Senior Test Engineer / Test Engineer - Planning Inspectorate - HEO & SEO

We are looking for experienced Senior Test Engineers and Test Engineers to join our Digital Services team. You will be working in Agile test methodology and collaborating across multi-disciplinary teams to help deliver our internal digital and data services.

Job description

We are looking for experienced test engineers with capable skills and technical knowledge in methods and tooling. If you are looking for a role that will help to deliver an excellent testing service, align our services to industry standard agile methodologies, and that champions testing and quality assurance, then these are fantastic roles for you.

You will be working in the team to design and deliver quality testing for products and services.

You will develop risk-based testing solutions which deliver against user needs, technical dependencies, organisational standards, and agreed timescales. You will be responsible for covering manual test elements as well as writing, debugging and executing test code for maximising efficient automation coverage.

Working with a variety of internal and external stakeholders you will build effective working relationships, promoting best practice and supporting service teams with technical knowledge, mentoring and advice to improve delivery.

You will have access to training and research to support personal development and the future technical requirements of the roles.

Role types and Salary details

There are a number of roles available at different grades and employment types:

• 1 x Senior Executive Officer  – Permanent, salary range £45,219 - £49,462
• 1 x Senior Executive Officer - Fixed Term Contract 2 years, salary range £45,219 - £49,462
• 1 x Higher Executive Officer – Permanent, salary range £36,396 - £39,424
• 2 x Higher Executive Officer – Fixed Term Contract 2 years, salary range £36,396 - £39,424

DDaT allowance

Salary range for the SEO role is £45,219 – 49,462 plus a DDAT allowance of up to £12,181 based on Capability and base salary

Working hours:

Standard working week is 37 hours, flexible working hours policy available

The Planning Inspectorate has a long and proud history in ensuring a fair planning system for England. The work we do has a significant impact on people’s lives, the communities where they live and the economy.

We want our colleagues to be able to work more flexibly and more collaboratively, exploring new and innovative ways to improve the way we provide services.

For further information on the Planning Inspectorate, please visit our careers page at Civil Service Careers

Office Attendance

This role is contractually based at Temple Quay House, Bristol which is currently out of use due to undergoing refurbishment work. In the interim, we have the use of alternative office space in very close proximity to Bristol Temple Meads railway station. We recognise and value the mutual benefits of hybrid working and have a flexible approach to in person attendance, which can vary dependent on the requirements of individual business units - the details of which can be discussed with candidates if invited to attend an interview.

Person specification

We will assess your application against the Essential Criteria listed:

Essential Criteria

• Working experience of software development lifecycles, live system support and continuous improvement
• Experience of independently working following guidance, and applying structured, risk-based test methods and processes. Provide technical leadership at the higher role
• Working experience of design and execution of a range of standard testing techniques to ensure delivery against user needs, and communicate test results to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Working experience of a coding language, working with automation frameworks and tools for functional and non-functional testing.
• Working experience of issue investigation, analysis, raising evidenced defects with service teams, and helping prioritise them based on defect severity
• Experience of working in an Agile environment with Agile/DevOps delivery and working across multi-disciplinary teams
• Relevant professional qualification for ISTQB Foundation Level Certificate in Software Testing (for the HEO level post only)
• Relevant professional qualification at advanced level (e.g. ISTQB® Certified Tester Advanced Level - Technical Test Analyst) or willingness to study for a qualification within a reasonable length of time (for the SEO level post only)

 Desirable Criteria

• Experience of mentoring and providing guidance for colleagues on automation testing techniques and frameworks
• Experience of working with test tools including Katalon Studio, Cypress, Postman, Swagger, JIRA/Zephyr project and test management tools and Azure DevOps
• Experience of test-driven development (TDD), Behaviour Driven Development (BDD)

Experience

• See essential criteria 

Technical

• Functional testing
• Non-functional testing
• Technical breadth
• Test analysis

For guidance on the relevant knowledge skills and experience at each level please refer to the DDaT capability framework Test engineer - Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework 

Behaviours

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

• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing

Technical skills

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

• Functional Testing
• Non-Functional Testing
• Technical Breadth
• Test Analysis