Digital Delivery Senior Automation Tester

Digital Delivery Senior Automation Tester

The IPO is a modern organisation which depends on its IT services to operate and innovate effectively. In order to provide up to date services to our customers both nationally and internationally systems need to be developed, improved and maintained. You will have the opportunity to work on the latest cutting-edge cloud technologies, use modern delivery processes and work on innovative projects some including the use of AI and ML. Working alongside experts in their fields you will have the opportunity to make valuable contributions without compromising on quality.

You will need the appetite to learn new technologies and methodologies for delivering high quality IT services. In this role you will work within a multi-disciplined squad using several technologies to build enterprise grade services. You will be expected to be proactive and take accountability for the squad assigned deliveries. The role will also require the investigation, diagnosis and fix of any system issues. A Senior Test Engineer is expected to contribute to the technical strategy for the department.

As a multi-skilled individual, you will have the opportunities to develop and mature skills in a core role but extend this to skills typically aligned to other role types. You will have a high level of input in defining which additional skills you can develop.

We are recruiting for multiple roles of which one role is slightly biased towards application testing post infrastructure changes.

Working Style

This role will be carried out in-line with IPO Hybrid working arrangements where staff are currently expected to spend at least 20% of their time working onsite from one of our offices. This role is based in our Newport Office.

The requirement for attendance at an office location can vary by role so we would encourage candidates to discuss working arrangements with the recruiting manager to agree a reasonable balance between working from home and the office.

The IPO holds a visa sponsor licence however; this role is not eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route. Candidates will therefore need to have an existing right to work in the UK at the time of application.

Main duties consist of but are not limited to:

• Responsible for writing, executing and maintaining functional/non-functional automated UI and API tests/suites aligned against acceptance criteria to support our continuous deployment environment
• Be responsible for the design, coding, testing, maintenance, and documentation for robust, scalable and reusable solutions that deliver exceptional user experience using DevOps best practice
• Proactively investigate problems and opportunities in existing processes, evaluating and communicating findings and recommendations to stakeholders
• Work closely with software developers to reach a common understanding of the code base and test coverage at unit level
• Work within a multi-disciplinary team to deliver highly user focused and successful digital services ensuring governance standards are adhered to
• Identify and manage defects, incidents, risks and issues in line with IPO standards
• Build automated test solutions from scratch in line with IPO Test Strategy and IPO Engineering Principles
• Contribute to the design, coding, testing and documentation of small scale to large, complex or mission critical programs
• Implement toolkits and APIs for purposes such as integration, performance optimisation, security and scalability

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)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Additional details on security and vetting

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check and if successful you must also hold, or be willing to obtain, a higher Security Clearance.

For meaningful checks to be carried out individuals will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time, depending on the level of clearance, to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. For this role the successful individual will need to have consistently lived in the UK for a minimum 5 years in order to meet the relevant security clearance.

Further information on the vetting process can be found at National security vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK

If you have questions regarding this or are unsure if you meet the eligibility criteria, please contact Recruitment@ipo.gov.uk

Stage 1 – Sift

An initial sift of applications will be carried out to create a shortlist. This will be based on the evidence provided for the following Success Profile elements:

Experience

Your CV will be used to assess your suitability for the role against the listed essential criteria in the person specification.

Stage 2 – Experience Interview.

If successful at sift candidates will then be invited to an interview where you will be assessed on your Experience.

This stage of Interviews will be carried out virtually via Microsoft Teams (video).

Stage 3 – Interviews

If invited to interview Behaviours and Technical based questioning will be used.

Please note candidates that proceed to the interview stage will be required to complete a Test. Details will be provided in the invite to interview information.

Specific information regarding the Success Profile elements that will be assessed at interview will be contained within the interview invitation.

Interviews for this role will be carried out virtually via Microsoft Teams (video).

This recruitment campaign will keep a reserve list for 12 months. If you meet the requirements for this role but aren't offered after passing the interview, you'll be placed on the reserve list. If a suitable position opens up during this time, we will reach out to individuals in merit order.

The Recruitment team operational hours are 09:00 to 17:00 Monday – Friday excluding bank holidays.

Please note that the role profile is for information purposes and candidates should refer to the specific assessment criteria referred to in the job advert.

Applicants to note: CVs sent direct to the IPO will not be accepted.

There may be important information contained within the job role profile candidates may also wish to refer to. We recommend candidates download and save a copy of the role profile for reference.

This post is being advertised to Internal, across Government and external candidates at the same time.

Incomplete and/or late submissions will not be accepted or considered. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

We do not routinely reimburse travel expenses for candidates, however if participating in the selection process would cause you undue financial hardship or if it restricts your ability to participate, please contact the recruitment team for more information.

In line with Government guidance, successfully appointed candidates will need to provide documents for our Right to Work checks. Information on this will be sent within the invite to interview text.

If you require a reasonable adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process, then please let the recruitment team know via; recruitment@ipo.gov.uk

In the event of a high volume of applications, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) reserves the right to raise the minimum qualifying score at sift to manage volumes and ensure a proportionate and fair assessment process.

Please be aware that only one application per candidate is permitted for each recruitment campaign. Multiple applications, including those made using different accounts, may result in your application being withdrawn or rejected at any stage of the process.

For more information on the IPO’s terms and conditions, please review the attached IPO Modernised Terms and Conditions document attached at the bottom of this advert.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.