Job vacancy: Digital Test Lead, Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, Reading

Job summary

Main area: admin & clerical
Grade: NHS AfC: Band 8a
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week (per week)
Job ref: 193-7247505COR

Employer: Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type: NHS
Site: Royal Berkshire Hospital
Town: Reading
Salary: £53,755 - £60,504 per annum
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 15/06/2025 23:59

Digital Test Lead

NHS AfC: Band 8a

Royal Berkshire Hospital are pleased to announce that following our CQC inspection we have been rated ‘Good’ with inspectors reporting that we have made significant improvements. The Trust’s overall rating has also improved to ‘good’. This is a great opportunity to join our clinical or non-clinical teams to create a positive and motivating environment within our trust. Come and join our team in this exciting time of change as we pride ourselves, our staff and our services on excellence.

At the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust we put our patients at the heart of every element of health and care that we provide. The Trust works together as a community to deliver its vision which is “Working together to provide outstanding care for our community.”

We are Compassionate in our thoughts, words and actions

We are Aspirational and have a true desire to be dynamic and to innovate

We are Resourceful and responsible in the way we work and live

We are Excellent in our development, fairness and sharing best practice

Amazing things happen at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust; delivered by amazing people so why don’t you come and join us. We offer a range of learning and development for all employees may you be clinical or non-clinical.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Testing Strategy & Leadership:
•Design and Lead a Comprehensive Digital Testing Strategy

•Develop, deliver, and manage the testing strategy for the Trust’s digital solutions, ensuring integration with technical infrastructure, applications, and data conversion.
•Align the testing approach with NHS requirements and the Trust’s digital transformation initiatives.
•Develop a detailed testing programme timeline in coordination with key programme leads, ensuring resources, environments, and tools are prepared for timely execution of testing.
•Oversee both manual and automated testing efforts, ensuring test coverage across applications, infrastructure, and integrated systems. Lead the development and execution of automated testing frameworks using industry-standard tools.
•Ensure that all necessary resources for testing—people, environments, tools, and locations—are available and adequately managed. Coordinate test ownership across teams and allocate tasks as per the overall project schedule.
•Develop and implement risk management protocols within the testing programme to identify, assess, and mitigate risks before they impact the operational environment.

Quality Assurance & Governance:
•Define and enforce quality assurance standards and protocols across all digital solutions, ensuring compliance with NHS digital frameworks and governance structures.
•Lead the development of detailed test plans, scripts, and test cases for functional, non-functional, integration, and regression testing. Supervise the review of these documents to ensure compliance with industry standards.
•Establish and maintain a robust issue management system to track defects, monitor testing outcomes, and manage test data for review and audit purposes.
•Ensure all issues are escalated and resolved in a timely manner.

Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement:
•Liaise with IT teams, application owners, clinical leads, and external suppliers to ensure testing is aligned with project objectives.
•Collaborate with external vendors to ensure thorough testing of third-party solutions including relevant supplier relationship management where applicable
•Develop a structured communication strategy to ensure all stakeholders receive timely updates on testing progress.
•Provide assurance to senior leadership on testing milestones and escalate any issues or delays.
•Act as the central point of contact for testing activities, presenting complex technical data and testing outcomes to various stakeholders, including senior management and clinical leads.

Person specification

Education, Qualifications & Training

Essential criteria

Extensive knowledge of software testing best practices across functional, non-functional, regression, integration, and UAT testing.
Significant experience in leading digital testing processes in complex, multi-system environments.
Experience working within NHS or healthcare IT frameworks, with an understanding of patient-centric digital solutions and clinical system integration.
Proven ability to lead and manage test teams in an agile, multidisciplinary digital delivery environment.

Desirable criteria

Experience in automation testing tools and techniques
In depth knowledge of project governance in relation to testing in a digital healthcare environment

Experience

Essential criteria

Minimum of 5 years in a leadership role managing software testing in a complex, regulated environment, ideally within the NHS or healthcare sector.
Extensive experience in software testing and quality assurance, including both manual and automated testing techniques. Proven track record in developing testing strategies for large-scale, multi-disciplinary programmes.
Advanced IT skills across all Microsoft Applications.
Proficient with large sets of data testing.
In-depth understanding of software development processes, including Agile and DevOps methodologies, and their impact on testing.
Strong experience in budget management and financial forecasting within a Testing or QA context.
Experience with cloud-based platforms and integration testing across complex systems.
Management of others in a high performing team environment
Experience of working at a senior manager level
Significant experience of managing and leading a team
Proven experience of delivering outcomes to prescribed timelines

Desirable criteria

Testing experience gained in Acute NHS setting.
Advanced programming skills in languages such as Java, JavaScript, or Python, particularly in the context of writing and maintaining automated tests

Skills, Knowledge & Abilities

Essential criteria

Able to prioritise tasks, work on own initiative and manage own workload.
Ability to converse logically and confidently with a wide range of levels of staff.
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
Demonstrated knowledge and application of test automation tools.
Proven experience in the ability to interact with colleagues at all levels both clinical and non-clinical within healthcare including communicating technical requirements to a non-technical audience
Be enthusiastic, responsive to new demands, willing to learn new skills and welcome change
Demonstrate the ability to plan and organise effectively.
Ability to explain the Test Processes to colleagues within DDaT and the wider Trust service users.
Excellent interpersonal skills and professional presentation
Ability to produce and deliver, or receive and process, detailed complex and highly sensitive information.
Self -motivated and able to take responsibility for decisions
Has good insight and the ability to respond well to constructive criticism
Team player
Logical and pragmatic approach to problem solving
Proven ability to work under significant pressure with competing priorities
In collaboration with QA Manager, responsible for preparation of budget costs for new services, initiatives or systems for submission to Board for approval
Responsible for monitoring progress against planned expenditure to ensure compliance with the forecasted service costs and address any variance with corrective actions.
Ensure that budgets for any provisional data services are managed in accordance with the Trust’s Standing Financial Instructions and postholder responsible for all financial and budgetary management of all these services.

Staff Benefits

Flexible working opportunities and a strong emphasis on your work, life balance
Annual leave – 27 days for new starters, plus bank holidays. Increasing to 29 days after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years NHS service. Pro rata for part time staff
NHS pension scheme
Employee Assistance Programme
Money Advice Service
Generous maternity, paternity and adoption leave for eligible staff
On-site nursery (based at RBH)
Full educational library services
Cycle to work scheme, lockable storage for cycles
Bus to work scheme
Excellent rail and bus links
A huge range of Health Service Discounts at hundreds of big brands from holidays to gadgets and restaurants to retail.

After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third party recruitment system (TRAC). All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through the NHS Jobs website, and furthermore, that as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any e-mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website.

By applying for this post you are agreeing to Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are appointed to a post information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Appointment to any position is conditional on the satisfactory completion of the core NHS Employment Checks Standards. Information disclosed in your application will be checked and any offer of appointment may be withdrawn if you knowingly withhold information or provide false or misleading information. All new appointments to the Trust, with the exception of executive positions, are subject to a 6 month probationary period.

The Trust may close any vacancy prior to the advertised closing date due to the high level of responses we receive for some of our vacancies.

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust is committed to improving the health of its staff, patients and the wider community by providing a smoke free environment. A smoke free policy is in operation and smoking is not permitted on any of the Trust’s sites.

The Trust is also committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We follow safe recruitment practices to protect children, young people and vulnerable adults.