Test Lead

About Us: 

Solirius Reply, part of the Reply Group, is a technology consultancy and digital transformation partner that helps organisations solve complex challenges through strategy, design, engineering, and delivery.

We work closely with our clients to deliver secure, accessible, user-focused services that evolve with their needs. By combining deep technical expertise with people-centred design, we create solutions that deliver meaningful, lasting impact.

Our consultants partner directly with client teams, embedding into organisations to understand their goals, challenges, and users. This collaborative approach enables us to deliver tailored solutions that drive measurable outcomes across public and private sectors.

Past and present clients include the Ministry of Justice, Department for Education, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, UEFA, International Olympic Committee, and Mercedes-Benz. Our services span the full digital delivery lifecycle, including architecture, engineering, delivery management, user-centred design, business analysis, data, DevOps, and AI.

We operate as a collaborative and inclusive organisation that empowers our people to take ownership, innovate, and develop their expertise. As an equal opportunities employer, we are committed to encouraging equality, diversity, and social mobility, while creating opportunities for our teams to work on meaningful projects that deliver lasting impact.

About You:

You are a motivated and adaptable professional with a strong analytical mindset and a passion for using technology to solve real-world problems. You enjoy working in collaborative, agile teams and take pride in delivering high-quality solutions that make a tangible impact. With strong communication skills and a consultative approach, you’re comfortable engaging with clients, understanding their needs, and translating them into effective outcomes. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and shape the Quality Engineering approach across Solirius and our clients.
• Define, implement, and continuously improve QA and test strategies.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance across multiple delivery teams.
• Drive test automation, shift-left testing, CI/CD, and continuous testing.
• Work closely with developers, business stakeholders, clients, and delivery teams.
• Promote quality throughout the software development lifecycle.
• Maintain a strong hands-on testing and automation capability.
• Develop and maintain scalable test automation frameworks and regression suites.
• Lead functional, API, integration, acceptance, and end-to-end testing.
• Promote effective unit and developer-led testing practices.
• Integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines.
• Coach, mentor, and develop QA and SDET engineers.
• Manage QA resources and priorities across multiple projects.
• Drive continuous improvement and identify opportunities to improve testing processes.
• Champion Quality Engineering and industry best practices.
• Provide clear advice on quality risks, testing approaches, and delivery decisions.
• Build strong relationships with clients, stakeholders, developers, and delivery teams.
• Government/public sector experience desirable.

Key Skills/Experience:

• Strong software testing background with hands-on automation experience.
• Experience with .NET/C# or Java.
• Experience with automation tools and frameworks such as Selenium, Playwright, or similar.
• Strong API testing experience, ideally using REST Assured.
• Experience with CI/CD tools and pipelines, including Jenkins.
• Understanding of Agile, DevSecOps/SecDevOps, and shift-left practices.
• Experience working with development teams to improve overall testing quality.
• Strong stakeholder management, communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills.
• Proven experience leading QA teams and delivering test and process improvements.
• Experience working within complex, high-paced delivery environments.
• Government/public sector experience desirable.

• Competitive Salary

• Bonus Scheme
• Private Healthcare Insurance
• 25 Days Annual Leave + Bank Holidays
• Up to 10 days allocated for development training per year
• Enhanced Parental Leave
• Paid Fertility Leave (5 Days)
• Statutory & Contributory Pension
• EAP with Help@Hand
• Gym Membership Benefits
• Cycle to Work and Electric Vehicle schemes
• Flexible Working
• Annual Away Days/Company Socials

Diversity and Inclusion

As an equal opportunities employer, we are committed to creating a work environment that supports, celebrates, encourages and respects all individuals, where all processes are based on merit, competence and business needs.

Encouraging high social mobility is really important to us. We foster an inclusive culture by welcoming different perspectives, enabling equitable opportunities and promoting open dialogue. This commitment is reflected in initiatives such as our gender diversity group and our focus on mental health and wellbeing. Whatever stage you are at, you will find an environment where you can thrive.

Should you require further assistance or require any reasonable adjustments to be put in place to better support your application process, please do not hesitate to raise this with us.

As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is accessible and inclusive, enabling all candidates to demonstrate their skills, experience and potential.