Lead Test Manager

Are you passionate about quality engineering, assurance and building high-performing testing teams?

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is looking for an experienced and inspiring Lead Test Manager to lead our newly formed quality assurance and testing profession

This is a rare opportunity to shape how quality is embedded across a complex digital estate that supports prosecutors, operational staff and citizens. You will define and lead the CPS quality assurance and testing strategy, ensuring quality, accessibility, security and operational readiness are considered from the earliest stages of delivery through to live service.

Working closely with technical leaders, delivery teams and senior stakeholders, you will provide independent quality assurance and oversight across CPS services, ensuring testing evidence supports delivery decisions, governance, service assessments and operational risk management. You will champion modern testing practices, continuous improvement and a culture where quality is owned by everyone.

As the lead in this area, you will develop capability, shape standards and ways of working, provide leadership to internal teams and suppliers, and help build the future testing profession within CPS. You will influence major technology and business change programmes, working at senior levels across government and industry to ensure quality remains at the heart of delivery.

This role is ideal for someone who combines strong testing and quality leadership with strategic thinking, excellent stakeholder management and a passion for developing people and professional capability.

As part of this role, you are expected to undertake direct line management responsibilities.

Your roles and responsibilities:

• Define and lead the CPS quality assurance and testing strategy, standards and governance framework, ensuring alignment with organisational, regulatory and government service standards.
• Provide independent quality assurance oversight across CPS services, supporting service assessments, technical assurance reviews, operational readiness and organisational governance activities.
• Lead continuous improvement across testing practices, quality engineering, defect management and assurance, using evidence, risk analysis and performance data to drive better outcomes.
• Build and lead a high performing testing profession, developing capability, mentoring colleagues, managing suppliers and creating a culture of quality across delivery teams.
• Represent the CPS testing profession internally and externally, influencing senior stakeholders and helping shape modern approaches to quality assurance and testing across government.

A copy of the full job description is attached.

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 and Experience.

Recruitment process

The recruitment process consists of an online application, assessment and interview.

Personal statement

We ask you to complete a personal statement of no more than 500 words. You need to demonstrate the following experience/technical skills required for this role:

Essential Criteria:

• Proven experience leading testing, quality assurance or quality engineering functions within complex digital delivery environments.
• Experience defining and implementing testing strategies, governance frameworks and organisational quality standards.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary testing teams and modern quality engineering practices, including automation and CI/CD.
• Experience delivering risk-based testing, release assurance and quality governance across large-scale digital services.
• Experience using quality metrics, defect trends and service performance data to drive continuous improvement.
• Experience influencing senior stakeholders, managing suppliers and developing high-performing testing teams and communities of practice

Essential Technical:

• Test automation frameworks and automated regression testing.
• Performance and non-functional testing approaches, including workload modelling, performance analysis and bottleneck identification.
• Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) testing practices and quality gates.
• Test data management, anonymisation and environment management practices.
• Agile delivery practices including Three Amigos, collaborative test design and shift-left quality approaches.
• Jira-based test management, defect management and quality reporting approaches.
• Accessibility and inclusive testing practices.
• Quality assurance reporting, defect analytics and evidence-based release decision making.

Desirable Experience

• Experience of modern quality engineering operating models that combine Test Engineers, automation, performance testing and assurance functions within a single profession.
• Experience supporting Government Service Assessments and delivery against the Government Service Standard.
• Experience working within regulated, justice, policing or public sector technology environments.
• Experience implementing centralised QA or shared testing services across multiple agile delivery teams.
• Experience with performance testing programmes supporting API heavy and distributed services
• Experience building automation roadmaps, regression suites and testing pipelines across multiple products and teams.
• ISTQB Advanced Test Manager, ISTQB Test Automation Engineer or equivalent professional qualification

Behaviours

You are asked to complete a statement of no more than 250 words for each of the following behaviours, setting out how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience match the specified behaviours and requirements:

• Managing a Quality Service - LEAD BEHAVIOUR
• Communicating & Influencing

You also need to demonstrate the Crown Prosecution Service or Civil Service values.

