Senior Test Engineer

Defra is the UK government department responsible for safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our world-leading food and farming industry, and sustaining a thriving rural economy. Our broad remit means we play a major role in people’s day-to-day life, from the food we eat, and the air we breathe, to the water we drink., If you join us as a Senior Test Engineer, you will be part of the team who deliver transformative change across the Defra group. You’ll have the opportunity to influence delivery at a strategic level on some of the most exciting IT transformations cross-government. We can offer you a position in our established test function with a supportive team, learning and career pathways and the opportunity to develop your skills.

You will be working on digital services in a challenging environment which continues to evolve as an exemplar in the Quality Assurance and Test (QA&T) profession.

Working in a supportive, diverse and user-focused culture our flexible working arrangements mean you can maintain a healthy work-life balance. You will play an important part in building a digital future for Defra and our customers., * A senior test engineer is responsible for driving engineering capability. They influence, coach and guide others in test engineering, sharing best practice and standards

• Working in a multidisciplinary agile team on a wide range of digital projects, you will use Government Digital Service Standards (GDS) and software testing tools
• Working with stakeholders, determine test scope for functional and non-functional testing following a risk-based testing approach
• Follow the Defra Test Strategy to create or contribute to test plans using a risk-based approach. You will be expected to contribute to development of reusable test artifacts
• Identify and plan test needs for things such as, but not limited to data, environment provision, access controls
• Use technical tooling and engineering approaches to design and execute tests
• Develop and maintain automated test suites
• Implement our standard defect management processes to report, communicate and resolve defects
• Clearly communicate risks and impact of defects to stakeholders
• Select, use and guide others in using the most appropriate technical tooling, engineering approaches, test types and techniques to identify and address risks early
• Extend, standardise and build reusable frameworks and tools that support testing
• Communicate and document chosen approaches, tools, techniques and outcomes to the team and appropriate stakeholders
• Contribute to and agree engineering standards
• Inform and influence stakeholders around the testing actions that need to be taken by the project
• Implement the release test plan and ensure the correct test types and acceptance criteria are applied to the right standard
• Contribute to the team community, coaching team members, promoting knowledge transfer and a culture of continuous improvement., We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
• Test analysis - Level: practitioner
• Test engineering - Level: practitioner, Where the location is ‘National’ the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra’s location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.

The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations.

Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee.

The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location, and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time., If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes., * 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

• Experience of testing public facing digital services and an awareness GDS Standards
• Experience of working within the Software Testing Life Cycle and the various test types required to build confidence in a system
• Experience of using JavaScript with open-source frameworks such as Playwright or WDIO
• Experience of building and/or maintaining automated UI test suites
• Experience using source control tools such as GitHub
• Experience building and/or maintaining automated API tests
• Experience of contributing to engineering practices/good coding standards
• Experience in a shift left testing and CI/CD environment
• Knowledge of non-functional testing types
• Excellent communication skills and a dedication to developing self and others., * Managing a Quality Service
• Developing Self and Others
• Communicating and Influencing, This vacancy is using Success Profiles , and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills., Please take note that Defra does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship., Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Childcare, Employee discount, Employee assistance programme, Company pension, Paid volunteer time, Cycle to work scheme, Season ticket loan Part-time, Permanent, Full-time Newcastle upon Tyne, £42,665 - £46,765 SEO National: £42,665- £46,765, plus industry leading pension and benefits. For details of our pay on appointment policy, please see below under the heading ‘Salary’. This post offers successful candidates the opportunity to be considered for an additional Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Skills Supplement. The level of the awarded supplement is determined following a separate skills assessment process, the outcome of which has no impact on the decision to make a job offer. This digital capability supplement ranges from £0 to £17,816 and you may be awarded a pay supplement within this range based on results of your additional skills assessment. For details of our pay on appointment policy, please see below under the heading ‘Salary’. A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97% GBP, Alongside your salary of £42,665, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributes £12,360 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides .

• 25 days leave (rising to 30 days over 5 years) plus bank holidays.

• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%.
• A day off per year for the King’s birthday.
• Access to a range of retail discounts (these include supermarket, tech, gym, holiday, phone and more).
• Flexible working options such as condensed hours, part-time and flexi time.
• 3 paid volunteering days per year.
• Funding for professional membership of a recognised professional body.
• Learning and development tailored to your role and budget for training or qualifications.
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Health cash plan to help you manage health costs for a reduced monthly fee.
• Access to the Employee Assistance Programme open 24 hours, 7 days a week, that provides support to you during any times of stress or difficulty.
• Free access to Headspace for wellbeing.
• Season ticket loan for public transport., New entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band. The internal roles rules apply to existing Civil Servants, i.e. level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest.

We have around 1000 colleagues across DDTS and our ambition is to make it easier and faster than ever for people to interact with Defra. If you are ready to drive innovation and push boundaries, we want to hear from you. Join us and together we will create a great place for living, and a green and healthy future for all.