Test Manager

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.

One post will be working within our Digital Services Quality Assurance and Testing (DS-QAT) team, which is an enabling function that works across multiple directorates, overseeing multiple work streams and multiple projects taking ownership of our QAT strategy as part of our broader risk-based approach.

The second post will be working within our Public Sector Division (PSD) producing public sector income and expenditure data that feeds into National Accounts, and estimates of public sector spending, borrowing, and debt as part of the Public Sector Finance statistics. This role will be responsible for ensuring that systems, services, and end-to-end processes are tested, integrated, and operationally ready.

The roles will be responsible for ensuring that systems, services, and end-to-end processes are tested, integrated, and operationally ready.

You will work closely with business leads within the Programme as well as internal and external developers and suppliers, to identify the resources required to perform testing, onboarding resources, and leading them to deliver the test strategy that will fully test that the design is accurately implemented.

You will also be responsible for the processes/controls and reporting to ensure that testing meets agreed quality standards for operational acceptance and all relevant stakeholders have visibility of testing progress and System and User Acceptance Testing and Quality Assurance within ONS business departments.

ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level or equivalent, demonstrable experience as Test Manager/Senior Testing role.

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.

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.

If you are unsure that you meet the eligibility above, please read the information available on Gov.uk on this link or contact the recruitment email on the advert before applying to discuss, as failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected and any offer of employment being withdrawn.

At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:

• Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
• UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
• Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
• Security Services records

Please note we will reach out to you once the advert has closed to confirm eligibility for this role, this will be via an e-mail. Please check your junk e-mails for any correspondence.

Visa Sponsorship

ONS is unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants must have a valid right to work in the UK when employment commences. If currently in the UK on a time-limited visa, applicants must have at least 18 months remaining on their visa at the point of application.

To work at the ONS, candidates must meet both UK right to work and security clearance requirements (where applicable).

If you are unsure whether you meet the appropriate right to work or security clearance eligibility criteria, please refer to the guidance on Gov.uk or contact the recruitment email provided in the advert before applying. Failure to meet these requirements will result in your application being rejected and employment offers being withdrawn.

Application Process

Number of Stages: 2 stage process

Stage 1: Application

Stage 2: Interview

Stage 1 – Application

The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, CV, skills, experience, personal statement and your answer to a question posed on the application form. This question is limited to 500 words, but do not feel you must use all of them. It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.

Please note in the event of receiving a high volume of applications we will assess your answer to the question as lead criteria, and will reject those with unsatisfactory responses before assessing personal statement, work history and CV.

A personal statement is required at application stage, the maximum word count allowed is 1250, which should not be exceeded. You should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.

In instances where a high number of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted, and candidates will be invited to interview based on merit order, i.e., those with the highest scores.

When a high volume of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted. Candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised. Applicants who score below the adjusted pass mark but still pass will be placed on hold and may be invited to interview at a later date.

We often have similar roles available at different grades. If a candidate is suitable for a similar role or a lower grade than they have applied for, we may offer the candidate that role without the need to go through a further selection process providing the role has the same behaviours, and essential skills.

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.

Interviews will be via Microsoft Teams.

A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.

Important Dates

• Eligibility Security Clearance checks from 02/09 - 09/09. Please be aware that we will be sending you an e-mail with a form to fill out.
• Sift will be conducted from 09/09/2026
• Interviews will be conducted from 22/09/2026

For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment.

Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.

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