Science and Technology Facilities Council
Senior Test Engineer
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UKRI Salary: £46,743 per annum. Band: UKRI Band E. Contract Type: Fixed Term (23 months). Hours: Full-time (flexible working available). Location: Bristol - Hybrid working available (Minimum 2 days per week in office).
Closing Date: Thursday 1st October 2026.
About the role
As a Senior Test Engineer, you will:
- Design, develop, maintain, and implement automated test solutions across multiple products and services.
- Develop and maintain reusable test frameworks, tooling, and test assets that support efficient and consistent testing practices.
- Ensure automated tests are integrated into CI/CD pipelines and support continuous quality assurance activities.
- Apply a risk-based approach to testing and proactively identify, assess, communicate, and manage quality risks.
- Analyse requirements, user stories, designs, technical specifications, and business processes to define effective test approaches and coverage.
- Design and implement functional, integration, system, exploratory, regression, performance, and non-functional testing activities.
- Collaborate closely with developers, business analysts, product managers, and partners to ensure quality is embedded from the outset.
- Investigate defects and quality issues, ensuring that findings are clearly communicated and understood by both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Promote modern engineering and testing practices across teams and projects.
- Contribute to the development of testing standards, strategies, frameworks, and quality metrics.
- Support the evaluation and adoption of new testing tools, technologies, and approaches.
- Coach, mentor, and support other testers and team members to improve testing capability and quality outcomes.
Personal Specification
The below criteria will be scored during Shortlisting (S), Interview (I) or both (S&I).
Essential
- Proven experience in software testing and quality engineering within Agile delivery environments and working with multidisciplinary teams (S).
- Experience designing, implementing, and maintaining automated test frameworks using modern automation tools such as Robot Framework, Selenium, Playwright or Cypress (S&I).
- Experience integrating automated testing into CI/CD pipelines (S&I).
- Experience applying risk-based testing methodologies and test strategies (I).
- Experience coaching and mentoring testers and quality engineering professionals as well as contributing to testing communities of practice and continuous improvement initiatives (S&I).
Benefits
We recognise and value our employees as individuals and aim to provide a favourable pay and rewards package. UKRI are committed to supporting employees' development and promote a culture of continuous learning!
A list of benefits below:
- An outstanding defined benefit pension scheme
- 30 days' annual leave in addition to 10.5 public and privilege days (full time equivalent)
- Employee discounts and offers on retail and leisure activities
- Employee assistance programme, providing confidential help and advice
- Flexible working options
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Plus many more benefits and wellbeing initiatives that enable our employees to have a great work life balance!
For further information on our benefits please see: Benefits of working at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) [https://www.ukri.org/who-we-are/work-for-us/working-at-ukri/benefits-of-working-for-ukri/]
Please apply online, if you experience any issue applying, please contact Recruitment@ukri.org.
Please note, if you will require sponsorship to work in the UK, as part of your sponsorship application, you and any dependants travelling with you, will be required to pay costs directly to The Home Office for the application before you start your role with us. UKRI is normally able to reimburse some, or all of these fees after you have become an employee and this can be discussed with the Hiring Manager. For more information, please visit https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/how-much-it-costs or contact Recruitment@ukri.org.
UKRI - UK Research and Innovation
UKRI is an organisation that brings together the seven disciplinary research councils, Research England and Innovate UK. Together, we build an independent organisation with a strong voice and vision ensuring the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation.
Supporting some of the world’s most exciting and challenging research projects, we develop and operate some of the most remarkable scientific facilities in the world. We are pushing the frontiers of human knowledge through fundamental research and delivering benefits for UK society and the economy through world-class research, skills and business-led innovation.
More information can be found at www.ukri.org.
Choosing to come to work at UKRI means that you will have access to a whole host of benefits from a defined benefit pension scheme, excellent holiday entitlement, access to employee shopping/travel discounts and salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme. For more details, visit benefits of working for UKRI [https://www.ukri.org/about-us/work-for-us/working-at-ukri/benefits-of-working-for-ukri/].
How we support EDI in the workforce
At UKRI, we believe that everyone has a right to be treated with dignity and respect, and to be provided with equal opportunities to thrive and succeed in an environment that enables them to do so. We also value diversity of thought and experience within inclusive groups, organisations and the wider community. For further information, please visit ‘How we support EDI in the workforce’. [https://www.ukri.org/about-us/work-for-us/edi-in-the-workforce/#contents-list]
Disability Confident Employer
As users of the disability confident scheme, any candidate who opts into the scheme and best meets the essential criteria, will be shortlisted for interview. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.
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How to apply
Online applications only preferred for this role. Please submit a CV and covering letter which clearly outlines how you fulfil the criteria specified along with your motivation for UKRI and the role. Ensure that the job reference number is included in the filename description of each document uploaded. Note that failure to address the above criteria or submit an application without a covering letter may result in the application not being considered.
UKRI seeks to ensure it creates and maintains a system of openness, fairness and inclusion – a collaborative, trusted environment, which is attractive to and accessible to everyone who is interested in developing their career with us.
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 rejected and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.
As part of the pre-employment checks there is a requirement to undergo Baseline Personnel Security Screening. BPSS is a pre-condition of employment and failure to achieve it may mean that the employment offer is rescinded. UKRI reserves the right to run, or re-run, security clearance as required during the course of employment.
Research England
Research England is one of the nine Councils within UK Research and Innovation. As a key component of the research funding system, Research England will oversee UKRI’s England-only functions in relation to university research and knowledge exchange (KE). This includes providing grant funding to English universities for related activities; developing and implementing the Research Excellence Framework in partnership with the UK Higher Education funding bodies; supervising the sustainability of the Higher Education research base in England; guide the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund; and coordinate the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF). Research England will build and sustain the conditions for a healthy and dynamic research and KE system in English universities. They also work closely with their counterparts in the Devolved Administrations.
For more information about Research England, click here [https://www.ukri.org/councils/research-england/].
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