Lead QAT Analyst

About the job

Job summary

Discover a career in your hands at HMRC. Whether you're seeking purpose, growth, or a workplace that gives you a true sense of belonging, hear from some of our employees as they share their story about what it's really like to work at HMRC.

Visit our YouTube channel to watch the full series and come and discover your potential.

Are you ready to help deliver transformative projects and drive strategic decisions with your analytical expertise?

Do you have the vision to identify growth opportunities and the skills to make them a reality in a dynamic, fast-paced environment?

If so, this role could be for you!

At HMRC we are committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues; an inclusive and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society we serve.

We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us, and we offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career at HMRC accessible to you.

Diverse perspectives and experiences are critical to our success, and we welcome applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role.

HMRC is building a modern, digital tax administration and runs the biggest digital operation in Government, providing digital services for 45 million individuals and 4.9 million business customers. Our digital programme is multi-award winning and the envy of other government organisations.

This is an exciting time to be involved in QAT Analysis work which drives and delivers change to the Borders and Trade (B&T) business area.

Job description

Here in Chief Data and Information Office (CDIO) we have a unique view of the information technology infrastructure across borders and trade services which makes us a key player in helping projects and programmes impact, assess and deliver improvements.

The Borders and Trade Delivery Group are responsible for the end-to-end service management and development of over 140 separate services from the generation of Trade Statistics to the administration of Customs and Excise duties.

This is a superb opportunity to join HMRC's IT function Chief Digital Information Office (CDIO) which sets the technology direction for HMRC and delivers the high-level design for all IT solutions across the Organisation. CDIO is responsible for building and running HMRC IT services along with providing IT change and operational support. As a Lead QAT Analyst in HMRC's CDIO Borders and Trade Delivery Group you can be part of our mission to transform the UK's Borders & Trade landscape.

You will play a vital role in ensuring the seamless functioning of our innovative customs systems, contributing to the efficient administration of trade statistics, customs duties, and excise duties.

A lead QAT analyst sets the strategy for test analysis, establishing standards and methods. They are accountable and responsible for activities at high risk.

At this role level, you will:

• Take a strategic view of quality assurance and testing, balancing business objectives with operational delivery needs.
• Lead and manage teams, resources, and priorities to ensure successful delivery outcomes.
• Coach, mentor, and develop team members, supporting capability growth and professional development.
• Lead, manage and deliver quality assurance and testing activities across multiple products, projects, or programmes.
• Lead the QAT practise, focusing on complex problem solving and influencing senior team members.
• Act as a recognised subject matter expert in one or more testing disciplines, providing technical leadership and guidance.
• Provide expert advice and assurance to project teams and stakeholders on quality risks, testing approaches, and release readiness.

Also, as a Lead QAT Analyst at HMRC, you'll define and lead on how the testing will work and advise on the organisation wide technical test approach.

You are responsible for selecting appropriate tools and techniques to evaluate user experience and for functional and non-functional testing of systems, products, services or devices. Checking operational systems, products, services, or devices for changes in usability and accessibility needs. You will validate that security, usability and accessibility requirements have been met.

You will interpret and present results of evaluations, prioritise issues and report on remedial actions.

Collate input for future user research.

You'll help other teams on an ad-hoc basis. In your role with us, you'll be part of a diverse and empowered team, and helped to continue your development as a respected member of the technology industry.

A CDIO B&T Lead QAT Analyst is responsible for test improvement and optimisation, manage test capabilities and resources, and manage internal Test Managers and Test Analysts and work with other teams and external resources including contingent labour and supplier teams for Test delivery of Borders & Trade projects.

As part of Test Guild, you will provide comprehensive testing support for development of new and existing systems across multiple platforms and locations and live services, updates, improvements. Your role will involve managing comprehensive testing activities, collaborating with cross-functional teams, and leading the QA practice, focusing on complex problem solving and influencing team members and stakeholders.

Person specification

Key Responsibilities:

As Lead QAT Analyst, you will be expected to:

• Lead, manage and deliver quality assurance and testing activities across multiple products, projects, or programmes.
• Define and implement testing strategies, standards, and best practices to ensure a consistent and effective approach to quality assurance across products and services.
• Act as a recognised subject matter expert in one or more testing disciplines, providing expert technical advice and guidance to project teams and stakeholders.
• Lead, manage, coach, and mentor staff, supporting capability development and fostering a high-performing testing community.
• Evaluate and promote appropriate testing tools, techniques, and approaches to support both functional and non-functional testing activities.
• Analyse, interpret, and communicate test outcomes and quality metrics, ensuring risks, issues, and recommendations are clearly understood by stakeholders.
• Champion continuous improvement, automation, and quality engineering practices, and the adoption of modern testing approaches across delivery teams.

Main Core Duties:

At this role level, you will:

• Lead the planning, coordination, and delivery of quality assurance and testing activities across multiple products, projects, and programmes.
• Define and continuously improve testing strategies, standards, and quality engineering practices, ensuring consistency, standardisation, and alignment with Test Guild processes.
• Drive the implementation and adoption of test automation, and CI/CD practices, ensuring quality is embedded throughout the software development lifecycle.
• Evaluate, select, and promote appropriate testing tools and frameworks to support functional and non-functional testing.
• Analyse and communicate test outcomes, quality metrics, risks, and issues, providing assurance and recommendations on release readiness.
• Manage, coach, and mentor staff, supporting capability development and building high-performing teams.
• Build effective relationships with delivery teams, stakeholders, and supplier teams to ensure successful delivery and continuous improvement of quality outcomes.

Essential Criteria

The successful candidate will need to demonstrate practical knowledge and experience in the following:

• Experience leading technical / product teams across a portfolio of projects within Agile delivery environments, driving continuous improvement of services, processes, and procedures, and supporting delivery using cloud-based and modern technologies.
• Experience across the full Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), including the development and implementation of test strategies, test approaches, and quality frameworks.
• Experience managing, and developing teams, including coaching and mentoring staff.
• Experience with test automation, testing tools, and CI/CD practices, including integrating automated testing into delivery pipelines.
• Experience establishing quality metrics and reporting frameworks, supporting governance activities, monitoring delivery risks, and providing assurance insights to stakeholders.
• Experience influencing stakeholders and multidisciplinary teams to drive quality outcomes and continuous improvement.

Desirable Criteria

Ideally, the successful candidate will also demonstrate knowledge and experience in the following:

• Hands-on experience using a range of testing, test management, and collaboration tools, such as Zephyr, Jira, Selenium, SoapUI, JMeter, Cucumber, and Confluence.
• Experience of non-functional testing such as performance, security, resilience, accessibility, operational, or usability testing.
• Experience of implementing and maintaining test automation frameworks and continuous testing practices within Agile and DevOps environments.
• Experience applying Release and Configuration Management practices, including the use of version control systems such as Git.
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