Senior Software Development Engineer in Test

Job summary

The Strategy, Policy, Digital & Technology Directorate plays a central role in delivering DVSA’s digital services that support road safety and compliance across the UK. The Test Engineering team sits within this directorate and is responsible for ensuring high-quality, reliable, and scalable digital products. Working closely with product, delivery, and engineering teams, the group embeds quality from the outset of development, balancing manual and automated testing to provide confidence in delivery. The team drives improvements in testing practices, builds reusable frameworks, and promotes a culture of collaboration, early engagement, and continuous improvement to meet both user needs and DVSA’s strategic goals.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King’s birthday
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Find out more about what it's like working at Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency - Department for Transport Careers

Job description

Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:

1. Leading the design and development of test frameworks and tools.
2. Building reliable automated checks across API, integration, contract and end-to-end levels.
3. Improving CI/CD pipeline confidence through effective automated validation.
4. Investigating complex failures across code, environments, data and pipelines.
5. Supporting live service reliability by identifying risks and driving improvements.
6. Working with developers, testers, analysts and DevOps engineers to embed quality early.
7. Mentoring colleagues and promoting consistent quality engineering practices.
8. Contributing to engineering standards, continuous improvement and cross-team collaboration.

Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills they need. We aim to empower line managers to create teams where people can flourish and deliver excellent outcomes for the public.

For further information on the role, please read the attached role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

Person specification

To be successful in this role you will need to have the following experience:

• Designing and developing test frameworks and tooling.
• Writing clean, reusable and maintainable code in a modern engineering environment.
• Testing across API, integration, contract and end-to-end levels.
• Working with CI/CD pipelines and automated quality checks.
• Investigating complex failures across systems, environments, data and pipelines.
• Working in Agile, multidisciplinary teams to deliver digital services.
• Applying quality engineering practices to improve reliability and scalability.
• Mentoring others and influencing consistent engineering and testing standards.
  

Additional Information

Government Digital & Data Allowance

The role is part of the Government Digital and Data (or Government Security Profession Career Framework) profession and utilises an enhanced Capability–Based Pay Framework which provides access to a Digital and Data allowance.

The base pay is £44,241. In addition to this the role includes a Digital and Data allowance of up to £14,552.

The value of allowance awarded will be based on an assessment of your skills and experience as demonstrated through the selection process. Here are more details on the pay framework.

Working hours, office attendance and travel requirements

Full time roles consist of 37 hours per week. Whilst we welcome applications from those looking to work with us on a part time basis, there is a business requirement for the successful candidate to be able to work at least 30 hours per week.

Monthly travel to other offices would be encouraged, which may involve overnight stays.

This role is suitable for hybrid working, which is a non-contractual arrangement where a combination of workplace and home-based working can be accommodated subject to business requirements.

The expectation at present is a minimum of 60% of your working time a month will be spent at either your designated workplace (one of the locations cited in the advert) or, when required for business reasons, in another office/work location. There may be occasions where you are required to attend above the minimum expectation.

If you have a question about hybrid working, part time/job share hours, flexible working, travelling for work, or require a reasonable adjustment, please contact the Vacancy Holder during the recruitment process to avoid possible disappointment later in the process should your working arrangements not be compatible with the requirements of the role (see below for contact details).

Visa Sponsorship
Please note that we do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker Licence sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship. Candidates must ensure they have the appropriate rights to work in the UK before application.

Behaviours

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together

Technical skills

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

• Senior Developer - Modern Development standards - Level: Practitioner - Interview
• Senior Developer - Systems Integration - Level: practitioner - Interview
• Senior Developer - Service Support - Level: practitioner - Interview
• Senior Developer - Development process optimisation - Level: Working - Interview
• Senior Developer - Programming and Build - Level: practitioner - Interview

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £44,241, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency contributes £12,816 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.