Test Lead – Bath Future Architecture (12-month FTC)

Bath Building Society; Bath; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

27 days holiday plus bank holidays

A day off on your birthday

Participation in community volunteering

Generous pension scheme

Life Insurance (four times your salary)

Healthcare benefits

Diversity & Wellbeing Forum

Annual bonus scheme

Employee discounts portal

Regular social events

Job summary

A regional financial institution is seeking an experienced Test Lead to oversee their digital transformation programme. This role involves developing a comprehensive test strategy to ensure high-quality delivery across projects. Applicants should have a solid background in testing, excellent leadership skills, and experience in mortgage or banking systems. This is a hybrid role located in central Bath, offering competitive benefits and a supportive work environment.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in managing testing activities for large transformation projects.
• Ability to define test strategies and lead testing teams.
• Strong communication and organisational skills required.

Responsibilities

• Develop and own the Society’s overarching test strategy.
• Lead planning, coordination, and execution of testing activities.
• Provide readiness assessments and go-live assurance.

Skills

Experience as a Test Lead or Test Manager on large-scale systems

Strong background in SIT, UAT, regression, and penetration testing

Experience with mortgage systems and/or core banking platforms

Proactive leadership style

Strong understanding of structured testing approaches

Experience with test management tools (e.g., Azure DevOps, JIRA, TestRail)

Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills

Strong organisational and time-management skills

Job description

Overview

Bath Building Society is undergoing a major transformation programme, with a current focus on implementing a new digital mortgage origination system and upgrading our core banking platform. We’re looking for an experienced and proactive Test Lead to join our Business Change team on a 12-month fixed-term contract, taking ownership of our end-to-end testing approach.

In this role, you’ll provide centralised coordination and leadership across multiple projects and suppliers. You’ll set the strategic direction for testing while also rolling up your sleeves to deliver, from planning and execution to reporting and go-live assurance. Throughout, you’ll ensure testing is aligned with programme milestones and delivers the right outcomes for the business.

This hybrid position is based at our Queen Square Head Office in central Bath, with around three days a week in the office. You’ll collaborate closely with teams across the Society and with external suppliers to make sure testing is thorough, efficient, and effective.

The Society has been supporting our community since 1904. As a mutual, we are proud of our heritage and are committed to being an employer of choice, creating a diverse and inclusive team, managing our environmental impact, and supporting our local community.

We’re proud of the strong, supportive culture at the Society. It’s a collaborative environment with genuine team spirit, and we’re all passionate about providing Members with a personal and trusted service.

The role

As Test Lead for the Bath Future Architecture transformation programme, you will develop and own the Society’s overarching test strategy, covering all phases of testing and ensuring high-quality delivery across key projects. You’ll lead planning, coordination, and execution of testing activities, working closely with internal teams, external suppliers, and programme managers to define scope, criteria, and timelines.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Developing and maintaining the Society’s overall test strategy across multiple test phases (SIT, UAT, regression, penetration/security testing).
• Leading test planning sessions and creating high-quality test cases, scripts, and traceability matrices.
• Defining test scope, entry/exit criteria, timelines, and environment needs.
• Overseeing day-to-day testing activities for the new mortgage origination platform and core banking system.
• Coordinating workloads for testers, monitoring progress, and managing issue resolution.
• Supporting defect triage processes to ensure timely identification, documentation, and resolution of issues.
• Monitoring testing progress and reporting outcomes, risks, and issues to senior stakeholders.
• Providing readiness assessments and go-live assurance.
• Ensuring penetration and non-functional testing requirements are met.
• Championing improvements in testing processes, tools, and quality standards across the programme.

Skills and competencies

• Proven experience as a Test Lead or Test Manager on large-scale system implementations or transformation programmes.
• Strong background in SIT, UAT, regression, and penetration testing.
• Experience with mortgage systems and/or core banking platforms is highly desirable.
• Proactive leadership style, with the ability to manage testers and testing activities directly.
• Strong understanding of structured testing approaches, defect management, and test reporting.
• Experience with test management tools (e.g., Azure DevOps, JIRA, TestRail).
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to work across business, technology, and supplier teams.
• Strong organisational and time-management skills, able to manage multiple testing streams in parallel.

Why should you apply?

• Central Bath location with hybrid working opportunities when the job allows
• Competitive salary, with strong support for work-life balance — we don’t expect long or excessive working hours
• 27 days holiday (plus bank holidays) with the option to buy an additional five days
• A day off on your birthday
• Two days off a year to take part in our community volunteering programme
• Generous pension scheme
• Life Insurance (four times your salary)
• Healthcare benefits after a qualifying period
• Diversity & Wellbeing Forum
• Support from Mental Health First Aiders
• Sharing in Success: Annual bonus scheme based on both the performance of the Society and your individual performance
• Access to the Wider Wallet employee discounts portal to enjoy discounts off nationwide brands
• We also have regular social events and some of the best parties!

To apply

Send an up to date copy of your CV to [e-mail]

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient suitable applications for the role. So if you are interested, please submit your application as soon as possible.

Details

• Seniority level: Mid-Senior level
• Employment type: Full-time
• Job function: Quality Assurance