skip navigation
skip mega-menu

Senior Test Engineer - Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency

Government Digital & Data -

Full-time (Permanent)
£44,241 - £58,997 (Digital & Data allowance up to £14,756)
Published on
20 April 2026
Deadline
10 May 2026

Location

Swansea

About the job

Job summary

Would you like to work with cutting edge of cloud-first technologies?

Do you have experience with modern software development lifecycles in product delivery and test?

Have you deep technical breath, supported by a good knowledge of the functional requirements and activities?

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

At the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), we take testing very seriously. We have Software Development Engineers in Test (SDETs) and Test Engineers embedded in our delivery squads and specialists in our Performance and Independent testing teams.

As a Senior Test Engineer, you will be a critical part of our team, overseeing and coordinating the independent testing activities across multiple simultaneous deliveries. You will be actively involved with suppliers, partners, and our engineers in ensuring testing activities are performed and reported.

You will have an excellent understanding of modern testing and development approaches. We follow an agile methodology, targeting cloud-first deployments. You will often need open communication with several delivery squads and a pragmatic approach to problem solving is essential.

A significant part of this role will be working on deliveries designed to transform our IT estate but is likely to also include deliveries necessitated by legislation on the legacy estate.

You will report to the Test Manager and represent the capability internally and externally.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

  • Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
  • 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays and a privilege day for the King’s birthday
  • Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Find out more about what it's like working at: Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency - Department for Transport Careers

Job description

In this role you will be part of the Quality Engineering team responsible for continually driving all aspects of quality improvements. You will be working across several of our delivery teams and performance teams.

Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:

  1. Select, use and guide others in using the most appropriate technical tooling, engineering approaches, test types and techniques to identify and address risks early
  2. Extend, standardise and build reusable frameworks and tools that support testing
  3. Communicate and document chosen approaches, tools, techniques and outcomes to the team and appropriate stakeholders
  4. Contribute to and agree engineering standards

Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills they need. We aim to empower line managers to create teams where people can flourish and deliver excellent outcomes for the public.

For further information on the role, please read the attached role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

Person specification

Required experience:

  • You will be an expert at evaluating the testing needs for services with a web-based UI and API interfaces. You will be able to converse about products hosted on public cloud infrastructure and specifications in the Gherkin syntax.
  • You will be an expert at functional testing and test analysis, having a deep technical breath, supported by a good knowledge of the non-functional requirements and activities. You will have an understanding of modern software development lifecycles and the role of CI / CD in product delivery and test.
  • You will have a proven track record of delivering QA efficiency through the promotion of tools and an automation-first approach. You will have a high attention to detail and not be afraid to challenge when needed.

