Software Test Team Lead

A new exciting Fixed Term Contract opportunity has become available to join a leading UK housing care provider. They're seeking a Testing Team Lead to support the delivery of high-quality digital products across there agile teams. This role is perfect for someone who enjoys a hands-on approach while providing leadership and is motivated by enabling others to succeed.

Day-to-day of the role:

• Team Leadership and Line Management:

• Provide day-to-day leadership, support, and coaching to a small team of testers.
• Conduct 1:1s, objective setting, and performance reviews.
• Build capability through mentoring, knowledge sharing, and skill development.
• Support wellbeing and workload balance within the team.

• Testing Delivery and Quality Assurance:

• Lead planning and execution of test activities within agile teams.
• Ensure test approaches are risk-based and aligned to product scope.
• Oversee functional, regression, and exploratory testing.
• Support test automation, where appropriate.
• Ensure defects are raised clearly and resolved efficiently.

• Agile and Cross-Team Collaboration:

• Work closely with Product Owners and Delivery Managers to align testing with sprint goals.
• Participate in backlog refinement, estimation, sprint planning, and team ceremonies.
• Support a shared understanding of acceptance criteria and quality expectations.
• Help embed consistent testing practices across agile teams.

• Continuous Improvement and Standards:

• Identify opportunities to improve test processes, techniques, and tooling.
• Maintain and improve test documentation, test cases, and reusable assets.
• Promote a culture of quality, collaboration, and proactive problem solving.

• Background as a software tester or senior tester within agile delivery teams.
• Experience coordinating testing activities across multiple workstreams.
• Experience in line managing or mentoring testers is advantageous.
• Exposure to risk-based testing, exploratory testing, or structured test design is advantageous.
• Strong understanding of testing practices and QA principles.
• Clear communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Familiarity with test management tools such as Azure DevOps, Jira, or similar.
• Experience with test case management and defect tracking tools.
• Experience of using API testing tools and automated testing tools and frameworks (e.g., Playwright and Appium).
• UK Security Clearable.

• Named in the Top 10 Best Big UK Companies to Work For 2023 & 2024.
• Inclusive culture, committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Meaningful work with a tangible impact on people's lives.
• 25 days' annual leave, plus bank holidays, and an additional 2 days for volunteering/social impact.
• Comprehensive benefits package including discounts, green car scheme, private healthcare, life assurance, holiday trading, share options, and an employee assistance programme.