Lead Test Engineer

Government Recruitment Service; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A government agency in Birmingham is seeking a Lead Test Engineer to oversee multiple test engineering teams. You will be responsible for embedding quality into digital services and designing automation-first testing frameworks. Strong leadership and understanding of risk-based testing strategies are essential. Join us for a fulfilling career with great benefits including generous annual leave and pension contributions.

Benefits

Employer pension contribution of 28.97%

25 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Flexible working options

Qualifications

• Experience in leading test engineering teams.
• Proficient in designing automation-first testing frameworks.
• Strong understanding of risk-based testing strategies.

Responsibilities

• Lead multiple test engineering teams to ensure quality.
• Design and scale automation-first testing frameworks.
• Implement risk-based test strategies across platforms.

Job description

Overview

The Lead Test Engineer role sits within DVSA’s Strategy, Policy, Digital & Technology Directorate, which is responsible for delivering high-quality, user-focused digital services that support road safety and compliance across the UK. The directorate brings together multi-disciplinary teams of developers, testers, analysts, product owners, architects, and operations specialists to design, build and run modern digital solutions.

Test Engineering is a core capability within these delivery teams, ensuring that DVSA’s systems are robust, secure, and resilient. The community of Test Engineers is focused on embedding automation-first quality practices, promoting collaboration across teams, and driving continuous improvement. As part of a wider cross-government Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) function, the team works closely with partners inside and outside DVSA, sharing knowledge and aligning with industry best practices.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King’s birthday
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Find out more about what it's like working at Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency - Department for Transport Careers

Responsibilities

• Leading multiple test engineering teams to embed quality across DVSA digital services.
• Designing and scaling automation-first testing frameworks, tools, and pipelines.
• Defining and implementing risk-based test strategies across projects and platforms.
• Establishing and maintaining test engineering standards, practices, and metrics.
• Coaching and mentoring test engineers to build capability and modern testing skills.
• Collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure quality is built in from the outset.
• Driving continuous improvement in test practices, defect management, and quality reporting.
• Representing DVSA in the wider testing community, sharing innovation and best practice.

Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills they need. We aim to empower line managers to create teams where people can flourish and deliver excellent outcomes for the public.

Open Sessions

Open Sessions: Would you like to find out more about the role, the team and what it’s like to work in our department? If so, we are organising an open session where you can virtually meet the team on 25th September 2025 at 17:30.

For more information, please read the attached role profile and note that the role profile is for information purposes only; while all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.