The IPO is a modern organisation which depends on its IT services to operate and innovate effectively. In order to provide up to date services to our customers both nationally and internationally systems need to be developed, improved and maintained. You will have the opportunity to work on the latest cutting-edge cloud technologies, use modern delivery processes and work on innovative projects some including the use of AI and ML. Working alongside experts in their fields you will have the opportunity to make valuable contributions without compromising on quality.
You will need the appetite to learn new technologies and methodologies for delivering high quality IT services. In this role you will work within a multi-disciplined squad using several technologies to build enterprise grade services. You will be expected to be proactive and take accountability for the squad assigned deliveries. The role will also require the investigation, diagnosis and fix of any system issues. A Senior Test Engineer is expected to contribute to the technical strategy for the department.
As a multi-skilled individual, you will have the opportunities to develop and mature skills in a core role but extend this to skills typically aligned to other role types. You will have a high level of input in defining which additional skills you can develop.
We are recruiting for multiple roles of which one role is slightly biased towards application testing post infrastructure changes.Working Style
This role will be carried out in-line with IPO Hybrid working arrangements where staff are currently expected to spend at least 20% of their time working onsite from one of our offices. This role is based in our Newport Office.
The requirement for attendance at an office location can vary by role so we would encourage candidates to discuss working arrangements with the recruiting manager to agree a reasonable balance between working from home and the office.
Main duties consist of but are not limited to
Technical

• Responsible for writing, executing and maintaining functional/non-functional automated UI and API tests/suites aligned against acceptance criteria to support our continuous deployment environment
• Be responsible for the design, coding, testing, maintenance, and documentation for robust, scalable and reusable solutions that deliver exceptional user experience using DevOps best practice
• Proactively investigate problems and opportunities in existing processes, evaluating and communicating findings and recommendations to stakeholders
• Work closely with software developers to reach a common understanding of the code base and test coverage at unit level
• Work within a multi-disciplinary team to deliver highly user focused and successful digital services ensuring governance standards are adhered to.
• Identify and manage defects, incidents, risks and issues in line with IPO standards
• Build automated test solutions from scratch in line with IPO Test Strategy and IPO Engineering Principles
• Contribute to the design, coding, testing and documentation of small scale to large, complex or mission critical program
• Implement toolkits and APIs for purposes such as integration, performance optimisation, security and scalability

Behavioural

• Understanding yourself to be a leader (and the impact of your behaviour on others in a project team focused on results)
• Engaging Stakeholders (for mutually beneficial collaborative relationships outside of the team)
• Work across several multi-disciplinary teams to deliver highly focused and successful digital services
• Provide project / delivery management support when required
• Effective management and delegation of tasks within the team
• Applies progress over perfection principle
• Takes full responsibility for decisions and delivers
• Inner composure, recovers quickly from setbacks and learns from the experience
• Highly driven & inspires others to move things along and make things happen
• Work collaboratively with IT and stakeholders, share knowledge and expertise with your wider team, aspire to be a role model within the organisation, champion our culture of learning, development, cross-company collaboration and teamwork

Personal and Team Development

• Drive your own training and self-development, keeping skills up to date and learning new skills
• Take responsibility for ensuring that the team test and build activities follow agreed governance and processes
• Promote and display the IPO and Civil Service Values
• Guide more junior members in their personal development
• Coach and mentor colleagues
• Continuously improves technical knowledge and stays abreast of latest trends

Person specification
Essential Experience

• Has been a key player in delivering technical solutions as part of large projects
• Experience of working with cloud technologies including Azure
• Experience of using data models
• Experience in test documentation, such as strategies and approaches
• Experience in testing front-end and back-end web services
• Experienced with Agile delivery model
• Working knowledge of Azure DevOps

Essential Technical

• Experience with Automation tools, including MS Visual Studio with C#, Selenium, BDD, SpecFlow, MSTest, RestSharp and JavaScript
• Working knowledge of non-functional test tools including JMeter and Azure Load Test
• Experience with Github
• Has a deep understanding of architectural principals with design patterns
• Experience of writing SQL statements

How to Apply
Click the ‘Apply now’ button and complete the application form by providing the following:
Your CV
Upload an anonymised copy of your current CV. Please remove all identifying markers such as name, title, education institution etc.
Make sure it clearly shows how you meet the essential criteria listed in the Person Specification.
Behaviours
We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Developing Self and Others
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace
• Technical skills
• We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

At interview a presentation will be used to assess this, Further details will be provided in your invite to interview.
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £47,766, Intellectual Property Office contributes £13,837 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Unlimited Pluralsight video learning access
• Access to Microsofts ESI training suite
• Hybrid working with no core hours
• Substantial support for career progression
• 25 days annual leave moving to 30 days in annual increments
• You will also get 8 days public leave and 1 day privilege leave

For more information about whats on offer at the Intellectual Property Office please review our IPO benefit pack attached to the bottom of this advert.
Please note that benefits may be subject to change.