AMS PSR

On behalf of DWP, we are looking for a Senior Test Engineer for a 12 Months (Inside IR35) contract based in Manchester, Leeds or Newcastle (3 days per week on site).

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for welfare, pensions, and child maintenance policy. As the UK’s biggest public service department, it administers the State Pension and a range of working age, disability and ill health benefits to around 20 million claimants and customers. As such, we operate on a scale that is almost unmatched anywhere in Europe and most people in Britain come into contact with us at some point in their lives.

Working with DWP, you will be helping us to drive our priorities to:

• Help people to move into work and support those already in work to progress, with the aim of increasing overall workforce participation
• Help people to plan and save for later life, while providing a safety net for those who need it now
• Provide effective, efficient, and innovative services to the millions of claimants who rely on us every day, including the most vulnerable in society
• Improve experience of our services while maximising value for money for the taxpayer.

As a Senior Test Engineer, your main responsibilities will be:

• Drive comprehensive test strategy to test a complex monolithic Java application.
• Review and enhance the existing testing approach, identifying gaps and driving continuous improvements
• Challenge assumptions and improve existing processes by reviewing and rethinking test strategies and tooling. Identify solutions and drive continuous improvement to current process and automation.
• Develop and maintain custom test automation frameworks to ensure the stability, reliability and functionality of the system, as well as maximising the value of automation.
• Collaborate closely with software engineering, architecture and DevOps colleagues to align testing activities with product goals.
• Collaborate with lead test engineer to ensure approach is in line with DWP best practice.
• Collaborate with the team to define and conduct performance testing to ensure application stability.

Essential:

• Strong hands-on experience in test automation (Playwright, Selenium, Cucumber, REST Assured).
• Experience with performance testing tools (e.g. K6, JMeter, Gatling) and Familiarity with containerisation, using tools such as docker.
• Experience defining and implementing test strategy/approach for complex systems.
• Designing and developing robust and reliable automated test suites.
• Evidence of working in a complex, multi-disciplinary environment, leading testing activities and engaging with multiple teams and stakeholders.
• Preferably experience with performance testing application to evaluate the stability of a system under various conditions

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, DWP 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. In exceptional circumstances, we may also need to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.

Armed Forces Covenant

DWP 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".