ONS operates a flexible hybrid working model across the UK, with colleagues linked to one of our contractual locations in Newport or Titchfield (Fareham) and working between office and remote throughout the week.
As part of the hybrid working arrangement there is a 40% minimum office attendance requirement. Attendance is typically at your contractual office, with occasional travel to alternative locations.
Job Summary
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution, and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime, and migration.
Would you like to play a key role in Digital Service’s Quality Assurance and Testing (QAT) team, ensuring that projects and programmes are delivering to user needs and maintaining our high quality standards?
Job Description
Working within a major project, or across a number of smaller projects, you will define the quality assurance and testing approach most suited to the needs of the project and the wider ONS, whilst assuring close alignment to the organisations QAT Strategy.
Working with QAT Analysts and Test Engineers you will identify the appropriate test phases, both functional and non-functional, required to ensure stakeholder confidence in the software or solution.
You will be responsible for ensuring the reporting of quality metrics and test outcomes are delivered as required to the delivery and project stakeholders and provide impartial guidance and advice to any emergent issues.
You need strong interpersonal, analytical and communication skills to ensure stakeholders and all constituent projects understand and are committed to delivery of testing and required operational activities in line with the delivery and Programme plans.
Working with development teams, third parties, operations teams, and business areas to plan, co-ordinate and manage/facilitate testing (included inter dependencies) to ensure the agreed test strategy is correctly implemented by means of the following activities and responsibilities.
Responsibilities Include:
* Test planning co-ordination
* Test scheduling, including test plans, dependencies, people, and products
* Risk identification and management
* Assurance against SLAs and functional/non-functional requirements.
* Production of evidence to support monitoring of operational readiness through delivery of entry / exit criteria via formal gateways.
* Ensure all test resources and pre-requisites are in place.
Person Specification
Essential Skills Criteria:
* Functional testing - You can design and execute a wide range of testing techniques and communicate test results to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. You can make decisions on the environment for testing and can coach others. You can identify defects, alert the business to them, and help to prioritise them based on defect severity.
* Non-functional testing - You can show an awareness of non-functional testing techniques. You can execute non-functional test scenarios and identify defects. You can run non-functional tests others have written and know the processes to do so.
* Technical breadth - You can demonstrate a good working knowledge of different tools and techniques. You can identify appropriate test approaches to meet business needs and can collate and present meaningful information for test approaches and outcomes to a wide range of technical and business stakeholders.
* Test analysis - You can think creatively, ask the right questions, and critically evaluate and communicate findings to a larger team. You can lead investigative work into problems and opportunities with test processes and can drive the collection of information and the creation of test strategies and recommendations for improvements to existing test approaches.
* Strategic insight - Understands organisational testing strategy and objectives. Understands what the business area(s) are trying to complete. Can align testing resource and activities across teams to assist decision making and action. Able to align testing activities with objectives to create strategic insights that inform policy and proposition.
* Qualification- holds ISTQB Software Testing Foundations Certification.
Qualifications
Please note that this role requires you to have an ISTQB Software Testing Foundations Certification.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
* Managing a Quality Service
* Working Together
* Communicating and Influencing
Technical Skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
* Comprehensive working knowledge of using test tools to plan, report and manage all test deliverables. Set up and configure tools as required.
Alongside your salary of £56,020, Office for National Statistics contributes £16,228 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.
The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our 5400 valued colleagues across the business.
Inclusion & Accessibility
At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.
As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.
Selection Process Details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.
Security Clearance
For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.
Applicant Support
All applicants will have access to AI resources, it is therefore important to remember these tools, although helpful in streamlining the writing process, cannot fully understand the organisational context, or requirements for the role you are applying for.
Application Process
Number of Stages: 2 stage process
Stage 1: Application
Stage 2: Interview
If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours listed in the job advert and any required technical skills. A presentation may be required at interview.
Nationality Requirements
This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups:
* UK nationals
* nationals of the Republic of Ireland
* nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
* nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
* individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
* Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
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