Test Lead

Fruition Group; Leeds; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

Fruition Group in Leeds is seeking a Test Lead to steer testing across programmes, ensuring quality and timely delivery within a pension, financial or insurance domain.

You will manage test planning, coordinate with internal teams and third-party suppliers, champion risk management, and mentor a growing testing team while aligning with Agile, DevOps, and CI/CD practices.

Qualifications

• Must have recent experience in pension, financial or insurance industries.
• Experience leading or coordinating testing in financial services or regulated environments.
• Strong background in test planning, defect management, risk assessment and stakeholder engagement.
• End-to-end testing across complex transformation programmes.
• Hands-on with test management tools such as Jira, Zephyr, Azure DevOps or TestRail.
• Technical testing skills across API/integration testing, data validation and performance testing.
• Experience with third-party testing suppliers and Agile/DevOps environments.
• ISTQB Foundation or equivalent certification.

Responsibilities

• Lead planning, coordination, execution and reporting of testing across projects.
• Support Test Manager in defining test strategy, governance and QA processes.
• Oversee SIT, UAT, regression, end-to-end, performance and regulatory testing.
• Maintain an audit-ready testing framework aligned to regulatory requirements.
• Manage defect triage, prioritisation, tracking and escalation.
• Ensure test coverage across pensions systems and regulatory reporting.
• Coordinate internal teams and third-party testing suppliers.
• Drive test automation, shift-left and CI/CD integration.
• Report progress, quality metrics, risks and defects to stakeholders.
• Mentor and develop the testing team.

Skills

Pension/financial/insurance experience

Test planning

Defect management

Stakeholder engagement

End-to-end testing

Agile/DevOps

Mentoring/leadership

Education

ISTQB Foundation (or equivalent)

Tools

Jira

Zephyr

Azure DevOps

TestRail

Job description

Job Title: Test Lead
Location: Leeds/Hybrid (x2 days in office)
Salary: Competitive Salary

Responsibilities

• Lead the planning, coordination, execution and reporting of testing across projects, programmes and operational change
• Support the Test Manager in defining and improving test strategy, governance, standards and QA processes
• Oversee SIT, UAT, regression, end-to-end, performance and operational readiness testing, including OAT and non-functional testing
• Maintain an audit-ready testing framework aligned to regulatory, security and compliance requirements
• Manage defect triage, prioritisation, tracking and escalation
• Ensure test coverage across pensions administration systems, digital platforms, data migration and regulatory reporting
• Coordinate internal teams and third-party testing suppliers, escalating risks and deviations
• Drive test automation, shift-left and CI/CD integration
• Report clearly on progress, quality metrics, risks and defects to stakeholders
• Mentor and develop the testing team

Requirements

• Must have recent experience working within pension, financial or the insurance industry.
• Experience leading or coordinating testing in financial services - pensions, insurance, banking or other regulated environments
• Strong background in test planning, defect management, risk assessment and stakeholder engagement
• End-to-end testing experience across complex business and technology transformation programmes
• Hands-on with test management tools such as Jira, Zephyr, Azure DevOps or TestRail
• Technical testing skills across API and integration testing, mobile testing, data validation and reconciliation, and performance and load testing
• Experience working with third-party testing suppliers
• Working knowledge of Agile, Scrum, DevOps or hybrid delivery
• Exposure to test automation frameworks, CI/CD, SQL and cloud environments (Azure or AWS)
• ISTQB Foundation (or equivalent)

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.