Head of Testing

Job Description

Purpose of the role

To design, develop, and execute testing strategies to validate functionality, performance, and user experience, while collaborating with cross-functional teams to identify and resolve defects, and continuously improve testing processes and methodologies, to ensure software quality and reliability. 

Accountabilities

• Development and implementation of comprehensive test plans and strategies to validate software functionality and ensure compliance with established quality standards.
• Creation and execution automated test scripts, leveraging testing frameworks and tools to facilitate early detection of defects and quality issues.         .
• Collaboration with cross-functional teams to analyse requirements, participate in design discussions, and contribute to the development of acceptance criteria, ensuring a thorough understanding of the software being tested.
• Root cause analysis for identified defects, working closely with developers to provide detailed information and support defect resolution.
• Collaboration with peers, participate in code reviews, and promote a culture of code quality and knowledge sharing.
• Stay informed of industry technology trends and innovations, and actively contribute to the organization's technology communities to foster a culture of technical excellence and growth.

Director Expectations

• To manage a business function, providing significant input to function wide strategic initiatives. Contribute to and influence policy and procedures for the function and plan, manage and consult on multiple complex and critical strategic projects, which may be business wide..
• They manage the direction of a large team or sub-function, leading other people managers and embedding a performance culture aligned to the values of the business. Or for an individual contributor, they lead organisation wide projects and act as deep technical expert and thought leader, identifying new ways of working and collaborating cross functionally. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..
• Provide expert advice to senior functional management and committees to influence decisions made outside of own function, offering significant input to function wide strategic initiatives.
• Manage, coordinate and enable resourcing, budgeting and policy creation for a significant sub-function.
• Escalates breaches of policies / procedure appropriately.
• Foster and guide compliance, ensure regulations are observed that relevant processes in place to facilitate adherence.
• Focus on the external environment, regulators, or advocacy groups to both monitor and influence on behalf of Barclays, when appropriate.
• Demonstrate extensive knowledge of how the function integrates with the business division / Group to achieve the overall business objectives.
• Maintain broad and comprehensive knowledge of industry theories and practices within own discipline alongside up-to-date relevant sector / functional knowledge, and insight into external market developments / initiatives.
• Use interpretative thinking and advanced analytical skills to solve problems and design solutions in often complex/ sensitive situations.
• Exercise management authority to make significant decisions and certain strategic decisions or recommendations within own area.
• Negotiate with and influence stakeholders at a senior level both internally and externally.
• Act as principal contact point for key clients and counterparts in other functions/ businesses divisions.
• Mandated as a spokesperson for the function and business division.

All Senior Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.

Corporate COO must increase the speed and quality of technology delivery to enable UK Corporate Bank/International Corporate Bank/Global Transaction Banking to achieve business objectives aligned to Barclays 3 year plan:

• Enhance our clients experience and drive digital capability
• Accelerate pace of change to deliver our technology portfolio
• Automation & efficiencies across our operational processes
• Deliver new and enhanced products, such as virtual accounting and intraday sweeps
• Improve technology stability and resilience of our important business services
• Develop our colleagues and let talent thrive
• Pivot to an end to end customer journey mindset

The key drag on project delivery is currently testing, which is slow with a lack of consistency/standards impacting automation and re-usability.

The role holder must:

• Have multi-year experience of running large testing portfolios and/or programmes
• Have defined, driven and successfully executed technology, engineering and testing transformation (people, tools, process, measurement etc) to achieve clear, measurable outcomes
• Have a product mindset and/or experience in a product-led organisation
• Have practical experience of latest industry developments including adoption of AI
• Be people focused with a track record of developing talent and uplifting engineering standards

The role holder should:

• Have experience of working in financial services, ideally in a Corporate Banking and Global Payments

Accountable to: Own, drive and manage testing transformation/improvement across Corporate Technology to increase speed and quality of project delivery.

Own, run and develop the Corporate-wide testing community of practice to instil continuous improvement and enforce adherence to (to be) standards.

Responsible to: Bringing leadership, industry insight and expertise to improve testing approach, consistency and standards

• Provide on-site leadership to the Corporate testing community of c500 FTE
• Leverage testing industry expertise and thought leadership to refine and drive execution of the test transformation strategy
• Drive improvement in test delivery
• Drive capacity creation / cost reduction
• Drive ubiquitous automation, aligning testing to client journeys to maximise re-use of testing artefacts to increase efficiency/lower cost
• Influence and direct testing improvements and standards across the group strengthening the firms testing community of practice
• Develop testing into an attractive and valued career proposition
• Uplift test engineering disciplines and skills supported by clear training and career paths 
• Develop and execute a vendor strategy
• Develop and embed objective measurement of testing performance

The role holder will operate at a senior Director level and will report into the local Corporate Bank Head of Engineering Managing Director

The testing community is currently ‘vertically’ aligned to the Corporate Portfolio delivery towers. A review of organisational structure in partnership with the Corporate Bank CIO and Head of Engineering will be an early assignment.