Test Lead - NDP Developer Platform Services (DPS)

Overview

Flexible Location: NES is a remote-friendly employer with staff based throughout Scotland. We support office-based and hybrid working arrangements. We welcome conversations about alternative working patterns-please get in touch during the application process to discuss.

Work Pattern: Fixed Term, Full Time, 37 hours per week

As from 1/4/26, the Agenda for Change full-time working week will be reducing from 37 to 36 hours per week. Part time hours will be reduced pro-rata. However, there will be a corresponding increase in the hourly rate so that pay will not be affected.

Fixed-term or Secondment until 31st March 2028

For NHS applicants, an NHS secondment will be offered in the first instance. For non-NHS applicants, a fixed-term or secondment would be considered.

You must have eligibility and entitlement to work in the UK which is required to be maintained throughout your period of employment.

Who We Are

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) is the national health board with statutory responsibilities to effect sustainable change through workforce development, education and training across the health and social care system in Scotland, while working at UK level with partner organisations.

The function of NES Technology Service is to develop and lead a programme of work and services that supports both the corporate functions that allow NES to work and deliver its strategic objective and to deliver against Scotland's Digital Health and Care Strategy.

The Opportunity

Test Lead - NDP Developer Platform Services (DPS)

Do you have a passion for testing & quality?

Do you thrive on validating complex Kubernetes and AWS infrastructure changes where the impact spans dozens of live services?

Do you have a passion for digging deep into cloud infrastructure, getting hands-on with the latest technologies, and ensuring every deployment is seamless?

Do you enjoy being the quality gate for platform changes that hundreds of engineers depend on every day?

Do you love testing cutting-edge solutions, while being deeply involved in automation, performance testing, and cloud-based environment?

Working within the Developer Platform Services (DPS) team, you will play a pivotal role in leading quality and validation across the National Digital Platform's Common Runtime Environment (CRE) and associated services. This is not a traditional service-level QA role. You will be responsible for infrastructure, platform, and runtime quality, ensuring that changes to Kubernetes, AWS, deployment tooling, security policies, observability, and configuration do not negatively impact the wide range of services running on the CRE.

You will work hands-on with AWS EKS, Kubernetes, Helm, observability tooling, and platform services, collaborating closely with platform engineers to validate changes, design risk-based test strategies, and perform deep regression testing across hosted services. You'll not only get hands-on with the latest tools and technologies but also collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to ensure testing strategies are aligned with our technical goals. Your expertise will be crucial in delivering scalable, high-performance applications that meet both internal standards and external customer requirements.

As a key member of the team, you may work directly with external providers and clients, acting as the bridge between their needs and our technical teams. You will lead testing initiatives that impact real-world use cases, ensuring seamless integration, compatibility, and performance across diverse environments. Your ability to collaborate, influence, and communicate complex technical details to non-technical stakeholders will be essential in delivering top-tier solutions that exceed expectations.

What We Love to See

Test Leads offer a broad range of skills and experience, if you can offer some or all of these, we'd love you to apply:

• A genuine passion for testing platforms, infrastructure, and runtime environments
• Strong knowledge and hands on experience of cloud infrastructure preferably AWS
• Experience testing infrastructure changes and understanding their downstream impact on multiple services
• Solid knowledge of Kubernetes concepts including deployments, services, probes, networking, and upgrades
• Familiarity with observability tooling (e.g. Prometheus, Grafana, alerting, metrics)
• Ability to break down complex platform architectures into testable components and risks
• Broad understanding of the key roles within an agile team and experience of developing relationships to work efficiently together to deliver excellence
• Holistic thinker with experience in collaborating effectively across teams
• A proactive, engaged individual who brings enthusiasm to their work and enjoys supporting others to solve problems, as much as solving them themselves
• Someone who actively engages with the project and demonstrates genuine curiosity and commitment to continuous improvement
• An advocate for users, able to view the product through the lens of diverse user needs and contribute to solutions that work for everyone
• Demonstrate honesty, integrity, care and compassion when dealing with others, utilising tact and persuasion skills when necessary
• Ability to work on own initiative, to organise and prioritise own workloads, to meet strict deadlines

Benefits Which Matter

As a valued employee of NHS Scotland, you can enjoy an extensive range of benefits including:

• Life-work balance - with opportunities for flexible working and hybrid working
• Generous NHS pension scheme
• Annual incremental salary progression (up to the maximum of the salary band) plus annual NHS salary scale review
• Annual Leave - 27 Days increasing in line with service plus 8 days public holiday
• NHS discounts and more

Diversity and Inclusion

Developing a successful national service for Scotland means considering the diverse needs, perspectives, and backgrounds of everyone in Scotland. We are focused on hiring the very best talent and actively encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds. Our aim to ensure that everyone is treated fairly, with respect, and has a positive recruitment experience-regardless of the outcome.

We welcome applications from all under-represented groups, including racially minoritised people and disabled people. It is not essential to be in a Test Lead role right now-you may be returning from a career break (e.g., maternity, paternity, caring) or coming from another field, but you must have previous experience of being a Test Lead. Your experiences can bring a fresh perspective to our work.

If you are considering applying and would like to discuss the opportunity, any adjustments or alternative work patterns, please contact .

Next Steps

NHS candidates will be considered firstly on a secondment basis, and so are strongly encouraged to discuss this with their current NHS employer at the earliest opportunity, ideally prior to application.

All applicants who are shortlisted for interview will be contacted by e-mail.

In person OR online interviews (Including a Presentation) will take place between Thursday 5th March - Tuesday 10th March 2026. The presentation topic will be sent to candidates selected for interview.

For further information please refer to the Job Information Pack below. Unless otherwise stated the deadline for applications is 23:59 hours on the closing date. Please note, CVs will not be accepted.

1. Please be advised that if you are successful in being offered the role following the recruitment process, you will be expected to attend the office prior to your start date to complete face-to-face pre-employment checks. If you require any adjustments to support this, please let us know.
2. To work in the United Kingdom, there is a legal requirement for an individual to demonstrate that they have the relevant permission to work in the country. This permission is, without exception, granted by the UK Visa and Immigrations Service.

As part of the pre-employment checks for a preferred candidate, NHS Scotland Boards will check your entitlement to work in the UK. It can be evidenced through a number of routes including specific types of visa as well as EU settled and pre-settled status. To find out more about these routes of permission, please refer to the GOV.UK website here .

For specific types of post, if you do not have the necessary eligibility to work in the UK, it might be possible (though not guaranteed) to secure sponsorship via a UK Skilled Worker/Health & Care Worker Visa. However, this is only possible if the employer is a licenced Sponsor, and if the post does not fall below the current minimum salary threshold or 'going rate'. Further information on these criteria can be found here .

It is ESSENTIAL that you have checked that you either already have an appropriate right to work in the UK or that the post would be eligible to be sponsored BEFORE submitting your application form.

If you have any queries regarding the NHS Scotland National Recruitment Portal or the recruitment process, please don't hesitate to contact our recruitment partners, the East Region Recruitment Service, at: