Test Lead

Job Description About the Company

Scrumconnect Consulting delivers digital solutions to UK government departments.

We are looking for a Test Lead/Test Manager to own and shape the quality strategy for digital services delivered to a UK government client. The role combines hands‑on test leadership with strategic quality ownership across Java Spring Boot, AWS Serverless, Ruby on Rails with React, and legacy mainframe systems. The position is based in Swansea, South Wales, requiring three days per week on‑site in a hybrid model.

• Define and own the overall test strategy and approach across services built in Java Spring Boot, AWS Serverless (Lambda/Node.js), Ruby on Rails with React, and Legacy Mainframe systems.
• Lead, mentor, and coach testers working within one or more multi‑disciplinary teams.
• Plan and coordinate functional, integration, regression, performance, accessibility and security testing across the delivery lifecycle.
• Establish quality metrics, reporting and dashboards to give delivery and government stakeholders clear visibility of risk.
• Drive a shift‑left approach, embedding testing into design, refinement and CI/CD pipelines.
• Own end‑to‑end test environments, test data strategy and integration testing across modern and Legacy components.
• Lead defect triage, root‑cause analysis and quality improvement initiatives.
• Contribute to release planning, go/no‑go decisions and operational acceptance criteria for live services.
• Ensure services meet WCAG 2.2 accessibility standards, GDS service standards and security assurance requirements.
• Engage with security, architecture, product and delivery leads to balance quality, risk and pace.

• Strong experience leading testing across complex, multi‑team digital programmes.
• Demonstrable experience defining test strategies that span modern (microservice, serverless, web) and Legacy (mainframe, monolithic) systems.
• Hands‑on experience with test automation frameworks across API, UI and service layers (eg Rest Assured, Postman/Newman, Cypress, Playwright, Selenium, JUnit, Jest).
• Experience integrating automated testing into CI/CD pipelines (Git Hub Actions, Jenkins, Azure Dev Ops, Git Lab CI).
• Strong understanding of non‑functional testing including performance, resilience and security testing approaches.
• Solid grasp of accessibility testing (WCAG 2.2) and assistive technology validation.
• Experience with test management and defect tracking tools (eg Jira, Zephyr, Test Rail, Azure Dev Ops).
• Experience leading testers in Agile or hybrid delivery models (Scrum, Kanban).
• Experience working in regulated, security‑conscious or high‑assurance environments.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to articulate quality risk to senior stakeholders.
• Experience delivering testing within a UK public‑sector or government context.
• Familiarity with GDS service standards, the Technology Code of Practice and the  Design System.

• Experience testing Mainframe integrations or coordinating testing across Legacy modernisation programmes.
• Experience supporting services through GDS Alpha, Beta and Live assessments.
• ISTQB Advanced, ISTQB Test Manager or equivalent professional certification.
• Experience with contract testing (eg Pact) and chaos/resilience testing tooling.
• Experience building or scaling testing communities of practice.

• Competitive salary with annual review.
• Company pension scheme.
• Generous annual leave entitlement.
• Critical illness cover.
• Relocation support of £3,000−£5,000.
• Visa sponsorship for eligible candidates.
• Access to learning and development resources.
• A supportive, inclusive working environment.

Scrumconnect Consulting is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive team and welcome applications from all backgrounds, regardless of age, disability, gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.