Senior Quality Assurance in Manchester

Ready to keep quality at the heart of projects with impact? Do you want to make a real impact by ensuring quality in services? Are you ready to grow your skills in a supportive, knowledge-sharing community where you can achieve your potential? We’re a growing tech consultancy that creates user-centred solutions with purpose for our clients in government, healthcare and purpose-driven businesses.

As a Quality Assurance consultant, you’ll ensure that quality assurance is considered from the start through testing, questioning and improving. You’ll apply your adaptability and communication skills across a variety of projects, working with a vibrant QA community that champions learning and knowledge sharing.

You’ll work on public and private sector projects. You’ll likely be working as a lead software quality engineer on internal and client-facing projects, contributing to the leadership of teams. Leading by example and promoting the Opencast approach, you’ll support colleagues to develop knowledge and work through challenges in all testing types. You’ll decide the best thing for your team to be working on. You'll collaborate with team members, clients and users to ensure that high quality is maintained and best practices are followed throughout the project. You'll adapt to different tools and technologies, advising on the best ones to use. You’ll ensure that work is carried out in accordance with Opencast's quality, environmental, and information security policies and procedures, as well as applicable customer policies, standards, and procedures while working on client.

Due to the nature of this role, applicants must either currently hold active Security Check (SC) Clearance or be eligible to obtain it. Eligibility typically requires UK citizenship and continuous residence in the UK for the past five years, with no single absence exceeding 28 consecutive days. As a result, we are unable to progress applications from candidates who do not meet these requirements.

To succeed in this role, you must have experience working as a lead software tester on multiple complex projects and have a good understanding of what it means to be a senior consultant. In your CV and at interview, you’ll need to show experience of:

• Your working area and how you apply this to your role
• Functional and non-functional automation testing using tools like Playwright
• Mentoring and Coaching team members, supporting their development and progression within QA
• Creating test documentation
• Resolving complex issues and presenting findings to stakeholders
• Creating tasks from high-level requirements
• Leading and facilitating meetings, including test planning, defect triage, stand-ups and retrospectives
• Acting as a senior point of contact for stakeholders, demonstrating leadership in both delivery and communication

You’ll need a good understanding of:

• Basic principles of programming paradigms, such as object-orientated programming and procedural programming
• The concepts and benefits of OAT testing.

As well as QA skills, there are essential core skills you’ll need to be a great consultant. In the interview, we will assess how you have:

• Demonstrated strong attention to detail and focus on high-quality outcomes
• Took a methodical approach to resolving complex problems
• Respectfully challenged decisions or solutions when necessary
• Communicated effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Proactively sought solutions to mitigate risk
• Raised risks and issues using the appropriate tools and processes
• Built strong working relationships and successfully resolved conflicts
• Led project meetings and actively contributed to workshops and events

Some areas of experience are not essential but relevant to the role:

• UK government service standards

A competitive package including a 7% employer pension contribution, share options and a discretionary bonus. You’ll also benefit from flexible working hours (aligned to client commitments), 25 days’ holiday, and access to 3 annual “life happens” days to support unexpected situations. We also offer wellbeing support, ongoing professional development, volunteering opportunities and the chance to be part of a genuinely supportive team.

This role requires regular on-site attendance across our HQ, hub offices, client sites and home. Applicants must be able to commute to offices and client sites as part of their normal working arrangements, as travel is essential to fulfilling the responsibilities of the role.

We welcome candidates from all identities, attributes, ways of thinking and backgrounds to thrive in a career at Opencast. Our aim is for the diversity of our people to be reflected in the solutions we deliver, to help create a fairer society for all.

Interviews will be conducted via Microsoft Teams. We’re happy to make adjustments to support your needs.

Want to know more? Visit our website or email careers@opencastsoftware.com