Change your career, change lives

The Open University is the UK’s largest university, a world leader in flexible part-time education combining a mission to widen access to higher education with research excellence, transforming lives through education. Find out more about us and our mission by watching this short video (you will be taken to YouTube by clicking this link).

Digital Services is at the heart of delivering life-changing learning experiences that enrich society. We combine trusted design, data expertise, and cutting-edge technology to support lifelong learning.

Our objectives are to:

• Enhance the student and staff experience through simple, evidence-based solutions.
• Deliver value iteratively, securely, and at speed.
• Foster a vibrant, supportive workplace that embraces continuous learning and growth, empowering everyone to succeed.

As a service-led institution, we are committed to simplifying and improving how we work by organizing ourselves around the services we provide. This enables us to design and deliver outstanding services effectively and efficiently.

With our ethos of being “open to people, places, methods, and ideas,” we proudly support students in every setting imaginable—from submarines to prisons, and everywhere in between. We take pride in enabling our academics to teach and our students to learn, no matter the circumstances.

About the Role

As a Senior Engineer (Testing) at The Open University, you will take a pivotal role in ensuring the quality, security, and performance of our software systems. You will lead the design and execution of comprehensive test strategies, focusing on both functional and non-functional requirements, including performance, security, usability, and scalability, and implement test automation to streamline testing efforts. Your work will be integral to the success of our software products, ensuring they meet the highest standards of quality and user satisfaction.

In this role, you will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including product managers, developers, business analysts, and user experience specialists, to gather requirements and align testing with business objectives. You will take ownership of the testing lifecycle for complex projects, driving quality assurance processes from inception to delivery. Your responsibilities will also include identifying risks, managing business process testing, and ensuring robust testing practices through the use of automation and innovative methodologies.

As a Senior Engineer (Testing), you will provide mentorship and leadership to other testers and developers, fostering an environment of continuous improvement and professional development. You will be expected to stay up-to-date with emerging testing and automation tools and technologies, introducing new approaches to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of our testing processes.

We are seeking a proactive, detail-oriented individual who is passionate about quality and has the ability to navigate complex challenges. If you thrive in a leadership role, enjoy mentoring others, and are excited about driving innovation in software testing, this is the perfect opportunity to make a significant impact.

At The Open University, we never stand still. Be part of our journey to push the boundaries of technology and make a real difference.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead Testing and Quality Assurance: Oversee the design, execution, and management of complex test plans to ensure that software meets the highest standards for quality, security, and performance. Lead the development and running of automation testing.
• Mentorship and Development: Provide guidance and mentorship to junior testers and developers, supporting their professional growth and contributing to team success.
• Strategic Business Analysis: Collaborate with stakeholders to understand business objectives and ensure that testing aligns with strategic goals. Lead the requirements gathering and analysis process to shape test cases and scenarios.
• Drive Continuous Improvement: Implement and promote best practices in testing tools, methodologies, and automation to improve quality and productivity.
• Collaboration: Collaborate closely with specialist teams and other team members, including accessibility auditors, security experts, and design professionals, while maintaining full accountability for the overall quality of the system.
  Risk and Process Management: Identify, evaluate, and manage risks throughout the testing lifecycle. Ensure that key business processes are validated and continuously improved.
• Business Process Testing and Non-functional Testing: Lead non-functional testing, including performance, scalability, accessibility, compatibility and security testing, to ensure software robustness under various conditions.
• Application Support: Provide post-release support, troubleshooting and resolving any issues, and ensuring seamless operation of the software in production environments.
• Drive Continuous Delivery: Implement and promote best practices in CI/CD Pipelines to enable teams to deliver in a streamlined release process in Azure Dev Ops or similar.

You will support this work by developing and advocating for the Open University’s Engineering manifesto and promoting best practices.

About You

Essential:

• Testing Expertise: Strong experience in managing the complete testing lifecycle, including functional and non-functional testing, and validating system performance under varying loads.
• Automation Expertise: Experience in building automation in frameworks such as: Playwright, Cypress, Selenium and in languages such as: JavaScript, TypeScript, Java. 
• Leadership and Mentorship: Proven ability to lead teams, mentor junior engineers, and drive continuous professional development within the team.
• Business and Process Analysis: Expertise in collaborating with stakeholders to ensure alignment of testing with business objectives and developing test plans based on detailed requirements analysis in Azure Dev Ops or similar.
• Proficiency in Tools and Methods: Skilled in using advanced testing tools, methodologies, and automation frameworks to enhance efficiency and accuracy in testing processes.
• Quality and Process Management: Experience in quality management and process optimization to ensure adherence to the highest standards throughout the software development lifecycle.
• Risk Management: Ability to identify, assess, and manage risks in the testing process, ensuring business continuity and compliance with quality standards.

Behaviours:

• Leadership and Accountability: You lead by example, taking ownership of testing strategies and fostering a culture of quality and accountability across the team.
• Collaborative and Communicative: You work effectively with cross-functional teams, engaging stakeholders and providing clear communication to ensure alignment with business goals.
• Proactive and Problem-Solving: You are proactive in identifying issues and take a solutions-focused approach to solving complex testing challenges.
• Innovative and Adaptable: You stay updated on the latest testing methodologies and tools, continuously seeking ways to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and overall quality.
• Detail-Oriented and Methodical: You ensure accuracy in every aspect of your work, from test planning and execution to final product validation.

Support with your application

If you have any questions, or need support or adjustments relating to your application, the recruitment process, or the role, please contact us on 01908 541111 or email careers@open.ac.uk quoting the advert reference number.

What's in it for you?

At The Open University, we offer a range of benefits to recognise and reward great work, alongside policies and flexible working that contribute towards a great work life balance. Get all the details of what benefits we offer by visiting our Staff Benefits page (clicking this link will open a new window).

Flexible working

We are open to discussions about flexible working. Whether it’s a job share, part time, compressed hours or another working arrangement. Please reach out to us to discuss what works best for you.

It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, where the successful candidate can work from home and the office. However, as this role is contractually aligned to our Milton Keynes office it is expected that some attendance in the office will be required when necessary and in response to business needs. We’d expect this to be on average once per month.

Next steps in the Recruitment process

We anticipate that interviews for this role will be taking place online via Microsoft Teams during the week commencing 8 December 2025.

Early closing date notification

We may close this job advert earlier than the published closing date where a satisfactory number of applications are received. We would therefore encourage early applications.

How to apply

To apply for this role please submit the following as separate documents:

• CV
• A supporting statement of up to 1000 words. You should set out in your statement why you are interested in the role and provide examples of where your skills and experience meet the required competencies for this role as detailed in the job description.

You can view your progress and application communications when you are logged into our recruitment system.  Please check your spam/junk folders if you do not receive associated email updates.