Technical Test Lead in Farnborough

Do you enjoy solving complex technical problems and helping teams deliver high‑quality solutions? Are you looking for a role where you can make a real impact on mission‑critical systems within the Defence and Security sector?

In this role, you will join a small but high‑performing team working on secure, scalable and high‑performance applications that support national defence operations. You will take the lead in driving testing excellence across infrastructure, systems and networks, helping to build a strong and capable team around you. You will also bring your technical expertise to guide testing approaches, shape best practice and mentor others. If you enjoy combining hands‑on testing with leadership and continuous improvement, you will fit right in.

We can offer great career progression opportunities, the ability to be based anywhere across the UK, benefits you can flex to meet your needs, and training and development opportunities.

What you'll be doing:

• Leading, coordinating and mentoring a team of Technical Test Analysts.
• Creating Test Strategies and Test Plans for complex technical programmes.
• Guiding the development of test cases, scripts, environments and data for infrastructure systems.
• Applying technical and specialist testing knowledge, including automation and performance tooling.
• Supporting all levels of testing by liaising with stakeholders and proactively resolving issues.
• Producing clear progress reports, test metrics and Test Completion Reports.

What you’ll bring:

• Demonstrable experience as a Test Lead or Test Manager.
• Strong technical background with proven experience in infrastructure testing or systems engineering.
• Good understanding of test tooling such as Azure DevOps or Jira.
• Ability to work independently with strong critical thinking skills.
• Analytical and methodical approach with ownership of test outcomes.
• Ability to work collaboratively in cross‑functional teams.
• It would be great if you had ISTQB Technical Test Analyst Advanced Level certification or equivalent.
• Knowledge of Active Directory Forests, SQL, Cisco Jabber and ServiceNow.
• Up‑to‑date understanding of developments and future strategies in testing specialisms.
• Adaptable, self‑driven mindset with a focus on continuous improvement.
• Clear and pragmatic communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Experience supporting delivery across functional and non‑functional testing.

If you’re interested in this role but not sure if your skills and experience are exactly what we’re looking for, please do apply, we’d love to hear from you!

Employment information:

• Employment Type: Full‑time, Permanent.
• Location: Farnborough.
• Security Clearance Level: SC MOD.
• Internal Recruiter: Rebecca.
• Salary: £60,000 to £75,000.
• Benefits: £5,400 car allowance, 25 days annual leave with the option to buy additional days, private medical, life assurance, pension and generous flexible benefits fund.

Although this role is advertised as full‑time, we believe that flexibility at work can promote work/life balance, increase your motivation, reduce stress and improve performance and productivity. We support different ways of working and can offer a range of flexible working arrangements. So, if you’re interested and need to work flexibly, we encourage you to apply and talk to us about what might be possible.

About Sopra Steria:

Sopra Steria’s Aerospace, Defence and Security business designs, develops and deploys digital solutions to Central Government clients. The work we do makes a real difference to the client’s goal of National Security, and we operate in a unique and privileged environment. We are given time for professional development activities, and we coach and mentor our colleagues, sharing knowledge and learning from each other. We foster a culture in which employees feel valued and supported and have pride in their work for the customer, delivering outstanding rates of customer satisfaction in the UK’s most complex safety‑ and security‑critical markets.

We embrace difference as a source of creativity, innovation and competitive advantage and are striving to become a more diverse organisation. We welcome applications from people with a diverse variety of backgrounds and identities. We are committed to equality of opportunity for all and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation or marital status. We have partnered with Vercida, the UK's largest diversity and inclusion focused careers site, where all our vacancies are available in an accessible format.

If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, to enable you to perform to the best of your ability, please let us know when completing your application. We participate in the Disability Confident scheme and are committed to offering an interview to any candidate with a disability, who meets the minimum criteria for the role. If you believe this could apply to you, please let us know when completing your application.