More jobs at Government Digital & Data

Interaction Designer - GDS
Full-time (Permanent)
Test Engineer - GDS - SEO
£46,725 - £50,220 (London) / £42,893 - £45,653 (National) plus additional allowance
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior Interaction Designer Intellectual Property Office -
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior Interaction Designer Intellectual Property Office - sE
Full-time (Permanent)
Infrastructure Hosting Engineer - Health and Safety Executive - HEO
£38,005 - £41,065
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior QA Engineer - Department for Science, Innovation & Technology - SEO
£40,415 - £48,620
Full-time (Temporary)
Solutions Architect - MI6 - Secret Intelligence Service - SEO
£80,875 - £89,475
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior Data Engineer - MI6 Secret Intelligence Service - SEO
£63,823
Full-time (Permanent)
Lead Data Engineer - MI6 Secret Intelligence Service - SEO
£80,875
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior Data Architect - Government Digital Service - G7
£57,517 - £70,834
Full-time (Permanent)
Communications and Engagement Lead - Department for Science, Innovation & Technology - G7
£56,850 - £68,570
Full-time (Permanent)
Lead Test Manager - Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency - G7
£57,515 - £82,430
Full-time (Permanent)
Lead Service Transition Manager - Maritime and Coastguard Agency - SEO
£44,241
Full-time (Permanent)
Cyber Security Governance and Risk Management Principal - Government Digital Service - G6
£69,675 - £90,756
Full-time (Permanent)
Lead Infrastructure Engineer - Companies House - G7
£53,540 - £68,250 - £4,350 - £11,000 additional allowance depending on capability.
Full-time (Permanent)
Data Lead - Department for Work and Pensions - G6
£75,026 - £92,522
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior Data Engineer - Intellectual Property Office - SEO
£47,766 - £58,575
Full-time (Permanent)
Director General (Digital and Infrastructure) - Department for Education - SCS3
£200,000
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior Data Architect - Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency - G7
£57,515 - £61,515 - Plus an additional Government Digital and Data Profession allowance up to £24,915.
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior Product Manager - Home Office - G7
£62,109 - £68,109
Full-time (Permanent)
Lead Product Manager - Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency - G6
£69,501
Full-time (Permanent)
Associate Service Transition Manager - Department for Work and Pensions - HEO
£38,772 - £39,621
Full-time (Permanent)
Chief Technology Officer - Home Office - SCS2
£120,000 - £150,000
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior Data Scientist - Ministry of Justice - SEO
£42,914 - £46,182
Full-time (Permanent)
Head of Data Services - Department for Science, Innovation & Technology - G6
£69,675 - £82,860
Full-time (Permanent)
Lead Product Manager - UK Research and Innovation - G7
£69,056
Full-time (Permanent)
Lead Product Manager - Department for Business and Trade - G6
£69,284 - £89,757
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior Product Manager - Home Office - G7
£62,109 - £66,229
Full-time (Permanent)
Head of Product for the Civil Jurisdiction - HM Courts and Tribunals Service - G6
£71,381 - £85,257
Full-time (Permanent)
Data Analyst - Office for National Statistics - HEO
£34,587
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior Service Designer - Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency - SEO
£44,241 - £58,997
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior Technical Architect - Department for Education - G7
£58,185 - £62,336
Full-time (Permanent)
Lead Technical Architect - HM Land Registry - G7
£66,200 - £83,000
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior Business Analyst - Intellectual Property Office - SEO
£47,766 - £58,575
Full-time (Permanent)
Content Designer - Registers of Scotland - HEO
£47,590 - £54,482
Full-time (Permanent)
Content Designer - Ministry of Justice - SEO
42,914 - £53,081
Full-time (Permanent)
Lead DevOps - HMRC - G7
£58,541 - £64,624
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior Application Operations Engineer​ - College of Policing - SEO
£36,520
Full-time (Permanent)
Application Support Engineer - Welsh Government - HEO
£37,111
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior Infrastructure Operations Engineer - Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency - SEO
£44,241
Full-time (Permanent)
Lead Service Designer - Ministry of Justice - G6
£71,381 - £85,257
Full-time (Permanent)
Second Line Support Service Desk Manager - HM Courts and Tribunals Service - SEO
£42,914 - £53,081
Full-time (Permanent)
Performance Analyst - Home Office - HEO
£39,500 - £43,500
Full-time (Permanent)
Head Of Cyber Operations Defence - Cabinet Office - G6
£69,308 - £80,342
Full-time (Permanent)
Data Governance Manager - Office for National Statistics - SEO
£41,985 - £47,121
Full-time (Permanent)
Product Management Practice Manager - HMRC - G7
£58,541 - £64,624
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior Data Analyst - Department for Education - G7
£58,185 - £62,336
Full-time (Permanent)
Service Transition Manager - Companies House - SEO
£53,540 - £57,250
Full-time (Permanent)
Deputy Director for Productivity and Technology - Home Office - SCS1
£81,000 - £110,000
Full-time (Temporary)
Senior Interaction Designer - Intellectual Property Office - SEO
£47,766 - £58,575
Full-time (Permanent)
Content Designer (Service Transformation) - Government Digital Service - SEO
£45,131 - £51,406
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior Product Manager - Home Office - G7
£62,109 - £66,229
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior Product Manager - Ministry of Justice - G7
£58,511 - £70,725
Full-time (Permanent)
Data and Management Information Analyst - Health and Safety Executive - SEO
£47,686 - £54,453
Full-time (Temporary)
Senior Business Analyst - UK Health Security Agency - G7
£56,185 - £70,566
Full-time (Temporary)
Senior User Researcher - Department for Work and Pensions - G7
£57,946 - £68,205
Full-time (Permanent)
Lead Business Analyst - Home Office - G7
£62,109 - £66,229
Full-time (Permanent)
Applications Operations Engineer - HMRC - HEO
£37,682 - £46,077
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior Security Architect - Department for Work and Pensions - G7
£57,946 - £83,917
Full-time (Permanent)
Digital Content Producer - Department for Science, Innovation & Technology - HEO
£36,735 - £43,020
Full-time (Temporary)
Threat and Vulnerability Manager - Intellectual Property Office - SEO
£47,766 - £58,575
Full-time (Permanent)
Senior Enterprise Architect - Government Commercial Agency - G7
£59,877 - £66,869
Full-time (Permanent)
Customer Support Operative - HM Land Registry - AO
£26,811
Full-time (Permanent)
Data Insights Product Analyst - Animal and Plant Health Agency - HEO
£34,765 - £37,080
Full-time (Permanent)

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up here