Test Programme Lead – Testing as a Service (TaaS)

Job Description:

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Security Clearance: UK nationals onlys.

Role Summary

The Test Programme Lead is accountable for the end-to-end delivery of Testing as a Service (TaaS) for a single, large public-sector client engagement, operating under Statements of Work (SOWs). This role owns test strategy, execution quality, delivery assurance, and risk management across complex programmes and releases, ensuring testing outcomes align with the client’s SDLC, quality objectives, contractual commitments, and SLAs.

Operating as a senior individual contributor, the Test Programme Lead leads testing workstreams across multiple initiatives, providing hands-on leadership, governance, and decision support. The role is primarily delivery-focused, with clear commercial accountability, acting as the single point of accountability for testing outcomes and a recognised authority for software quality within the engagement.

Key Responsibilities

Test Strategy & Governance

• Own and evolve the overall test strategy for the TaaS engagement, aligned to the client’s delivery model (Agile, DevOps, hybrid, or waterfall).
• Define, govern, and continuously improve test standards, processes, and governance frameworks across functional, non-functional, and automated testing.
• Establish and enforce clear entry/exit criteria, quality gates, and acceptance thresholds to enable consistent, evidence-based delivery decisions.
• Ensure compliance with public-sector, regulatory, organisational, and contractual quality requirements.
• Partner with the client to shape, prioritise, and define SOWs, ensuring testing scope, outcomes, and costs are aligned to business priorities and delivery risk.
• Influence early lifecycle activities by providing quality and testability input into requirements, design, and delivery planning to reduce downstream risk and rework.

Delivery & Execution Leadership

• Lead and coordinate all testing activities across multiple releases, platforms, environments, and delivery teams.
• Own the planning and execution of system testing, integration testing, UAT support, regression testing, and non-functional testing.
• Apply full Test Management disciplines (scope, schedule, risk, quality, resource, financial, procurement, communication, and integration management) to govern testing delivery.
• Ensure consistent application of risk-based testing, effective defect management, and traceable coverage against functional and non-functional requirements.
• Act as the quality authority for the programme, providing clear recommendations on release readiness and deployment decisions.
• Lead testing recovery or stabilisation activities where delivery is at risk, defining remediation plans and restoring confidence in quality outcomes.

Non-Functional Testing Accountability

• Lead the definition, planning, and execution of non-functional testing strategies, with explicit accountability for:
  • Performance – scalability, responsiveness, capacity, and stability under load
  • Security – vulnerability management, assurance activities, and risk mitigation
  • Accessibility – compliance with relevant standards and inclusive design principles
• Ensure non-functional requirements are embedded early (“shift left”) and validated continuously throughout the delivery lifecycle.

Client & Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as the primary client-facing point of contact for all testing and quality-related matters.
• Communicate testing progress, risks, quality trends, and recommendations clearly and credibly to senior business and technical stakeholders.
• Build strong, trusted relationships with development, product, DevOps, release, and programme leadership teams.
• Provide authoritative advice to support programme-level decision making, escalation management, and governance forums.

Service, Resource & Vendor Management

• Lead and coordinate TaaS resources, including onshore, offshore, and specialist testing providers.
• Optimise resource utilisation across the service to balance demand, capability, cost, and delivery priorities.
• Monitor service performance against SLAs, KPIs, productivity, and quality benchmarks.
• Maintain accountability for testing budgets, cost forecasting, and commercial performance within agreed SOWs.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives, ensuring benefits are realised and reused across the engagement.

Test Automation, Tooling & Continuous Improvement

• Own the test automation strategy and ensure effective, pragmatic use of automation frameworks and tools.
• Champion shift-left, continuous testing, and CI/CD integration to improve quality feedback and delivery speed.
• Evaluate, introduce, and scale new tools, accelerators, and techniques where they demonstrably improve quality, efficiency, or predictability.
• Continuously harvest lessons learned and improvement opportunities and embed them into ways of working.

Reporting, Assurance & Risk Management

• Provide transparent, insight-driven reporting on test progress, defect trends, non-functional outcomes, risks, and quality metrics.
• Proactively identify, assess, and manage testing-related risks, issues, and dependencies.
• Conduct regular testing health checks across workstreams and suppliers to ensure adherence to agreed strategies, standards, and quality expectations.
• Provide clear quality evidence and professional judgement to support go/no-go decisions.

Leadership, Coaching & Authority

• Operate as a recognised authority on testing and quality within the engagement.
• Provide coaching, mentoring, and assurance to test leads, specialists, and delivery teams to uplift capability and consistency.
• Encourage strong quality ownership across delivery teams while retaining accountability for testing outcomes.

Key Skills & Experience

• Strong experience as a Test Programme Lead, or Senior Test Manager / Quality Lead within large-scale software delivery or managed service environments.
• Experience of leading teams of 50+ Quality Engineers / Testers
• Proven experience delivering Testing as a Service or outsourced testing for complex, high-visibility clients.
• Deep understanding of SDLCs, Agile and DevOps practices, and modern quality engineering approaches.
• Demonstrated leadership of functional and non-functional testing, including performance, security, and accessibility.
• Hands-on experience with test management tools, defect tracking systems, and test automation frameworks.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and workstream leadership skills.
• Ability to balance quality, speed, cost, and risk in a commercial, public-sector delivery context.

Success Measures (KPIs)

• Achievement of agreed testing milestones, quality objectives, and SLAs.
• Reduced production defects and improved early defect detection.
• Stable, evidence-led release readiness and deployment decisions.
• High client confidence, satisfaction, and effective stakeholder engagement.
• Measurable improvements in test efficiency, automation coverage, and service cost-effectiveness.
• Successful stabilisation or recovery of testing delivery where programmes are under pressure.

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