HMRC online services.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles – if this applies to you, we’ll let you know via your Civil Service Jobs account.

Merit List

After interview, a single merit list will be created, and you will only be considered for posts in locations you have expressed a preference for. Appointments will be made in strict merit order in line with the set number of roles in each location.

Criminal Record Check

Applications received from candidates with a criminal record are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.

Hybrid working at HMRC

HMRC is an office-based organisation, and colleagues are expected to spend 60% of their working time in the office. Our offices provide opportunity for interaction, collaboration which aids learning and development and a sense of community. Where the role allows it, and where the home environment is suitable, colleagues can work from home for up to 2 days a week, averaged over a calendar month (or a proportionate amount of time for colleagues who work less than full time).

Reasonable Adjustments

We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate., HMRC has a presence in every region of the UK. For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations .

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide in your application must relate to your own experiences.

Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant application(s) will be withdrawn from the process.

Recording of interviews is prohibited unless explicit agreement is sought in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulations.

Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.

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.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

New entrants will join on the minimum of the pay band.

Please note that, if you are applying for roles on a part-time basis, the salary agreed will be pro-rata, reflective of the working hours agreed within your contract.

If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

For more Information for people applying for, or thinking of applying for, roles at HM Revenue and Customs, please see link: Working for HMRC: information for applicants - GOV.UK. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment., * 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, Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel there has been a breach of the Recruitment Principles.

In the first instance, you should raise the matter directly via ubsrecruitmentcomplaints@hmrc.gov.uk . Please note that we do not accept complaints or appeals regarding scoring of outcomes of campaigns unless candidates can provide clear evidence that the campaign did not follow the Recruitment Principles.

If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their website. Apply now You must create an Indeed account before continuing to the company website to apply Review for HM Revenue and Customs Review for HM Revenue and Customs, Newcastle upon Tyne, ENG Review for Test Engineer at HM Revenue and Customs Review for Test Engineer at HM Revenue and Customs, Newcastle upon Tyne, ENG Salaries for HM Revenue and Customs Salaries for HM Revenue and Customs, Newcastle upon Tyne, ENG

• Shapes and influences strategic testing direction by proactively identifying issues, challenging assumptions and collaborating across organisational boundaries, communicating with clarity to guide teams and present recommendations persuasively.
• Leads complex, multi-team testing initiatives across diverse platforms and suppliers, prioritising effectively within fast-paced Agile environments.
• Applies strong analytical and risk-based decision-making, using data, metrics and structured problem-solving to balance quality, risk and delivery.
• Demonstrates significant hands-on technical expertise in automation, security and accessibility testing, CI/CD, cloud technologies and modern tooling (e.g. Python, Scala, Selenium, Playwright, Gatling, ZAP, AXE, Docker, Jenkins, AWS, Jira, Confluence).
• Champions DevOps and shift-left principles, designing robust test strategies for complex platform ecosystems while coaching others and promoting continuous improvement., Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement, this will be tested as part of the selection process., Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Alongside your salary of £58,541, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £16,959 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

HMRC operates both Flexible and Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments. We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, considering our operational and customer service needs.

We offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days.

• Pension - We make contributions to our colleagues’ Alpha pension equal to at least 28.97% of their salary.
• Family friendly policies.
• Personal support.
• Coaching and development.

Discover a career in your hands at HMRC. Whether you're seeking purpose, growth, or a workplace that gives you a true sense of belonging, hear from some of our employees as they share their story about what it’s really like to work at HMRC. Visit our YouTube channel to watch the full series and come and discover your potential. Shape the Future of HMRC’s Technology Platforms About HMRC Almost every individual and business in the UK is a direct customer of HMRC, as we collect the money that pays for the UK’s public services and gives people who need it vital financial support. Over recent and coming years, our work never has been, nor will be, more critical as we rebuild and secure our nation’s future. With these demands in mind, and as one of the largest and most digitally focussed organisations in the UK, sits the Chief Engineering and Platform Office. About CEPO The Chief Engineering and Platform Office (CEPO) is leading HMRC’s technology transformation - simplifying systems, modernising IT delivery, and creating a future-ready digital landscape. Our mission is to reduce complexity by consolidating applications and adopting scalable, service-based solutions from trusted commercial partners. As the strategic authority for platform provision, CEPO ensures HMRC’s business groups, products, and services are supported by robust, secure, and innovative infrastructure. We set the direction, lead governance, and guarantee that every live service meets the highest standards - enabling efficient, reliable, and user-focused digital experiences for millions of customers.