Senior Software Development Engineer in Test (£44,241 - £58,997)

Government Recruitment Service; Swansea; On-site; GBP 44,000 - 59,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employer pension contribution of 28.97

25 days annual leave increasing with 1

8 bank holidays and a privilege day

Flexible working options

Job summary

Government Recruitment Service is recruiting a Senior Software Development Engineer in Test for DVLA in Swansea. You will help design and deliver automated tests for web UIs and APIs, applying ATDD and robust coding practices.

You will work within a delivery team or dedicated testing function, mentoring juniors, planning related stories, and expanding automation with Cucumber and Ruby in Dockerised or serverless environments.

Qualifications

• Experience in building test automation for web UIs and APIs.
• Attention to detail and thorough testing approach.
• Experience applying SDET principles and automation testing strategies.

Responsibilities

• Plan and lead development on sets of related stories.
• Coach and mentor more junior colleagues.
• Understand and be proficient in different types of testing.
• Write clean, maintainable automated testing code.

Skills

Test automation

ATDD

Mentoring juniors

SDET principles

Cucumber

Ruby

Tools

Docker

Serverless architectures

Job description

Senior Software Development Engineer in Test (£44,241 - £58,997)

Are you experienced in building test automation for both web-based user interfaces and APIs?

Is your attention to detail thorough?

Are you passionate about Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) principles with a good comprehension of Automation Testing?

If so, we'd love to hear from you!

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 and 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 DVLA - Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency - Civil Service Careers.

At the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), we take testing very seriously and we automate as much as we can. Our SDETs are building best-in-class test automation software so that we can build products quickly and safely.

You will be a critical part of a squad following a behaviour-driven design approach (ATDD). You will love to code and to test in equal measure and challenge us to increase the scope of our Continuous Testing.

The DVLA is at the cutting edge of cloud-first technologies. We use Cucumber with Ruby for most of our testing. Our systems under test are usually Dockerised or Serverless applications.

In this dynamic role you will be part of an engineering team accountable for continually driving all aspects of quality improvements. You will be working in one of our delivery teams or as part of the dedicated independent testing team.

Our automation frameworks primarily use Cucumber with Ruby, and the systems we test are typically Dockerised or based on serverless architectures.

This is a dynamic position where you will contribute to an engineering team committed to improving all aspects of software quality. You may work within one of our delivery teams or as part of our dedicated independent testing function.

Your responsibilities will include, but aren't limited to:

• Plan and lead development on sets of related stories
• Coach and mentor more junior colleagues
• Understand and be proficient in different types of testing
• Write clean, maintainable automated testing code

For further information on the role, please read the attached role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst 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.

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme

Company: Government Recruitment Service Salary: £44,241 to £58,997 a year Hours: Full-time Location: Swansea Job type: Permanent Posting date: 19 Oct 2026 Closing date: 1 Nov 2026

About Disability Confident Disability Confident is a government scheme. It encourages employers to recruit and retain disabled people and those with long term health conditions.