About the job

Summary

The first duty of Government is to protect the public. Since 1782, the Home Office has led work to keep the country safe from those who seek to do it harm; in doing so, we make a vital contribution to HM Government’s plan for a stronger, fairer, outward-looking and united Britain.

The Home Office covers three systems: Homeland Security, Public Safety and Borders, and Immigration and Citizenship. These systems work collaboratively to deliver our cross-cutting priorities, whilst providing increasingly efficient and secure services for the public.

These are challenging areas that can rapidly change in the global environment we work in – this makes us one of the most exciting and stimulating government departments in which to work.

Our work is guided by these fundamental principles:

• put user needs first

• delivery and outcomes over process

• make the most of openness: open standards, open source, open data and open markets.

We value everyone's skills and provide a creative and supportive environment to help you do your best work.

Job description

As a Test Engineer, you will deliver quality assurance across your product team. You will be involved in setting the direction for Quality Assurance and Testing (QAT) and developing and implementing QAT approaches. You will be expected to build relationships with project delivery partners to help make sure QAT is embedded by default into the development approach. To help the QAT practice thrive, you will also learn about emerging tools and approaches and work out how these could help the organisation to deliver better success.

Working within a product team, you will have an opportunity to promote quality outcomes and values. You will begin to develop your own analytical and delivery management with a focus on helping the product team deliver high quality outcomes at pace whilst honing continuous improvement skills.

You will work with business stakeholders, developing an understanding of their needs and translating them into a QAT approach. Within the DDaT community, you will share, collaborate and promote the value of QAT.

Recruitment and Retention Allowance (RRA):

This post is eligible for a DDaT RRA. Successful Candidates with exceptional skills and experience may apply for a RRA up to a maximum of £4,000. This allowance is subject to an initial review within six months of taking up the post and thereafter an annual review in-line with departmental priorities and could be reduced or withdrawn at any time.

Location

QAT base locations are primarily Croydon but 2-3 of the available posts for this role will be based in Sheffield. All QAT roles require flexibility of location, including working from supplier sites and other business locations across the UK and occasionally abroad.

Responsibilities

Your main day to day responsibilities will be (but not limited to):

• Providing test engineering capabilities to project and sprint teams including aspects of software development in test where required.

• Working in collaboration with delivery partners in QAT and project or sprint teams to ensure that effective and efficient test automation capabilities are delivered as part of the software development process.

• Responding to technical guidance and approaches to help improve the overall effectiveness and quality of test engineering practices.

• Helping to develop test engineering capabilities within the QAT organisation, including taking part in continuous professional development and exploiting new and emerging industry leading technologies.

Other day to day activities may depend on the delivery approach, business area or requirements of the product team.

Essential Criteria

You’ll have a demonstrable passion for Test Engineering, with the following skills or some experience in:

• Using test engineering capabilities which support the implementation of QA, Testing and Software Development strategies.

• Using integration testing approaches, Continuous Integration and Continuous Release within an Agile environment.

• Using tools and test automation techniques including Open Source technologies and object-orientated design.

• Using appropriate test automation environments.

• Working effectively as part of a technical team, with good communication skills and engagement at peer level.

• Object-oriented programming such as Java and executing tests using JUnit or Cucumber BDD, using tools like Selenium for front-end automation, RestAssured for API testing, build tools like Maven or Gradle and using Git to manage branches and merge requests through distributed version control.

The skills listed above are reflective of the Home Office DDaT Profession Skills and Competency Model (based on the industry standard SFIA framework). Please see below for the relevant skills required for your role:

• Strategy and Architecture

• Strategic Planning (ITSP) – Level 2

• Test Analysis, Design and Execution – Level 3

• Automation and Tooling – Level 3

• Performance Testing – Level 2

• Integration and Assurance – Level 2

• Domain Experience – Level 2

Desirable Criteria

Ideally you will also have the following skills or some experience in:

• Working in a technical or software development environment.

You may also hold the following desirable qualifications or have equivalent experience:

• ISTQB – Certified Tester Foundation Level

• BCS Agile Practitioner

• ISQi Certified Agile Tester

• Computer Science related degree

Please note: if you are currently an agency member of staff working within the Home Office, you can only apply for roles that are advertised externally, i.e. outside the civil service. If you are eligible to apply for a role, you are required to select yourself as an external applicant and not internal when submitting your application on Civil Service jobs. This will prevent any delays in pre-employment checks should you become successful in being made an offer of employment after the Interview stage.

Behaviours

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

• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role

• An environment with flexible working options

• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity

• A Civil Service pension