Senior Test Engineer

Quality Assurance is evolving and we’re leading the way. At the Home Office, our Quality Assurance and Testing (QAT) function is one of the largest in the UK, with over 850 specialists embedded across the organisation, supporting services used by millions every year. We’re looking for Senior Test Engineers who want to work at scale, influence how quality is delivered, and be part of a community shaping the future of testing.

In this role, you’ll take an engineering-led approach to quality, building it into every stage of the software development lifecycle. You’ll work on complex services, developing scalable, automated testing approaches and embedding continuous quality practices alongside engineering, DevOps and product teams.

You’ll lead on test strategy within your product area, using data and insight to drive improvements, while staying at the forefront of emerging tools and techniques. You’ll also play a key role in our QAT community, sharing knowledge, mentoring others, and helping raise the bar for quality across Government Digital and Data.

Recruitment event

We are hosting a QAT online recruitment event on 20/05/26 from 12:45 to 13:30, where you can find out more about our roles, working for Home Office Digital and how to apply. Register your interest here: Home Office Digital Recruitment Event: Quality Assurance and Testing (QAT) Tickets, Wednesday, May 20 • 1 PM - 1:30 PM GMT+1 , Eventbrite

Quality Engineering Tools and Technologies we use

We have a wide portfolio of projects, and our vast estate covers a whole range of tools. The below is sample snapshot of some tools we use:

Frameworks: Serenity BDD (Selenium + RestAssured), and several bespoke frameworks. DevOps: AWS, Jenkins, Drone, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform. Performance testing: JMeter. Other tools: Browserstack, Axe, ZAP, SonarQube. Observability and Monitoring: ELK, Grafana, Dynatrace

What you will do

Actively maintain existing test frameworks or help develop new ones when required. You will also undertake code refactoring where necessary. Develop tests that are predictable, repeatable and implement automated verification of acceptance criteria to the greatest possible extent. Review test automation code and test utility code, and configure, monitor, and trigger tests to run on demand as well as continuously evaluating the efficacy of this process. Determine tools and approaches for virtualisation, data mocking , contract testing or other automated integration testing techniques and determine tools and approaches for automated test data management, test results aggregation and release management. Enable precise, real-time reports of automation test runs. Manage test infrastructure usage and determine approach to running distributed, parallel tests. Use container & Cloud technology to orchestrate faster, scalable tests. Interpret data from code scan, code quality and observability tools. Agree quality thresholds and provide actionable feedback in aiding quality improvement. Participate in the QAT Test Engineering community to help grow it.

What you will bring (Essential Skills)

Programming using Java to write secure, reusable, and maintainable automated tests and test utilities. You should be familiar with concepts like thread management, synchronisation, resource, and memory management, and scripting languages like bash or PowerShell (Lead essential criteria). Using tools like Selenium for front-end automation, RestAssured for API testing, Serenity BDD, build tools like Maven or Gradle and using Git to manage branches and merge requests through distributed version control. Working with unit test frameworks like Junit, assertion libraries and data serialisation tools, leveraging tools like Wiremock, to aid automated testing. Working with POM test design pattern and SOLID code design principle. Implementing coding guidelines and standards and using BDD tools like Cucumber for developing automated tests. Using CI/CD tools while having a good understanding of release pipelines and jobs and familiarity with containerization platforms like Docker. Using code quality tools like SonarQube.

Additional Information

Your CV and Personal Statement will both be assessed. Your Personal Statement should clearly evidence your experience against the essential skills, using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result). Make full use of the word count to create a comprehensive and compelling application. STAR - https://lnkd.in/gs8mx4WN

Useful support on Home Office recruitment process including: Success Profiles tips video, Personal Statement tips, Video/Interview tips video - https://lnkd.in/er9kHw5V

Information on the Pay Framework Allowance (PFA) - https://lnkd.in/e3YnyGdG

Discover more about our work by watching this DDaT video https://lnkd.in/e4aHnawp

Please note - 3+ years UK residency is typically required to be eligible for SC Clearance and unfortunately we cannot offer sponsorship.