Business Quality Assurance Manager

First Central Services; Manchester, Salford, Haywards Heath; Hybrid; GBP 73,000 - 93,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading insurance company is seeking a Business Quality Assurance Manager to enhance software delivery quality across value streams. This senior role entails developing QA strategies, collaborating with cross-functional teams, and ensuring compliance with best practices in a cloud-native environment. The ideal candidate will bring over 7 years of QA experience, strong leadership skills, and expertise in embedding quality in Agile/DevOps settings. Flexible working options are available, fostering a supportive and vibrant work environment.

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements

Vibrant work environment

Support for employee needs

Qualifications

• 7+ years in QA, Quality Consulting, or Business-Focused Testing roles.
• Experience in Agile/SAFe environments, preferably in Insurance.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, or GCP.

Responsibilities

• Ensure SDLC aligns with quality and business needs.
• Audit adherence to quality standards and practices.
• Collaborate to develop ‘End to End’ test strategies.

Skills

Planning

Leadership

Communication

Analytical

Problem Solving

Stakeholder Management

Quality Assurance

BDD Coaching

Education

ISEB Testing Qualification or equivalent

Job description

Location: Guernsey, Haywards Heath, Home Office (Remote) or Manchester
Salary: £73,652 - £92,065 - depending on experience
Department: Technology and Data

We’re 1st Central, a market-leading insurance company utilising smart data and technology at pace. Rapid growth has been based on giving our 1.4 million customers exactly what they want: great value insurance with an excellent service. And that’s the same for our colleagues too; we won Insurance Employer of the Year at the British Insurance Awards 2024 and our Glassdoor score is pretty high!

We're looking for a Business Quality Assurance Manager who'll ensure that the software delivery lifecycle (SDLC) across the value streams aligns with business expectations for quality, functionality, and delivery. Acting as both a consultant and quality auditor, the Business Quality Assurance Manager will partner with cross-functional value stream teams and Quality Engineering to ensure the right test coverage, adherence to best practices, and alignment to business goals across the Focus platform and associated services.

Operating in a cloud-native, BDD-enabled environment, this senior role is responsible for embedding quality from a business perspective, ensuring practices such as BDD, test traceability, risk-based coverage, and quality metrics are applied consistently across teams to enable reliable and high-value software delivery.

We value flexible working arrangements, so you can choose to work remotely or perhaps you live within a commutable distance from one of our offices in Salford Quays, Manchester, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, or Guernsey, and want to work in the office occasionally.

Core skills required:

• Excellent planning and control expertise
• Excellent leadership and people management skills, including ability to motivate and inspire teams
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Excellent stakeholder influencing and management skills
• Formal Testing qualification such as ISEB or equivalent (desirable)
• Ability to assess, audit, and uplift quality practices across distributed teams
• Experience of Business-Technical Bridging
• BDD Coaching & Collaboration
• Test Coverage Analysis – Evaluate adequacy of test scenarios, data, and traceability to requirements
• Reporting & Communication
• Cloud-Aware Quality Thinking
• DevOps familiarity with understanding how testing fits into the broader ecosystem

What’s involved:

• Working with the Quality Engineering Lead and Focus Product Owner community to develop and maintain an ‘End to End’ test strategy for new capabilities and initiatives
• Maintaining department risk registers, providing evidence and commentary for controls, updates for mitigation actions, and maintaining control matrices and attestations
• Auditing and assessing adherence to quality standards, testing practices, and SDLC policies across value streams
• Guiding teams on business requirements and manual testing, supporting risk-based test coverage analysis and quality practices
• Ensuring functional and non-functional test coverage aligns with business, regulatory, and user needs
• Promoting consistent BDD practices, facilitating collaboration between business, QA, and development teams
• Defining and reporting on cross-team quality KPIs to improve delivery quality and reduce risk
• Conducting regular audits of test documentation, traceability, and quality practices, identifying gaps and recommending improvements
• Working closely with DevOps and QE to embed testing early in the lifecycle and into CI/CD pipelines
• Collaborating with Product owners and stakeholders to ensure software meets business objectives through feedback loops
• Supporting release and regression testing processes
• Assisting Service Delivery and Resilience teams with issue resolution and RCA reviews
• Ensuring compliance with Group Code of Conduct, Fitness and Propriety policies, and other standards

Experience & Knowledge:

• 7+ years in QA, Quality Consulting, or Business-Focused Testing roles in Agile/DevOps environments
• Experience in software testing in Agile/SAFe, preferably in Insurance or Financial services
• Experience with NFT and API testing (desirable)
• Deep understanding of SDLC in Agile environments
• Knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and testing implications
• Familiarity with DevOps practices, CI/CD, infrastructure as code, shift-left testing
• Experience in regulated environments
• Hands-on or coaching experience with BDD tools (e.g., Gherkin, Cucumber, SpecFlow)
• Line management experience of at least 6 team members

Skills:

• Excellent planning, leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills
• Ability to assess and uplift quality practices across teams
• Experience in Business-Technical Bridging, BDD, Test Coverage Analysis, reporting, and cloud-aware quality thinking
• Familiarity with DevOps ecosystem testing practices

Behaviours:

• Results-driven, self-motivated, and enthusiastic
• Role model who motivates others
• Embodies company values, organized, proactive, and flexible
• Balances attention to detail with broader focus, takes initiative

Interested? We want to hear from you! We offer a vibrant environment, excellent perks, flexible working, and support for your needs.