Senior Test Engineer

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HMRC is made up of Customer Groups which are working independently towards one common goal. Our role sits within HMRC’s Chief Digital & Information Office (CDIO) Group that deliver in-house solutions for a broad range of technical and operational issues. Our digital delivery centres are hi-tech, state-of-the-art facilities that allow our teams to maximise their capabilities.

CDIO values and empowers the growth of its people and offers the “CDIO University”. This is a one stop shop for all things learning and development. The comprehensive offer encompassing academic, personal and career related opportunity and learning, ensuring all receive a consistent approach to technical learning. This includes access to subject matter experts, technical learning, professional communities, academies, apprenticeships, talent schemes as well as providing, delivering, encouraging and supporting activities for personal growth and wellbeing., As a member of the Quality Assurance and Testing (QAT) Profession, you will be part of a large community of testing professionals working collaboratively with Product Owners, Developers, Architects, Business Analysts and Operations teams to deliver high-quality, resilient and scalable digital services for HMRC customers.

We have an inclusive environment and have clear pathways in place to support and build on the roles within the Profession through the use of learning journeys, learning platforms, career journeys and skills assessments. These all work together to allow you to take ownership of your own development and career progression with HMRC as well as supporting you in your daily challenges. Along with this we also have an Academy in place to allow you to find everything to support your needs in an easily accessible format.

As a Senior Test Engineer within CDIO, Borders & Trade, You will be responsible for building and enhancing Performance and Non-Functional Testing capability across cloud-based applications, platforms and infrastructure. You will primarily lead the delivery of Performance and Volume Testing (PVT), whilst contributing to Operational Acceptance Testing (OAT), Infrastructure Assurance, Resilience and Operational Readiness activities, ensuring solutions are reliable, scalable and fit for live service operation.

A Senior Test engineer has similar responsibilities to a test engineer but at a more complex level and on a greater scale. At this role level, you will:

Lead the planning, design, execution and reporting of Performance & Volume Testing (PVT), including workload modelling, capacity planning and performance analysis, whilst supporting OAT, infrastructure, resilience and operational readiness testing activities where required.

• Define non-functional requirements, workload models, acceptance criteria, test strategies and environment validation approaches to identify and mitigate risks early in the delivery lifecycle.
• Analyse test results, infrastructure behaviour and operational metrics to identify bottlenecks, defects, root causes and service risks, providing evidence-based recommendations for improvement.

• Develop and maintain automated performance testing and validation solutions using tools, scripting languages and CI/CD pipelines to support shift-left quality engineering practices. *

• Provide technical leadership, mentoring and knowledge sharing across the QAT Profession, supporting continuous improvement of PVT, OAT and infrastructure testing capability within Borders & Trade., * Develop and maintain Performance and Volume Test artefacts, including strategies, workload models, plans, scenarios, test data requirements, evidence packs and reports, whilst supporting OAT and Infrastructure testing artefacts where required. Review requirements, architecture designs, infrastructure specifications and operational designs to define appropriate non-functional test coverage and acceptance criteria.

• Provide estimates, plans, risk assessments and technical advice for projects requiring PVT, OAT, infrastructure assurance or platform validation services.
• Deliver and support performance, volume, resilience, failover, disaster recovery, infrastructure and operational readiness testing across complex enterprise environments.

• Investigate defects, incidents and live-service issues through root cause analysis, working with engineering, operations and supplier teams to support resolution. *

• Promote automation, quality engineering, knowledge sharing and mentoring to grow the Non-Functional Testing capability., During the panel interview, your experience will be assessed, to determine your suitability for the role.

Interviews will take place via video link. Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Please note that circumstances may arise that require the planned interview format to change. We will endeavour to provide you with as much notice of any change as possible.

Eligibility

Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. Mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we may not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake with your eligibility form, or have withdrawn yourself in error and need your application reinstated whilst the campaign is still live, please contact us via: unitybusinessservicesrecruitmentresults@hmrc.gov.uk – Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example – ‘Please re-open my application – [insert vacancy ref] & vacancy closing date [insert date]’.

To check that you are eligible to apply for this role, please review the eligibility information before submitting your application.

Exceptionally, candidates who are not successful at this grade may be considered for appointment to similar roles at a lower grade where the eligibility criteria are met. If this applies, we will contact you directly.

Sponsorship

We have assessed this role against both Home Office and HMRC criteria and we are unable to offer sponsorship for a Skilled Worker Visa. This means the vacancy is not open to applicants who require visa sponsorship., 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., * 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.

The successful candidate will need to demonstrate practical knowledge and experience in the following:

Proven experience leading and delivering Performance and Volume Testing across complex enterprise environments, with awareness and practical exposure to Operational Acceptance Testing (OAT), Infrastructure, Resilience, Availability and Disaster Recovery testing.

• Experience defining non-functional test strategies, scope, objectives, workload models, acceptance criteria, test plans and test data requirements, ensuring solutions meet performance, scalability, resilience, availability and operational support requirements.
• Experience planning, executing, analysing and reporting Performance and Volume Testing activities, including load, stress, endurance, scalability, resilience, failover and recovery testing, with the ability to identify bottlenecks, root causes and service risks.
• Experience developing and implementing automated testing and validation solutions using tools such as JMeter, Jenkins and GitLab, supported by scripting or programming languages such as Python, PowerShell, Bash, Java or C#, and integrated into CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience using and validating observability and monitoring platforms such as AppDynamics, ELK, Grafana, Dynatrace, Prometheus, Kafka or equivalent tools, alongside operating system, infrastructure and database monitoring capabilities.
• Knowledge of Operational Acceptance Testing (OAT), including operational readiness, monitoring, alerting, logging, support procedures, operational runbooks, failover, backup and recovery, and live service support.

• Knowledge of cloud and infrastructure technologies, including AWS/Azure, Linux/RHEL, networking, DNS, load balancing, IAM, security controls, distributed architectures and containerised platforms. *

• Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with the ability to communicate technical findings and risks effectively, influence delivery decisions, and support Agile, DevOps and continuous improvement practices.

Desirable Criteria

Ideally, the successful candidate will also demonstrate knowledge and experience in the following: ISTQB Foundation (or equivalent) and/or relevant Performance Testing, Cloud, Infrastructure, DevOps or Automation certifications.

• Experience testing cloud-native and containerised solutions using technologies such as AWS, Azure and Kubernetes.
• Experience implementing shift-left quality engineering practices, including automated non-functional testing within CI/CD pipelines.

• Knowledge of Infrastructure as Code (IaC), configuration management and modern DevOps practices. *

• Experience supporting resilience, failover, high availability and disaster recovery testing activities across cloud and enterprise platforms., 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 standard (or equivalent) 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 £45,544, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £13,194 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.