Lead Test Engineer

Details
Reference number
427924
Salary
£41,571 - £56,784
Base salary is £41,571 - £45,784 with an additional DDaT allowance of £4,350 - £11,000 available. The final salary and allowance awarded will be based on an assessment of your skills and experience as demonstrated at interview.
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
GBP
Job grade
Senior Executive Officer
DDaT Lead
Contract type
Permanent
Business area
CH - Digital Services - Test
Type of role
Digital
Information Technology
Other
Working pattern
Flexible working, Full-time, Homeworking
Number of jobs available
2
Contents
Location
About the job
Benefits
Things you need to know
Apply and further information
Location
Remote working (anywhere in the UK)
About the job
Job summary

We are looking for enthusiastic Lead Test Engineers with great technical skills able to coach and mentor other testers and lead the test automation, functional and non functional areas of software testing.

You will be part of our lead tester group, working collaboratively with your assigned squads overseeing the testing journey with management responsibilities. You will act as an advocate for quality and champion behaviour driven development .

This is an exciting opportunity in the Digital Services team. Youll be joining our team at a time of transformation and you will be part of shaping the future of our department. We use Agile Methodologies and promote a culture of continuous improvement.

This provides an opportunity to make the test community thrive by exploring new and emerging tools and approaches and working out how you can help the organisation deliver better services. This is a rewarding role within the Test Team and provides an opportunity to contribute to the success of existing and future services provided by Companies House.

Watch this video to find out more about working in Digital at Companies House

Companies House offers a flexible and welcoming culture that promotes a healthy work life balance as well as a proactive approach to wellbeing that allows us to be our best at work. We recognise that people are the key to our success so offer a fantastic benefits package including flexible working with no core hours, 30 days annual leave, 8 bank holidays and 1 privilege day as well as enrolment into the Civil Service Pension scheme with a contribution rate averaging 28%.

Find out more about what a great place Companies House is to work

Please note:

Companies House cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign.
Security Clearance is an essential requirement for this campaign. You'll need to have been in the UK for at least 3 out of the last 5 years to be eligible to apply for SC.
Remote contracts will only be offered to successful candidates who are not within a commutable distance to our Cardiff, Belfast or Edinburgh offices. If you are located in a reasonable distance to one our offices, you will receive a hybrid contract aligned to one of our offices.

Please see 'Things you need to know' and 'Where will you be working' sections below for more information.

Job description

As a Lead Test Engineer you will;

Lead test efforts in your squad with a focus on quality assurance, while mentoring junior testers and driving continuous improvement across the QA process.
Identify new and implement existing test frameworks to improve confidence in testing (Please note that were currently migrating from a bespoke Selenium/Java solution to use Playwright & Typescript).
Support the broader testing practice by contributing to cross-team releases and actively driving continuous improvements in testing processes.
Design and execute non-functional test cases using standard testing techniques
Advise on up-to-date functional testing techniques. You know how to assess and peer-review the work of others.
Be proficient in a range of coding languages (you may be an expert in only one)
Line manage junior testers to foster their growth, support their development, and build team capability.

Further information on the Test Engineering profession and skills expected of a Lead can be found here.

Person specification

We are seeking candidates with the following experience, which will be assessed during the sift, technical stage, and interview.

Professional certification: Hold a relevant certification (e.g., ISTQB, ISEB) or demonstrate equivalent practical experience in functional and non-functional testing.
Automation testing expertise: Proven ability in test automation using modern technologies, with experience in frameworks such as Java, Selenium, or Cucumber. Experience in Playwright and TypeScript is particularly desirable.
Coaching and mentoring: A strong track record of supporting and developing Test Engineers, particularly in building automation skills. Your expertise will help shape and advance the team's capabilities in automation.
Agile experience: Certified Agile Tester qualification or substantial hands-on experience working within Agile methodologies.
Experience of Non Functional testing practices including Security, Performance and Accessibility Testing.
Has a working knowledge of a minimum of 5 of the following:
API
AWS
Burp ( security )
BrowserStack
Concourse / Jenkins
Docker
JMeter
Karate/Rest API
MongoDB
Kafka
Oracle
Playwright
Postman/SOAP UI
Selenium Grid
SQL
Typescript
Unix based systems
Git
XML
Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

Making Effective Decisions
Managing a Quality Service
Working Together
Seeing the Big Picture
Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

Technical expertise of test automation
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £41,571, Companies House contributes £12,043 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

We believe that our success is driven by the well-being and satisfaction of our team members at all levels of the organisation. At Companies House were committed to providing a comprehensive benefits package that goes beyond the ordinary, ensuring your career journey with us is not only fulfilling, but also rewarding. We pride ourselves on offering a quality work-life balance with our employee wellbeing being central to our working practices.

Head to Our benefits - Working for us - Recruitment (companieshouse.gov.uk) to find out more about the fantastic benefits package we have at Companies House.

We celebrate diversity...

As an equal opportunity employer, we celebrate diversity, being committed to ensuring were representative of the citizens we serve and creating an inclusive environment. Everyone in Companies House brings something different, and so will you. To fulfil our commitment to recruiting and attracting diverse talent we welcome applications from underrepresented groups. We also welcome applications from Welsh speakers.

We are proud to be a disability confident leader. Our recruitment process is fully inclusive and we can make adjustments as needed through our process. These could include having an interview buddy, extra time at interviews/assessments and receiving interview questions in advance, to name a few.

If you require any reasonable adjustments at application stage, or if you'd like to discuss any person-centred adjustments, please contact us by emailing recruitmentCH@companieshouse.gov.uk.

