Senior Test Engineer in Manchester

On behalf of DWP, we are looking for a Senior Test Engineer for a 12 month (Inside IR35) contract based Hybrid in Manchester, Leeds or Newcastle.

Background: This role is critical to supporting Legacy systems within Carer's Allowance. The Senior Test Engineer will lead and influence testing across complex Legacy platforms, driving improvements in automation, test strategy and overall product quality. The postholder will work closely with software engineers, architects and DevOps colleagues to ensure testing is embedded within CI/CD pipelines and aligned to DWP best practice.

The project is a mix of microservices (focused on data capture) and a largely monolithic, batch-based system that processes data and file transfers. While there is a UI element, it is not a typical GDS-style setup, and the system has been refactored in Java. This is a complex role due to the blend of Legacy and modern architecture.

As a Senior Test Engineer, your main responsibilities will be to:

• Own, lead and influence testing activities and strategy for a complex, monolithic, batch-based system.
• Design, build and maintain automated test frameworks suited to Legacy architectures (UI, batch-based, end to end).
• Identify gaps in existing testability, coverage and drive continuous improvement in the testing approach.
• Collaborate with engineering, architecture and DevOps teams to improve the testability of the system and to align testing with delivery goals.
• Guide and support Test Engineers in the effective use of CI/CD pipelines and automation patterns.
• Ensure alignment with DWP testing standards & best practice.
• Support and define non-functional testing approach appropriate to Legacy and batch processing systems.

Essential:

• Experience working across both microservices and monolithic/Legacy systems.
• Strong Back End testing experience, including database validation, data flows and complex processing logic.
• Experience with batch processing, file-based systems or data pipelines, including test data setup and downstream validation.
• Strong hands-on experience in test automation, using tools such as Playwright, Selenium or Cucumber, with the ability to build and maintain frameworks across UI, Back End and batch-based systems.
• Experience defining and evolving test strategies for large, monolithic or Legacy systems.
• Strong focus on improving overall testing approach and quality, not just execution.
• Experience with non-functional testing (e.g. performance, resilience).
• Experience working with CI/CD pipelines and continuous testing.
• Strong programming capability in at least one modern programming language (Java, Python, JavaScript).
• Ability to perform test analysis to understand complex business rules and processing flows.
• Ability to challenge existing approaches and drive technical and process improvements.

SC Clearance is an essential requirement for this role, as a minimum you must be willing & eligible to undergo checks. Please note, due to the exceptional requirements of this position (short-term nature of this role and speed at which we require a postholder in situ) preference may be given to candidates who meet all of the essential criteria and hold active security clearance.

Desirable:

• Experience designing and executing performance and non-functional testing for Legacy or batch processing systems, using tools such as k6, JMeter or Gatling.

Ways of Working:

• Pragmatic and improvement-driven, with a willingness to constructively challenge established practices.
• Comfortable working with ambiguity and Legacy systems, able to investigate and build understanding to improve testing approaches.

Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not Overseas.

Disability Confident: As a member of the Disability Confident Scheme, DWP guarantees to interview all candidates who have a disability and who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of candidates who have a disability who meet all the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. This scheme encourages candidates with a disability and/or neurodivergence to apply. In exceptional circumstances, we may also need to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.

Armed Forces Covenant: DWP guarantees to interview veterans or spouses/partners of military personnel who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of ex-military candidates/military spouses or partners, who meet all the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. In exceptional circumstances, we may also need to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.

In applying for this role, you acknowledge the following: this role falls in scope of the Off Payroll Working in the Public Sector legislation. Any rates of payment quoted will reflect the gross rate per day for the assignment and will be subject to appropriate taxes and statutory costs. As such the payment to the intermediary and your income resulting from this contract will be different.