QA Architect

Job Description

An exciting opportunity with one of our large clients in the commodities trading space. This a hybrid working role with their offices located in Mayfair.The RoleAs part of an overall refresh of its underlying business processes and IT, our client is currently executing a number of projects that involve significant business and technological change. These projects include a mixture of bespoke development and packageimplementations. To support these activities, the company require an experienced IT test professional with excellent analytical skills and good understanding of theOverall testing lifecycle considerations to act overall QA ArchitectThe keys aims of this role are:1. to act as overall Testing Centre of Excellence and QA Architect, owning and developing testing standards and processes2. to consolidate, streamline and improve existing test assets (tools, standards, processes, test suites, etc.) to ensure these are used in a consistent manner by the various Scrum teams3. to have oversight over the consolidation and expansion of regression test suites for the application estate and ensure these are built to required quality levels4. to ensure that any new test suites developed by Scrum teams are of sufficient quality and are harvested for incorporation into the regression test suites5. to work closely with the DevOps team to implement automated testing tools and techniques wherever practical in order to ensure testing activities are run as efficiently as possible6. to help develop and foster a test driven development culture within our Agile teamsThe QA Architect will have a broad cross-team remit, and will work closely with the Architecture team, Devops and the Development teams directly. The Devops team is currently in the process of implementing a number of tools and processes to automate tests,streamline the creation of development and test environments and to make the release of software across environments more straightforward. The QA Architect will be expected to play a significant role in specifying any test-related features to be deliveredby this team.In detail, the position encompasses duties and responsibilities as follows:

• Ensure creation of high quality testing assets to be used across the IT teams through
• consolidation, streamlining and improvement of existing assets (tools, standards, processes, test suites, etc.) and implementation of new assets as necessary
• Own those test assets going forwards and ensure they are used appropriately by the Scrum teams
• Be overall QA lead on the consolidation and development of regression test suites for the application estate.
• Ensure testing packs developed by Scrum teams are of sufficient quality and are properly harvested for use beyond the completion of projects
• Coach/mentor members of other teams engaged in testing activities on standards and tools owned by the QA Architect and help develop a test driven development culture
• Contribute to the development of automated testing suites where relevant to ensure high productivity and efficiency
• Contribute to the development of improved QA, testing and deployment processes generally
• Developing a consistent approach to test reporting and ensuring timely test reports are provided to the scrum/management teams
• Ensuring that (where appropriate) software development conducted by a third party follows good test practices
• Organising and overseeing User Story reviews with a view to pushing the test effort earlier into the project life cycle
• Any other ad hoc duties that may be required from time to time.

The ideal candidate disposes of:

• Skilled practitioner in structured testing techniques and tools, with both a practical bent and ability to develop and implement standards and techniques
• Strong analytic skills and attention to detail
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills
• Strong influencer and ability to work across teams
• Strong mentoring and coaching skills
• Excellent time management
• Self-starter with the ability to work with minimal supervision
• Demonstrable experience in either leading or having a key role within a central testing or major project / programme team
• Demonstrable experience in implementing standards, tools and techniques and ensuring buy-in/compliance from a wider group
• Demonstrable experience in developing, maintaining and executing regression test suites
• Project management experience (within a testing stream) an advantage
• Experience in working with offshore teams a key advantage
• Degree-educated or equivalent
• Experience in the use Test Complete, ReadyAP|, JMeter and Selenium a definite advantage.
• Experience in the use of modern TDD/BDD methodologies and tooling.

"ISQTB, ISEB or equivalent qualifications an advantage"Experience in working within a commodities trading or Investment Banking environment an advantage