Lead Test Engineer

Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency; Newcastle upon Tyne; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A government agency is seeking a Lead Test Engineer to guide and mentor multiple test engineering teams. They will design automation-first testing frameworks and ensure quality integration within digital services, promoting collaboration and continuous improvement. The position offers a supportive work environment with substantial annual leave and pension contributions.

Benefits

Employer pension contribution of 28.97%

25 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Flexible working options

Qualifications

• Experience leading test engineering teams.
• Strong knowledge of automation-first testing frameworks.
• Ability to define risk-based test strategies.

Responsibilities

• Lead multiple test engineering teams to ensure quality.
• Design and implement automation testing frameworks.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams for quality assurance.

Skills

Test engineering

Automation testing

Collaboration skills

Coaching and mentoring

Continuous improvement

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.

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.
• We aim to empower line managers to create teams where people can flourish and deliver excellent outcomes for the public.

Benefits

• 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.
• Flexible working options that promote a healthy work-life balance.

Disability Confident: A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations, such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details, please go to the Civil Service Disability Confident information page.

Open Sessions

Open Sessions: We are organising an open session where you can virtually "meet the team" on 25 September 2025 at 17:30. Sign up here.