Head of Testing opportunity to lead our UK Testing team here at VML Enterprise Solutions,

The opportunity:

This is a great opportunity to join our Engineering leadership team where you will be working alongside likeminded departmental managers. You will be leading the testing department, surrounded by an experienced, talented team who will ensure your soft landing.

You will be guiding and shaping the department, growing the people, supporting our account teams, helping to grow our testing community, and leading by example.

You will have a strong background in testing and leadership, driven to make positive change and have outstanding people skills.

What you’ll be doing:

Shaping the department

• Leading the testing team and maturing the department, growing the management team in the core practices of consultation, performance, management, automation, and manual testing.
• Driving improvements in standards, processes, tooling, technology and ensuring consistent role definitions working with the Group Head of Quality Assurance.
• Continuing to mature our resourcing strategy focussed on geographies, skills, cost, training, and graduate programmes.

Supporting account teams

• Building relationships with the project accounts to ensure that we are meeting their needs and helping them to succeed in delivering quality software.
• Drive the best practice guidelines and work with the testing management team to ensure project oversight and adherence.
• Ensuring account oversight activities catch and resolve issues and be an escalation point if required.

Growing the community

• Continuing to grow a culture of learning and sharing by overseeing various events such as chapter meetings, lunch and learns, guilds and hackathons.
• Promoting the benefits of testing and act as a champion for quality both internally and externally.

Growing the people

• Co-ordinating resource allocation, working with the management team to find, assess, allocate and onboard the people with the right skills to meet the needs of the accounts.
• Performing people management activities such as recruiting, line managing, training plans, career guidance, 121’s, reviews, coaching, mentoring and where necessary, handling disciplinary incidents and performance management
• Ensuring all team members have appropriate certification and maintain a register of skills for the team.
• Perform administrative functions such as reviewing and writing reports, approving expenses, undertaking contract reviews, and making decisions about the purchase of tools or 3rd party services with negotiated rates.

What we want from you:

Leadership

• Ability to drive positive change and ensuring that people feel part of the journey
• Excellent communicator, influencing skills and negotiation skills
• Experience of building, leading and managing teams
• A mature and professional individual who is self-motivated and enthusiastic
• Ability to motivate a team, recognise good talent and bring out the best out of each individual

Testing champion

• In depth Knowledge of testing practice within the Software Delivery Lifecycle ideally within a Commerce environment
• Experience in interviewing and assessment of candidates at all levels
• Strong technical background, both functional and non-functional, manual and automation
• An advocate of Quality Assurance, Continuous Improvement and industry recognised best practices
• Excellent knowledge of Risk Management, Risk Identification and Risked Based Testing

Example professionalism

• Flexible with the ability to and work under pressure
• Proactive, strong-minded, quick thinker and assertive
• Ability to prioritise work and tasks under pressure
• A hands-on approach to task delivery
• Excellent planning and work prioritisation skill
• The ability to be calm, when all about you are not

If you know some of this, even better:

• Experience working through differing methodologies, including Agile, Hybrid and Waterfall Approach
• Experience of managing suppliers and have evidence of increasing value received
• ISEB or ISTQB Certification

What we can offer you:

Alongside the opportunity to work with some of the most exciting brands around the world, we’ll also prioritise your career development and help you grow your skills. We’ll empower you to make a difference, allow you to be yourself, and respect who you are.

We offer a great benefits package including hybrid working that works for everyone, a discretionary bonus scheme, training opportunities, competitive pension, medical insurance, life assurance, social events, opportunities to buy and sell holidays, family friendly policies, discounts with hundreds of retailers and much more.

About VML Enterprise Solutions

Our commerce and technology division houses strategic consultants, creative and technical architects and skilled developers and operators that together help some of the world’s leading organisations to deliver outstanding digital experiences across all major routes to market worldwide: marketplaces, online retailers, D2C, B2B and social platforms. With over 4,200 experts in 55 operational centres across 34 countries, our capabilities span the entire buying journey from customer acquisition, through engagement, to conversion and loyalty, driving multi-channel growth for world-leading brands.

We work with some of the most exciting brands such as The Coca-Cola Company, EY, Bosch, Unilever, Ford, DFS, Mercedes-Benz, Johnson & Johnson, Nestlé, Sainsbury’s, Selfridges, Shell and Tiffany & Co. We’ve built over 500 platforms for brands and retailers and generate in excess of $29bn annually for our clients and work with over 50 strategic partners including Adobe, SAP, Salesforce, HCL, Shopify, Sitecore, BigCommerce, commerce tools and Acquia. Our reputation is based on our people, and we believe we have some of the best in the business.

As our business grows internationally, we’re looking for new people to join us on our journey to inspire and take a key role in shaping some of the best commerce solutions, services, and websites in the world. Working as a team, no problem is insurmountable; we share in our client’s successes and believe that anyone can show creative bravery no matter what their role is in the team.