Head of Testing in Reading

Role/Job title: Head Of Testing Work Location: Reading, UK Role type: Min 6 month Contract Mode of working: Hybrid / 2 to 3 days per week office based Our client, working on behalf of a major British energy company are seeking an experienced Head of Test with explicit experience in Utility Industry (essential) 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. Required Skills & Experience: Essential * Explicit experience in Utility Industry (a must have) * 12+ years of experience in Software Testing and Quality Assurance. * 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