Read our 'Applying under the Disability Confidence Scheme (DCS)' guide to find out how to successfully complete an application under the Disability Confidence Scheme (DCS).

Where will you be working?

Our approach to hybrid working provides opportunities for you to be adaptable in the way you work so that you can achieve a healthy balance between your work and home life. The degree of choice you have will depend on business need, your role and your day-to-day work activities and will be discussed at offer stage. Remote contracts will only be offered to successful candidates who are not within a commutable distance to our Cardiff, Belfast or Edinburgh offices. If you are located in a reasonable distance to one our offices, you will receive a hybrid contract aligned to one of our offices.

Things you need to know
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles , and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

In your application form wed like you to:

Tell us about your employment history, including any key responsibilities and achievements.
Write a personal statement of 1250 words where you demonstrate how you meet the skills required for this role, providing examples to evidence your level of skill. In your personal statement we are looking for evidence of:
Professional certification: Hold a relevant certification (e.g., ISTQB, ISEB) or demonstrate equivalent practical experience in functional and non-functional testing.
Automation testing expertise: Proven ability in test automation using modern technologies, with experience in frameworks such as Java, Selenium, or Cucumber. Experience in Playwright and TypeScript is particularly desirable.
Coaching and mentoring: A strong track record of supporting and developing Test Engineers, particularly in building automation skills. Your expertise will help shape and advance the team's capabilities in automation.
Agile experience: Certified Agile Tester qualification or substantial hands-on experience working within Agile methodologies.

Your personal statement should aim to make use of the full wordcount and show how you meet the above criteria. Please give clear and specific examples of what you have done personally and the impact it has had.

What will the process look like?

Sift

Once the advert has closed we will sift applications - this involves reading through them all, please bear with us as this can take some time.
We may raise the score required if we receive a high number of applications.
At sift candidates will be assessed against the experience listed in the advert and alongside your work history the panel will score your application against the following criteria:
Professional certification: Hold a relevant certification (e.g., ISTQB, ISEB) or demonstrate equivalent practical experience in functional and non-functional testing.
Automation testing expertise: Proven ability in test automation using modern technologies, with experience in frameworks such as Java, Selenium, or Cucumber. Experience in Playwright and TypeScript is particularly desirable.
Coaching and mentoring: A strong track record of supporting and developing Test Engineers, particularly in building automation skills. Your expertise will help shape and advance the team's capabilities in automation.
Agile experience: Certified Agile Tester qualification or substantial hands-on experience working within Agile methodologies.

Technical assessment stage - referred to as 'interview 1' on the portal

Candidates successful at sift will progress to the assessment stage, where you will be asked to complete a technical activity to demonstrate the technical skills and experience listed in the job description.
Full details will be emailed across to candidates, including information about submission deadlines.
The technical assessment stage will be assessing Technical Skill: Technical expertise of test automation.

Interview - referred to as 'interview 2' on the portal

Successful candidates from the technical assessment stage will be invited to attend an interview, which will be conducted using Microsoft Teams. This is the final stage.
We use a blended interview technique, allowing us to find out more about you.
We use the Success Profile framework and at interview we will use Success Profiles assessing the Behaviours and Technical Skills listed in the advert, and Strengths.
At the beginning of the interview, you will be provided with a work-based scenario. You'll then have 30 minutes to prepare your response before returning to the call to present your ideas (maximum of 10 minutes to present). This will be assessing Technical Skills: Technical expertise of test automation.
In the interview, we will refer to your submission for the technical assessment stage.
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 after interview you are not found appointable at the advertised grade you may be offered the lower grade role (Senior Test Engineer) if you are considered to meet the skills, experience and behaviours for the lower level. The benchmark for appointing to the lower grade is set at the start of each campaign. All offers will be made in merit order.

Key dates (dates are indicative only and could be subject to change)

Closing date - 12 Oct 2025 (at 23:55)
Sifting - w/c 13 October & 20 October 2025
Technical assessment - w/c 27 October 2025 & w/c 3 November 2025
Interviews - w/c 10 November 2025 onwards

Were committed to being diverse and inclusive, so please make your application anonymous by removing all identifying personal information (such as names and dates) from your employment history and personal statement.

Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of recruitment based on fair and open competition with decisions made on the basis of merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners Recruitment Principles.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Sponsorship

Companies House cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. Companies House holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify. Should you apply for this role and require sponsorship, your application may be rejected, and any provisional offers of employment withdrawn.

Security clearance

Successful candidates must pass a Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) check before they can be appointed.

BPSS is an entry level security check. It uses the Police National Computer (PNC) to make sure a candidate has no convictions. The check returns evidence of any current criminal record and un-spent convictions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements for Security Check (SC) before they can be appointed.

The requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected.

Further information on National Security Vetting

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check .

See our vetting charter .
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

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
Further information on nationality requirements
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles .
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy .
Apply and further information
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.
The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
Name : Katie Jones
Email : kjones6@companieshouse.gov.uk
Recruitment team
Email : recruitmentch@companieshouse.gov.uk
Further information
We welcome applications in Welsh / Rydym yn croesawi ceisiadau yn y Gymraeg. Selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit, on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissions Recruitment Principles. In accordance with the Civil Service Commissioners Recruitment Principles, our recruitment and selection processes are underpinned by the requirement of appointment on the basis of merit by fair and open competition. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact infopoint@companieshouse.gov.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission .

info@csc.gov.uk

Civil Service Commission, Room G/8, 1 Horse Guards Road SW1A 2HQ