Senior Quality Assurance Test Analyst
Description
- Job grade: Senior Executive Officer
- Contract type: Permanent
- Business area: ONS - Digital and Technology - Digital Services, Macroeconomic and Environment Statistics
- Type of role: Digital, Information Technology
- Working pattern: Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time, Compressed hours
- Number of jobs available: 3
Location
Due to workforce controls you can only select Manchester, London, Darlington or Edinburgh if you are an existing ONS employee contracted to that location. If you are not contracted at one of these sites, these options are not available to you.
Applicants who select a location they are not eligible for will be removed from the recruitment process and will not be considered for alternative locations.
Please refer to attachments for further terms and flexibilities.
This role is aligned to ONS hybrid working principles, which are based on attending the office with purpose. The post holder will be expected to contribute to the organisation’s overall 40% office attendance, in line with business and role requirements.
The induction process for the role will be conducted in person.
About the job
Job summary
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime and migration.
These posts will be working within our Digital Services Quality Assurance and Testing (DS-QAT) team, which is an enabling function that works across multiple directorates, overseeing multiple work streams and multiple projects taking ownership of our QAT strategy as part of our broader risk-based approach.
Job description
The roles will be responsible for ensuring that systems, services, and end-to-end processes are tested, integrated, and operationally ready.
You will lead the day-to-day work of the testing team, bringing the test team and project together to complete testing activities according to the project plan or agreed delivery dates.
Responsibilities include:
- Take a business and an operational view to finding solutions to complex problems.
- Provide test coverage support for test engineers and software developers.
- Identify additional tests for both functional and non-functional requirements where appropriate.
- Deliver at pace using the most appropriate delivery methodologies and adopting agile principles.
- Assist decision makers in gathering information to make informed decisions.
- Actively participate in the Testing community and broader communities to refine and develop standards, working practices, sharing of knowledge, and understanding.
- Line management of QAT Analysts within the ONS community.
Person specification
Essential Criteria:
Communicating between the technical and non-technical
You can:
- listen to and interpret the needs of technical and non-technical stakeholders, and manage their expectations
- manage active and reactive communication
- support or host difficult discussions within the team or with diverse senior stakeholders
Managing, reporting and resolving defects
You can:
- contribute to developing standards for defect management processes
- manage and escalate dependencies, defects, and risks across the team
- contribute to mitigation and contingency plans across teams
- use defect patterns and trends to make recommendations on testing and quality approaches, with support
- manage stakeholder expectations and communications during defect resolution
Test & Quality Planning
You can:
- work with teams to develop and implement appropriate quality testing approaches, plans and strategies
- contribute to organisational quality testing strategies
- implement ways to capture data to drive continuous improvement of quality testing approaches, plans and strategies
- advocate for full team ownership of quality testing activities, encouraging early engagement
Strategic Insight (Wider Business)
You can:
- The need for organisational testing strategy and objectives and understands what testing the business area(s) are trying to complete
- How to align testing resource and activities across teams to assist decision making and action. Aware of how to align testing activities with objectives to create strategic insights that inform policy and proposition
Designing and Executing Tests
You can:
- influence and guide the use of appropriate test types and techniques
- lead others in designing, building, maintaining and executing tests that verify the system meets user acceptance criteria or requirement.
- contribute to developing and implementing standards for designing and executing tests
- improve test types and techniques through a structured process.
Qualifications
or
Equivalent demonstrable experience (At least 3 years’ experience)
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Working Together
- Managing a Quality Service
- Leadership
- Communicating and Influencing
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Understanding of Test Management Tools (JIRA, QC, TFS, Azure DevOps, any other)
- Knowledge of Reporting and planning of test activities with Test tools or Excel
Benefits
The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.
Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.
Inclusion & Accessibility
At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.
As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.
If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.
ONS are committed to flexible ways of working that support a healthy work-life balance. ONS has already considered how this job could be right sized for applicants working flexibly and we are happy to explore options with you about working part time, in a job share or flexibly, in line with our hybrid working policies.
Things you need to know
Artificial intelligence
Selection process details
Security Clearance
For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.
If you are unsure that you meet the eligibility above, please read the information available on on this link or contact the recruitment email on the advert before applying to discuss, as failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected and any offer of employment being withdrawn.
At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:
- Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
- UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
- Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
- Security Services records
Please note we will reach out to you once the advert has closed to confirm eligibility for this role, this will be via an e-mail. Please check your junk e-mails for any correspondence.
Visa Sponsorship
ONS is unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants must have a valid right to work in the UK when employment commences. If currently in the UK on a time-limited visa, applicants must have at least 18 months remaining on their visa at the point of application.
To work at the ONS, candidates must meet both UK right to work and security clearance requirements (where applicable).
If you are unsure whether you meet the appropriate right to work or security clearance eligibility criteria, please refer to the guidance on or contact the recruitment email provided in the advert before applying. Failure to meet these requirements will result in your application being rejected and employment offers being withdrawn.
Application Process
Number of Stages: 2 stage process
Stage 1: Application
Stage 2: Interview
Stage 1 – Application
The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, CV, skills, experience, personal statement and your answer to a question posed on the application form. This question is limited to 500 words, but do not feel you must use all of them. It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.
Please note in the event of receiving a high volume of applications we will assess your answer to the question as lead criteria, and will reject those with unsatisfactory responses before assessing personal statement, work history and CV.
A personal statement is required at application stage, the maximum word count allowed is 1250, which should not be exceeded. You should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).
Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.
In instances where a high number of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted, and candidates will be invited to interview based on merit order, i.e., those with the highest scores.
When a high volume of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted. Candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised. Applicants who score below the adjusted pass mark but still pass will be placed on hold and may be invited to interview at a later date.
We often have similar roles available at different grades. If a candidate is suitable for a similar role or a lower grade than they have applied for, we may offer the candidate that role without the need to go through a further selection process providing the role has the same behaviours, and essential skills.
Stage 2 – Interview
If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours listed in the job advert and any required technical skills.
You will be required to provide a 10 minute presentation at interview. The presentation topic will be emailed to candidates who have passed the initial online application stage, 1 week prior to interview. This presentation will assess candidates against the Technical Skill Knowledge of Reporting and planning of test activities with test tools or Excel.
Interviews will be via Microsoft Teams.
A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.
Important Dates
- Security Clearance Eligibility checks from 13/11/2026 - 20/11/2026.
Please be aware that we will be sending you an e-mail with a form to fill out. - Sift will be conducted from 23/11/2026
- Interviews will be conducted from 07/12/2026
For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment.
Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
Diversity and Inclusion
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Government Digital and Data Recruitment
- Email : [email protected]
Recruitment team
- Email : [email protected]
Further information
Attachments
| Flexibilities_Advert Opens in new window (pdf, 47kB) |
| 2721 Advert 1A Permanent - ONS London Inclusive v1-00 Opens in new window (pdf, 83kB) |
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