Length of employment: Job Summary: Are you ready to test the backbone of the UK's payment infrastructure? We serve 22m citizens which is 34% of the total UK population and make circa £250bn in payments annually, responsible for a third of all BACS traffic. We are embarking on an ambitious transformation programme to reimagine and make best use of emerging future technologies in the banking industry to continue to ensure that people who get paid by DWP receive the right amount of money, at the right time into the right bank account. We're looking for a Senior QA Tester to lead both Functional and Non-Functional Testing across our payment fulfilment products. You'll ensure quality across complex platforms and channels, manage stakeholder engagement, and guide teams to success by removing blockers and fostering a culture of learning and transparency. You'll remove blockers and create the right environment for our multidisciplinary teams to succeed, helping them to self-sufficiency and creating a culture of learning and transparency. Job Description: As a Senior QA Tester you will be responsible for defining the appropriate depth and breadth of testing using a risk-based approach, and ensuring the stability, robustness and reliability of test suites. You will ensure that best practices are in place, and drive improvements by sharing knowledge and resources across teams. You will have experience in building manual and automated test solutions and be very familiar with industry standard testing tools. Taking responsibility for management, planning and execution of functional and non-functional testing, working alongside other test engineers as well as both software and Devops engineers within the teams around you and the wider community to deliver consistent quality solutions. You will be willing to challenge current processes and help improve the ways of working, as well as identify tooling that will drive innovation and constant improvement of both testing and products. Provide coaching and mentorship to junior QA team members, fostering a culture of continuous learning, knowledge sharing, and professional growth within the team. We also have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes: Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours. Generous annual leave - at least 25 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro-rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave. Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme. Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly). Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year's continuous service. Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes. An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women's Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more. This job role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work at home will be determined primarily by business need but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be taken into account. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working, including whether a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for you, will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post. Salary Information Pay for this role is from £42,614 to £45,081. Our offer to successful candidates will be based on an assessment of your skills and experience as demonstrated at interview. Existing Civil Servants who secure a new role on lateral transfer should maintain their current salary. Existing Civil Servants who gain promotion may move to the bottom of the grade pay scale or 10% increase in salary whichever would be the greater. See selection process for further details. If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact Caicy.sandford1@dwp.gov.uk. Stage 1: Application Your application will consist of four parts: 1. A Personal Details application form. 2. Employment history - this should contain your work experience and any skills, qualifications and accomplishments relevant to the jobs you have completed. 3. Personal statement - up to 750 words. This statement should be used to provide examples of how you meet the essential criteria below: Self-starter able to analyse a situation to identify what they are required to deliver, to formulate an approach and to action it. Experience in producing test approaches and plans from a range of specifications and functional/non-functional requirements (FR/NFR). Manages the delivery of system and / or acceptance tests, coordinating both functional and non-functional specifications. Proficient in performance/volume testing tools to develop and execute a range of scripts and scenarios (e.g. load, stress, endurance). 4. Technical statement (up to 250 words). The following statement is aligned to the required technical skill of Test Infrastructure. Experience in Oracle e-Business Suite, in particular Payment and Accounting functionality. The sift panel will use the information in your employment history, personal statement, and technical statement to assess your experience, skills and knowledge. An initial sift will be conducted using the technical statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift will be progressed to a full sift. For Hints and Tips on completing your application visit Applying for jobs at DWP Digital. Important Information You will be asked to complete your employment history. Any information that you would customarily share on a CV should therefore be entered onto the application form. Personal details that could be used to identify you including your name, contact details and address must be removed for your application to be considered. If your employment history, personal statement or technical statement contain any personal details your application may be withdrawn. We recognise that AI may be helpful when applying for this role, but it is important to use it in the right way. Read the DWP AI Candidate Guide to understand how you can make the best use of GenAI while ensuring your application remains authentic and effective. Stage 2: Interview If you're successful at sift stage you will be invited to a video interview via Microsoft Teams. There, you will be assessed against the experiences listed above. Interviews will take place from late July 2025. Sift and interview dates to be confirmed. If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards. Further Information Find out more about Working for DWP For Hints and Tips on completing your application visit Applying for jobs at DWP Digital. A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. Reserve list candidates will be posted in merit order by location. The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. Applications will be screened and if evidence of plagiarism or copying examples/answers from other sources is found, your application will be withdrawn. Internal DWP candidates may also face disciplinary action. Security Clearance Requirement You must meet the security requirements before you can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check. For meaningful checks to be carried out, you will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time, to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. Whilst a lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance, and expectation of UK residency may range from 3 to 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements needed for the role may result in the withdrawal of provisional jobs offers. Reasonable Adjustment At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact Government Recruitment Service via as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. Complete the "Reasonable Adjustments" section in the "Additional requirements" page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a Language Service Professional. For further information on reasonable adjustments, terms and conditions and how we recruit visit the How We Recruit, page