The panel has the right to assess the lead behaviour ‘Managing a Quality Service’ first. If the standard on this behaviour isn’t met, the other behaviours won’t be considered and your application won’t progress. The panel also has the right to raise the minimum standard pass mark. The panel may also refer to the lead behaviour at the interview stage to determine merit order.

CV

You’re not required to upload your CV. However, when submitting your application there is a ‘CV section’. You are required to provide information about your employment and/or academic history for the past three years. Add these if applicable – skills, and qualification details. The CV section will be assessed.

It’s your responsibility to provide the specified information in the requested format to ensure that you're considered for the post.

If you're unable to cover three years through employment or academic history, you must provide a character reference for clearance purposes.

Interview and Assessment

The interview and assessment are expected to take place on 28th and 29th September 2026.

Your interview takes place online through Microsoft Teams. A member of our recruitment team will be in touch with guidance. If you have any queries about this, contact Ellie.Dixon@cps.gov.uk

You should keep these dates free or notify us if you're not available. We'll make every effort to accommodate your date preferences but we can't guarantee it.

We ask you to complete an assessment as part of the recruitment process for this role. We will provide details immediately before your interview.

We use behaviours to help us understand your experience, to see if you're a good fit for the role. You are assessed against Grade 7 in the Civil Service success profiles behaviours framework. We are assessing three behaviours at interview and assessment stage:

• Managing a Quality Service - interview
• Communicating & Influencing - interview
• Leadership - interview

Essential Experience/Technical Skills - assessed at interview and assessment.

Other

This is a full-time post. We do consider requests for flexible, part-time working and job share, always considering the operational needs of the department.

Please note that the CPS is unable to offer visa sponsorship. If you require visa sponsorship to work in the UK, you will not meet the eligibility criteria for this role.

Clearance

If successful, you are required to secure a Disclosure and Barring Service check and Security Check clearance for which you must have a current valid UK address.

If successfully appointed, we ask you to complete a character enquiry form, and nationality and immigration questionnaire, and national security vetting form.

If you're a Crown Prosecution Service member of staff, you won’t need to do a Disclosure and Barring Service check as you already hold this clearance.

The job you’re applying for is covered by Article 3(a) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975, consequently Section 4(2) of that Act doesn’t apply. You’re required to disclose all previous convictions and cautions including spent convictions. Failing to make a full declaration will result in withdrawing your offer of employment if our checks reveal convictions that haven’t been disclosed.

To be cleared to Security Check clearance level, you have to be able to meet the residency requirement in the Cabinet Office guidance. For the Crown Prosecution Service, this is three years within the last five years.

Important

There are residency requirements you need to meet. You must be willing to undergo Developed Vetting clearance and STRAP induction, and you must be a full UK national. Dual nationals may be considered on a case-by-case basis if one component is British. Please make sure you meet these requirements before applying for this role.

Reserve list

If you're recommended by the selection panel but not appointed to the current vacancy, you’re put on a reserve list for 12 months. You may be offered another Lead Test Manager post in the CPS if a vacancy comes up during this period. We may also approach candidates on the waiting list to fill other roles that require similar knowledge and experience.

Candidates who may not be appointable to a Lead Test Manager (grade 7) role, may be offered a Senior Test Engineer (senior executive officer grade) role, where appropriate.

Fraud check

The Crown Prosecution Service provides a Fair Processing Notice to all new applicants after they’ve been successful at interview. These candidates are informed that, as one aspect of pre-employment screening, their personal details – name, National Insurance number and date of birth – are checked against the Internal Fraud Database. We won't employ anyone included on the database unless they can demonstrate exceptional circumstances.

The Strategic Resourcing team in the Crown Prosecution Service will, on behalf of the vacancy holder, inform applicants when they are refused employment because of their inclusion in the Internal Fraud Database.

Civil Service Commission

If you’re dissatisfied with the recruitment process and wish to make a complaint, please contact Strategic.Resourcing@cps.gov.uk with your concerns.

If you remain dissatisfied and wish to make a further complaint, please click on the following link to the Civil Service Commission complaints page Recruitment Complaints - Civil Service Commission

Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles can be found at https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/

Details of the Civil Service Nationality Rules are located at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules

Candidates are subject to UK immigration requirements. For the most up-to-date information on the requirements of working in the UK, please go to the UK Visas and Immigration website at https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas

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