As Test Engineers, you will play a key role in ensuring the quality and reliability of systems that underpin critical services. You will be part of a collaborative, multi-supplier team working in a fast-paced and dynamic environment. The role offers significant autonomy, allowing you to make decisions, solve complex problems, and influence testing strategy and tooling. You will work closely with developers, product managers, delivery leads, architects, and other test professionals, as well as internal and external stakeholders across government and supplier organisations. Your contributions will have a real and positive social impact, helping to improve services for some of the most vulnerable people in society. This is also a leadership role. You will be responsible for line management within the team and will provide both technical and thought leadership. You will mentor colleagues, shape testing practices, and drive continuous improvement across the function. Person specification See selection process for further details. If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact richard.hanley@dwp.gov.uk. Technical skills We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process: Technical Breadth Benefits Alongside your salary of 44,447, Department for Work and Pensions contributes 12,876 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. 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 (prorata 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 years 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 Womens 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 44,447 to 52,347. The maximum salary for the grade is 46,547, however a Digital Allowance of up to 5,800 per annum is available for exceptional candidates. Digital Allowance is non-salary, and non-pensionable, and is classed as a temporary allowance. It is reviewed annually where it could be retained, amended, or removed. 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 will maintain their current salary. Existing Civil Servants who gain promotion will either move to the bottom of the grade pay scale or get a 10% increase to their current salary whichever would be the greater. Things you need to know Selection process details This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills. 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 1000 words. This statement should be used to provide examples of how you meet the essential criteria below: Demonstrable experience of building and delivering comprehensive, robust, and reliable automated tests to provide full coverage of business requirements, using Python and tools such as Pytest, Playwright, or equivalent. Proven ability and evidence of being able to design, build and maintain effective tests that validate data quality, movement, and transformation, adopting shift-left approach, including integration tests into CI/CD pipelines. E xperience of non-functional testing, such as performance testing using test data, with knowledge of appropriate tools and standards, and where to apply them. Influential, and able to communicate with other teams and share technical resources, knowledge and lessons learned. Practical experience and able to ensure that usability, accessibility, security, stability and capacity are embedded in the development of citizen services. 4. Technical statement (up to 250 words). The following statement is aligned to the required technical skill of: Technical Breadth. Describe a time when you applied core technical concepts to solve a complex testing challenge. In your response, explain the technical concepts involved, how you applied them, and the impact of your solution on the overall delivery or quality of the product. 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. Applications will be sifted at regular intervals from the date the posts are advertised. Please apply as soon as you can, do not wait until the end of the campaign. 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 will be withdrawn. Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application; however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate, and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own), applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use. A candidates guide to artificial intelligence (AI) in recruitment. Stage 2: Interview If youre 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 October 2025. Interview dates to be confirmed. Other information: 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. All successful candidates and those placed on reserve will be posted in merit list order by location. For these vacancies, we strongly recommend that applicants consult with an immigration specialist or qualified advisor to assess their eligibility for Visa Sponsorship before deciding to apply. Please note that while we consider sponsorship requests in accordance with current DWP guidance and Home Office policy, sponsorship cannot be guaranteed. Security Clearance Requirement You must meet the security requirements before you can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check. For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website. 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. Find out more about Working for DWP 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. 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 DigitalRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk 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 youre deaf, a Language Service Professional. For further information on reasonable adjustments, terms and conditions and how we recruit visit the How We Recruit, page 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. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. Security Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window). See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks. 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) (opens in a new window) nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for 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 Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window) Working for the Civil Service The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy. Diversity and Inclusion The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window). Apply and further information This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative. The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window). Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records. Contact point for applicants Job contact : Name : Richard Hanley Email : richard.hanley@dwp.gov.uk Recruitment team Email : DigitalRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk Further information Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles. If you wish to make a complaint, please find further details here: https://careers.dwp.gov.uk/how-we-recruit/. Attachments DWP Terms and Conditions January 2024 (3) Opens in new window (docx, 17kB) Success-Profiles-Candidate-Overview-Accessble-Version Opens in new window (docx, 69kB)