Systems Tester

What we will offer

We will offer you a place where you can be yourself and where there are no limits on what you can achieve. With us, you can take ownership of your career and have honest conversations throughout. You would join an ambitious firm with a clear strategy for profitable growth where you can get early responsibility and early involvement in growing the business. Here you can expect a competitive and fair reward as well as recognition based on all round performance. This forms part of our internal promise to you, The Deal, between the firm and its employees.

You can expect:

• A competitive salary and a host of family friendly policies
• Life assurance, private health and dental care for you and your family
• The opportunity to support the firm's charity through volunteering leave
• A wellbeing strategy that focuses on preventative measures to maintain overall health, and tools and support for when our people experience physical or mental difficulties. The strategy focuses on four pillars: physical, emotional, financial and social aspects.
• Most of our roles are hybrid, meaning that colleagues benefit from working in our office and remotely. We are happy to discuss this and other flexible working arrangements with you as part of the application and interview process.

Team Structure

The IT function is comprised of the following teams: Service Desk, Technical Support and User Experience, Applications, Architecture & Solution Delivery, PMO, IT Security, and IT Change and Adoption.

This role sits in the Architecture & Solution Delivery team, reporting to the Solution Delivery Manager. Within the team there is a collaboration of Architects, Deployment Specialists, Engineers and a System Tester. At present there is currently around 50 employees in the wider Technology team.

Main Responsibilities

• Testing of new integrated software applications, programs, updates, security patches, devices and hardware into the Stephenson Harwood LLP estate.
• Creation of high-quality testing artefacts: test plans, test cases, extracting testable requirements from documented user scenarios and test exit reports.
• Ability to perform all aspects of testing, System Testing, Integration Testing, Regression Testing, and supporting User Experience Testing.
• Defect management, this includes defect triage, defect prioritisation, and communicating to the wider business and stakeholders.
• Ensuring that risk is raised appropriately and promptly with the project management team and business stakeholders whilst being aware of the impact to the target audience.
• Providing test planning, execution status and metrics updates to the project management team and business stakeholders where necessary.
• Provide high quality of estimation for testing and being able to communicate whilst retaining a pragmatic approach.
• Supporting User Acceptance Testing, facilitating testing with business users and stakeholders, driving user adoption and change.
• Team player, working towards common departmental and project related deadlines.
• Presenting / communicating test results and issues to project teams, or technical or non-technical colleagues.
• Ability to take ownership, with a willingness to learn.
• Pro-active with process improvement, ideation, updating test project artefacts and policies.
• Providing support and documentation when required.

Attributes/Skills Required

• The candidate must possess demonstrable manual software testing or quality assurance experience.
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, ability to communicate with colleagues at all levels of the business leadership spectrum.
• Ability to work as a team player, confident, able to integrate into a team seamlessly.
• Excellent time management skills, able to manage time effectively, work under pressure, and able to respond to change when required.
• High level of accuracy and attention to detail, ensuring that testing is performed to the highest level.
• Very good working knowledge of Microsoft packages.
• Experience of defect management or application performance tools, e.g., ServiceNow, Advanced Desktop Analytics, JIRA or Azure Dev Ops.
• Able to take ownership, with a proactive nature, can structure own work, and work unaccompanied when required.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, able to adhere to agreed milestones and communicate clearly to business stakeholders.

Experience

• ISEB / ISQTB Certification in Software Testing (must have).
• Demonstrable manual test or QA experience, minimum 2 years (must have).
• Demonstrable experience of the software lifecycle, versed in all aspects of testing (must have).
• Experience of defect management or application performance tools (must have).
• Previous legal, legal technology or legal partner experience (not essential).
• Exposure to common legal software applications e.g., Aderant (not essential).

This job description is indicative only and does not represent an exhaustive list of responsibilities. The firm reserves the right to alter or change the responsibilities at any time, in line with the firm's strategy and business needs.

About the Firm

With 8 offices worldwide and with our headquarters based in London, Stephenson Harwood is a law firm where our people are committed to achieving the goals of our clients - listed and private companies, institutions and individuals across the globe. Our mix of expertise and culture results in a combination of deep local insight and the capability to provide a seamless international service.

Our experience encompasses corporate, commercial litigation and arbitration, employment, pensions and private wealth, finance, marine and international trade, and real estate and projects.

We assemble teams of bright thinkers to match our clients' needs and give the right advice from the right person at the right time. Dedicating the highest calibre of legal talent to overcome the most complex issues, we deliver pragmatic, expert advice that is set squarely in the real world.

We understand the power of diversity in delivering that high calibre advice to our clients. We want to attract diverse talent and we particularly encourage applications from underrepresented demographics.

Our values

Individuality - We encourage creativity and develop talent.

Commitment - To be the best and deliver the highest standard.

Teamwork - We work together to build close, long-term relationships.

Straight talking - We say what we mean and do what we say.

These values express the personality of the individuals within our firm. They are the behaviours we encourage in our people and the standards which inform our decisions and actions.

Our vision into 2026

To be a successful firm where talented people work together in an entrepreneurial environment, building long term client relationships.

This vision is about who we want to be, as well as who we are. It is as much about our values as about our character – the attributes we want to see from all of our people. That's how we unlock our entrepreneurial spirit, advising our clients with top performing teams.

A key part of the 2026 strategy is to focus on five core sectors: decarbonisation, life sciences, private capital & funds, technology, and transportation & trade. These have been identified as crucial in the drive for accelerated profitable growth.