Lead Test Manager

Job summary

Are you passionate about quality engineering, assurance and building high-performing testing teams?

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is looking for an experienced and inspiring Lead Test Manager to lead our newly formed quality assurance and testing profession

This is a rare opportunity to shape how quality is embedded across a complex digital estate that supports prosecutors, operational staff and citizens. You will define and lead the CPS quality assurance and testing strategy, ensuring quality, accessibility, security and operational readiness are considered from the earliest stages of delivery through to live service.

Working closely with technical leaders, delivery teams and senior stakeholders, you will provide independent quality assurance and oversight across CPS services, ensuring testing evidence supports delivery decisions, governance, service assessments and operational risk management. You will champion modern testing practices, continuous improvement and a culture where quality is owned by everyone.

As the lead in this area, you will develop capability, shape standards and ways of working, provide leadership to internal teams and suppliers, and help build the future testing profession within CPS. You will influence major technology and business change programmes, working at senior levels across government and industry to ensure quality remains at the heart of delivery.

This role is ideal for someone who combines strong testing and quality leadership with strategic thinking, excellent stakeholder management and a passion for developing people and professional capability.

As part of this role, you are expected to undertake direct line management responsibilities.

Job description

Your roles and responsibilities:

• Define and lead the CPS quality assurance and testing strategy, standards and governance framework, ensuring alignment with organisational, regulatory and government service standards.
• Provide independent quality assurance oversight across CPS services, supporting service assessments, technical assurance reviews, operational readiness and organisational governance activities.
• Lead continuous improvement across testing practices, quality engineering, defect management and assurance, using evidence, risk analysis and performance data to drive better outcomes.
• Build and lead a high performing testing profession, developing capability, mentoring colleagues, managing suppliers and creating a culture of quality across delivery teams.
• Represent the CPS testing profession internally and externally, influencing senior stakeholders and helping shape modern approaches to quality assurance and testing across government.

A copy of the full job description is attached.

Person specification

To be eligible to apply, you need to:

Essential Criteria:

• Have proven experience leading testing, quality assurance or quality engineering functions within complex digital delivery environments.
• Experience defining and implementing testing strategies, governance frameworks and organisational quality standards.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary testing teams and modern quality engineering practices, including automation and CI/CD.
• Experience delivering risk-based testing, release assurance and quality governance across large-scale digital services.
• Experience using quality metrics, defect trends and service performance data to drive continuous improvement.
• Experience influencing senior stakeholders, managing suppliers and developing high-performing testing teams and communities of practice.

Essential Technical:

• Test automation frameworks and automated regression testing.
• Performance and non-functional testing approaches, including workload modelling, performance analysis and bottleneck identification.
• Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) testing practices and quality gates.
• Test data management, anonymisation and environment management practices.
• Agile delivery practices including Three Amigos, collaborative test design and shift-left quality approaches.
• Jira-based test management, defect management and quality reporting approaches.
• Accessibility and inclusive testing practices.
• Quality assurance reporting, defect analytics and evidence-based release decision making.

It is desirable that you have the below experience but this is not required to apply:

• Experience of modern quality engineering operating models that combine Test Engineers, automation, performance testing and assurance functions within a single profession.
• Experience supporting Government Service Assessments and delivery against the Government Service Standard.
• Experience working within regulated, justice, policing or public sector technology environments.
• Experience implementing centralised QA or shared testing services across multiple agile delivery teams.
• Experience with performance testing programmes supporting API heavy and distributed services.
• Experience building automation roadmaps, regression suites and testing pipelines across multiple products and teams.
• ISTQB Advanced Test Manager, ISTQB Test Automation Engineer or equivalent professional qualification.

Behaviours

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

• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £58,330, Crown Prosecution Service contributes £16,898 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).

Join the Crown Prosecution Service and find your purpose.

The Crown Prosecution Service is passionate about ensuring that we're a top performing organisation and a great place to work. We're a committed equal opportunities employer, creating a culture where you can bring your whole self to work, and individuality is truly appreciated.

This culture of inclusion is underpinned by our staff networks covering disability, faith and belief, LGBTQI+, race, social mobility alongside our mental health first aiders programme and wellbeing sessions.

The Crown Prosecution Service commits to offer its employees the following experience.

• You can do impactful, purposeful work that’s making a difference to your local communities.
• You are able to learn and grow, with access to the right opportunities and resources.
• We care about your wellbeing.
• We want you to feel valued, trusted and included.

We also offer the following range of benefits:

• Civil Service contributory pension of up to 28.9%
• 25 days’ leave, increasing to 30 days after 5 years
• £350 each year to spend on personal development
• lawyer training programme for all new prosecutors
• an extra privilege day to mark the King's birthday
• competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave
• flexible working including flexitime, and a family friendly approach to work
• Cycle2Work scheme, employee savings.

Diversity at the Crown Prosecution Service is about inclusion, embracing differences and ensuring our workforce truly reflects the communities we serve. We want