Head Of Testing
6 Month contract initially + Extensions
Based: Hybrid - Max 2-3 days p/w onsite in Reading
Rate: £500 - £600 p/d - (via Umbrella company)
We have a great opportunity with a world leading organisation where you will be provided with all of the support and development to succeed. A progressive organisation where you can really make a difference. We have a great opportunity for a Head Of Testing to join the team.
We are seeking an experienced Head of Testing to lead and transform the Testing and Quality Assurance function across enterprise-scale digital transformation programs. The ideal candidate will define the testing strategy, establish governance, drive quality best practices, manage testing teams, and ensure successful delivery of business-critical applications within a complex stakeholder environment
Key Responsibilities
- Testing Strategy & Leadership
- Define and implement the overall testing and quality assurance strategy.
- Build and lead high-performing testing teams across multiple programs and projects.
- Establish testing standards, methodologies, governance frameworks, and best practices.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives within the testing function.
- Develop test maturity roadmaps and quality metrics.
Test Planning & Delivery
- Oversee SIT, UAT, Regression, Performance, Security, and Automation testing activities.
- Ensure comprehensive test planning, execution, defect management, and reporting.
- Manage testing activities across Agile, Waterfall, and Hybrid delivery models.
- Monitor testing progress and provide executive-level reporting on quality and risk.
Stakeholder Management
- Collaborate with Business, Product, Project Management, Architecture, and Development teams.
- Act as the primary point of contact for quality-related governance and testing assurance.
- Manage relationships with third-party vendors, system integrators, and testing partners.
- Present testing outcomes, risks, and recommendations to senior leadership.
Quality Assurance & Governance
- Define quality gates and release readiness criteria.
- Ensure compliance with organizational policies, regulatory requirements, and industry standards.
- Drive defect prevention initiatives and root cause analysis activities.
- Implement and monitor KPIs, SLAs, and quality standards.
Test Automation & Innovation
- Promote adoption of test automation frameworks and CI/CD practices.
- Evaluate and implement modern testing tools and technologies.
- Drive shift-left, DevOps, and continuous testing practices.
- Explore AI-driven testing and quality engineering opportunities.
Key Skills & Experience:
- Explicit experience in Utility Industry.
- Ideally 12+ years of experience in Software Testing and Quality Assurance.
- Ideally 5+ years in Test Management or Testing Leadership roles.
- Proven experience managing enterprise-wide testing programs.
- Strong understanding of:
- Test Strategy & Governance
- Quality Engineering
- Test Automation
- Agile Delivery
- DevOps Practices
- Risk-Based Testing
- Experience managing geographically distributed teams.
- Excellent stakeholder and vendor management skills.
- Strong leadership, communication, and presentation abilities.
Technical Skills:
- Test Management Tools (JIRA, Azure DevOps, HP ALM, qTest, Zephyr).
- Automation Frameworks (Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, Tosca).
- CI/CD Tools (Azure DevOps, Jenkins, GitHub Actions).
- Performance Testing Tools (LoadRunner, JMeter).
- Cloud Platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP).
Preferred:
- Experience within Financial Services, Utilities, Retail, Telecom, or Public Sector.
- Knowledge of AI-assisted testing approaches.
- Experience leading large-scale digital transformation programmes.
This is an excellent opportunity on a great project of work, If you are looking for your next exciting opportunity, apply now for your CV to reach me directly, we will respond as soon as possible.