Lead Test Engineer

On behalf of The Insolvency Service we are looking for a Lead Test Engineer (Inside IR35) for a 3 month contract (until 31/03/26). Hybrid working with 2 days per week required in London or Birmingham.

About the Role

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Lead Test Engineer to join our Digital Services team. You'll play a key role in assuring the quality, reliability and performance of our public-facing digital services. This is a senior role requiring strong technical credibility in .NET environments, excellent communication and presentation skills to engage senior stakeholders.

You'll bring extensive knowledge of modern testing practices, test automation and GDS delivery standards to help us build, test and continuously improve user-centred digital products.

As a Lead Test Engineer your main responsibilities will be to:
. Define and lead the QA strategy across multiple digital services, embedding a quality-first culture.
. Champion test automation and integrate QA into CI/CD pipelines.
. Build and maintain automated test suites for .NET applications, APIs and web services.
. Plan and execute testing across the full life cycle - including functional, regression, integration, accessibility and performance testing.
. Conduct exploratory and manual testing where automation is not appropriate.
. Ensure compliance with WCAG 2.2, GOV.UK accessibility guidelines and GDS Service Standard.
. Present test strategy, risks and quality metrics to senior stakeholders.
. Mentor and support test engineers, sharing best practice and building capability.

Essential:
. Proficiency in .NET environments with practical experience in automated testing and quality assurance for .NET-based applications.
. Significant experience as a Lead Test Engineer or Senior QA Engineer in agile digital delivery teams, ideally within the public sector or a GDS-aligned environment.
. Strong experience defining QA strategy and leading testing activity.
. Deep understanding of software testing methodologies, test automation frameworks and continuous delivery pipelines.
. Hands-on experience writing automated tests for web and API services (eg using Cypress, Playwright, Selenium, Postman, or REST Assured).
. Experience with modern DevOps and CI/CD toolchains (eg GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, or similar).
. Excellent communication skills - able to present confidently to senior stakeholders.

Desirable:
. ISTQB or equivalent testing certification.
. Knowledge of containerised environments (Docker, Kubernetes).
. Experience integrating automated tests within cloud platforms such as Azure.

Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not Overseas.

Disability Confident

As a member of the Disability Confident Scheme, Insolvency Service guarantees to interview all candidates who have a disability and who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of candidates who have a disability who meet all the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. This scheme encourages candidates with a disability and/or neurodivergence to apply.

Armed Forces Commitment

Insolvency Service guarantees to interview veterans or spouses/partners of military personnel who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of ex-military candidates/military spouses or partners, who meet all of the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. In exceptional circumstances, we may also need to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.

In applying for this role, you acknowledge the following "this role falls in scope of the Off Payroll Working in the Public Sector legislation. Any rates of payment quoted will reflect the gross rate per day for the assignment and will be subject to appropriate taxes and statutory costs. As such the payment to the intermediary and your income resulting from this contract will be different".