Senior Test Engineer

Job summary

Discover a career in your hands at HMRC. Whether you're seeking purpose, growth, or a workplace that gives you a true sense of belonging, hear from some of our employees as they share their story about what it’s really like to work at HMRC.

Visit our YouTube channel to watch the full series and come and discover your potential.

We are looking for a Senior Test Engineer to join teams delivering services within Enterprise Integration Services (EIS). This role focuses on engineering-led testing approaches that assure the quality of API platforms, integration services and service-based architectures that underpin HMRC’s digital estate.

You will work as part of multidisciplinary delivery teams, designing and building automated testing solutions while also applying test analysis and assurance practices to ensure APIs and integrations are reliable, secure and performant. This includes validating data flows, interfaces and end-to-end service behaviour across complex integration landscapes.

This role sits within HMRC’s Chief Digital & Information Office (CDIO), supporting services at national scale.

Job description

As a Senior Test Engineer you will embed testing and quality practices across the delivery lifecycle for API and integration-based services.

You will design, implement and maintain automated tests for APIs, services and platforms, working closely with developers and other engineers. You’ll contribute to CI/CD pipelines, identify quality risks early, and support teams in delivering secure and resilient integration services.

You will also contribute to understanding requirements and defining effective test coverage for API and integration services, ensuring quality risks are identified early and addressed throughout delivery.

You will work with a good degree of autonomy, taking ownership of test engineering tasks within your team, while being supported by lead engineers and quality specialists.

Key Responsibilities will include:

• Design, develop and maintain automated tests for APIs, integration services and platforms.
• Work closely with developers to embed testing early and continuously.
• Contribute to CI/CD pipelines and continuous testing approaches.
• Support non-functional testing such as performance, security and accessibility, particularly for APIs and integrations.
• Analyse test results, raise defects and support investigation and resolution.
• Contribute to improving test frameworks, tooling and engineering practices.
• Support knowledge sharing and mentoring of less experienced colleagues.
• Review and analyse business and technical requirements, identifying risks, gaps and test conditions for APIs and integrations.
• Validate data flows and interfaces using structured data formats such as JSON and XML.
• Produce clear test evidence and support assurance activities to inform release decisions
• Collaborate with product managers, architects, developers and delivery managers to ensure quality is embedded across the lifecycle.

Person specification

You will be a technically capable Test Engineer with experience of testing APIs and integration-based services in modern delivery environments.

At this level, you are expected to deliver independently, contribute to technical decision-making within your team, and support the development of good testing practices.

You will demonstrate the following skills at Working / Practitioner level, combining strong test engineering capability with effective test analysis and quality assurance practices:

• Designing and building automated tests for APIs and services.
• Applying testing techniques across the delivery lifecycle.
• Working effectively in agile, multidisciplinary teams.
• Identifying and communicating quality and integration risks.
• Analysing requirements and designing effective test coverage for APIs and integration services.

Essential Criteria

Test engineering and automation:
Experience building and maintaining automated tests using modern frameworks and languages.

API and integration testing:
Experience testing APIs, service-based or integration-led systems, including validation of data exchange, interfaces and service behaviour.

Agile and DevOps delivery:
Experience working in agile teams and contributing to CI/CD pipelines.

Technical collaboration:
Ability to work closely with engineers to identify and manage quality risks.

Test analysis and quality assurance:
Ability to analyse requirements, design effective test coverage and provide evidence-based assurance of service quality.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience with API platforms, gateways or event-driven architectures.
• Experience with performance or security testing for services.
• Knowledge of cloud or container-based environments.
• Experience working with structured data formats such as JSON and XML.
• ISTQB or equivalent testing qualification.

Further Location Information

Please ensure that you only apply for a location that you are willing and able to work from, as we will only make one offer of employment. Any additional notes included in a ‘Further Location Preferences (optional)’ field within the application form, will not be considered. Please be aware that you cannot change your location preference after submitting your application.

Office Closures

If your location preference is for the following site, it’s important to note that this is not long-term site for HMRC and we will require you to move to a new building in the future, subject to our location strategy and the applicable employee policies at that time.

For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations (opens in a new window)

This site is:

• Telford Plaza, Telford - moving to Parkside Court, Telford

You will be given more information about what this means at the job offer stage.

Leeds Location

Moves Adjustment Payment will be available for this role, provided the successful applicant is a current HMRC colleague in Bradford and meets the eligibility requirements outlined in the HMRC’s Moves Adjustment Payment guidance.

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Test Engineering and Automation
• API and Integration Testing
• Agile Delivery, CI/CD and Quality Assurance

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £45,544, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £13,194 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

HMRC operates both Flexible and Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments. We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, considering our operational and customer service needs.

We offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days.

• Pension - We make contributions to ou