Lead QA Analyst ( SC Eligible/ SC Cleared )

About Scrumconnect Consulting

Scrumconnect Consulting is a multi-award-winning digital consultancy whose work has positively influenced the lives of over 40 million UK citizens. We deliver impactful technology solutions across UK government departments, working at the forefront of user-centred design, agile delivery, and scalable digital services that genuinely make a difference.

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced Lead QA Analyst to join our delivery team and provide strong quality assurance leadership across a complex public-sector digital project. The successful candidate will work closely with Performance Testers, OAT Testers, Developers, Business Analysts, Project Managers, and other technical stakeholders to ensure that solutions are thoroughly tested, fit for purpose, and ready for production.

The role requires a strong understanding of end-to-end testing, test governance, risk management, defect management, and stakeholder communication. You will provide technical and delivery leadership to the wider QA function and ensure that testing activities are aligned with project objectives and quality standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and coordinate QA activities across the project, covering functional, integration, system, regression, performance, OAT, and non-functional testing.

• Work closely with Performance Testing and OAT teams to ensure test activities are planned, coordinated, and executed effectively.

• Develop and maintain the overall Test Strategy, Test Approach, Test Plans, and test governance documentation.

• Provide QA leadership across multiple workstreams and ensure appropriate test coverage throughout the software development lifecycle.

• Review and provide guidance on test scenarios, test cases, test data, environments, and test execution.

• Work with Performance Testers to ensure performance, scalability, resilience, and capacity requirements are appropriately validated.

• Coordinate with OAT Testers to ensure operational readiness, deployment readiness, support processes, monitoring, backup/recovery, and other operational requirements are tested.

• Identify testing risks, dependencies, assumptions, and issues and ensure appropriate mitigation plans are in place.

• Lead defect management, including defect triage, prioritisation, root-cause discussions, and resolution tracking.

• Monitor test progress, quality metrics, defect trends, and overall test status.

• Produce clear and concise test status reports, QA dashboards, RAID updates, and management reports.

• Provide regular updates to Project Managers, Delivery Managers, Product Owners, and other senior stakeholders.

• Support go/no-go decisions by providing evidence-based assessments of testing progress, risks, defects, and overall product quality.

• Ensure testing activities comply with relevant organisational, project, and industry standards.

• Coordinate test environments and test data requirements with relevant technical teams.

• Support continuous improvement of QA processes, tools, methodologies, and ways of working.

• Mentor and provide guidance to QA Analysts and other testers within the project.

• Ensure appropriate traceability between business requirements, acceptance criteria, test scenarios, defects, and final outcomes.

• Participate in Agile ceremonies, planning sessions, refinement sessions, release planning, and retrospectives.

• Work collaboratively with technical and business teams to ensure quality is considered throughout the delivery lifecycle.

Essential Skills & Experience

• Significant experience working as a Senior QA Analyst, Lead QA Analyst, Test Lead, or Test Manager.

• Strong experience in end-to-end software testing and QA delivery.

• Experience leading QA activities across complex programmes or large-scale projects.

• Strong understanding of functional, integration, system, regression, UAT, and non-functional testing.

• Experience working alongside or coordinating Performance Testing and Operational Acceptance Testing (OAT) teams.

• Strong knowledge of test planning, test strategy, test execution, defect management, and test reporting.

• Experience managing testing risks, dependencies, issues, and delivery timelines.

• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Experience working within Agile/Scrum and/or hybrid delivery environments.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

• Experience with test management and defect tracking tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps, or equivalent.

• Ability to understand complex technical and business requirements and translate them into effective testing approaches.

• Experience providing QA governance and quality assurance across multiple teams or workstreams.

Desirable Skills

• Experience working on UK Government / Public Sector projects.

• Experience with GDS, GOV.UK, or Government Digital Service standards.

• Experience working with large-scale, highly available, or business-critical applications.

• Understanding of performance testing tools such as JMeter, Gatling, LoadRunner, or k6.

• Understanding of OAT, operational readiness, resilience, disaster recovery, monitoring, and production readiness testing.

• Experience with CI/CD and DevOps environments.

• ISTQB or equivalent recognised testing qualification.

• Experience working with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP.

Key Competencies

• QA/Test Leadership

• Test Strategy & Governance

• Stakeholder Management

• Risk & Defect Management

• Performance & Non-Functional Testing Awareness

• Operational Acceptance Testing

• Test Planning & Reporting

• Team Leadership & Mentoring

• Analytical & Problem-Solving Skills

• Strong Communication and Collaboration

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Diversity and Inclusion

At Scrumconnect Consulting, we believe that diversity drives innovation and better outcomes. We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where every individual is valued, respected, and supported.

We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds and actively encourage individuals from underrepresented groups, including women, people with disabilities, and diverse communities, as well as those seeking flexible working arrangements.

As a Disability Confident Level 1 employer, we are committed to providing reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process and during employment to ensure equal opportunities for all.

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