Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Senior Test Engineer
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Bristol, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Reading, Warrington, York
Job Summary
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.
Digital, Data, Technology and Security (DDTS) is the trusted team for digital across the entire Defra Group.
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.
Find Out More About DDTS
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Job Description
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.
Person specification
Responsibilities
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
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Contribute to the team community, coaching team members, promoting knowledge transfer and a culture of continuous improvement.
Skills And Experience
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.
Selection process
The Civil Service marks each element of the selection process on a merit basis. You can visit the gov.uk website for further information on the Civil Service rating scale.
Ensure you have tailored your CV and Personal Statement to the 'skills and experience' section of the job advert by providing examples on how you are suitable for the role using the STAR method.
Please ensure you demonstrate clearly, within your personal statement, how you meet these requirements, as the information you provide will form a key part when the panel is scoring your application.
For further information on STAR, you can check out our Hints and Tips document.
Application process
As Part Of The Application Process, You Will Be Assessed On Your Experience. This Will Be Evaluated By Looking At Your CV And Personal Statement, So Please Provide The Following And Ensure Your Experience Is Clearly Demonstrated
A CV
A 500 word Personal Statement: Referring to the'skills and experience' sections of the job advert, please demonstrate how you are suitable for the role by providing relevant examples.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Sift
Sift will begin shortly after the advert closes.
Should there be a large number of applications, an initial sift will be conducted using your personal statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment or interview.
Interview
If successful at sift, you will be invited to an interview where you will be assessed on the Behaviours and Technical Skills listed below.
For further information on the Technical elements please see the framework.
Sift and
Interview dates are to be confirmed. Please note that these may be subject to change.
Interviews will be held virtually on Microsoft Teams.
For further information on Success Profiles, you can visit the links below and watch our videos on DefraJobs.
Behaviours
Experience
Technical Skills
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
Managing a Quality Service
Developing Self and Others
Communicating and Influencing
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
Test analysis - Level: practitioner
Test engineering - Level: practitioner
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 (opens in a new window).
25 days leave (rising to 30 days over 5 years) plus bank holidays.
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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.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.
For further information on the selection process for this role, please refer to the person specification section of the job advert.
Location
As part of the pre-employment process for this post, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s).
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.
Defra includes the core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas and VMD.
Further Information
Reserve list
A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.
Near miss
Candidates who are judged to be a near miss at interview may be considered for other positions in Defra which may be at a
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