• Job Description

  Req#: 6277

  Position Details

  Academic Services

  Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

  Full time starting salary is normally in the range £46,485 to £55,295 with potential progression once in post to £62,098

  Grade: 8

  Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to September 2026

  Closing date: 22nd January 2025

  Our offer to you

  People are at the heart of what we are and do.

  The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

  We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

  We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

  Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

  The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

  Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham

  Background

  The University of Birmingham is a global institution working within a diverse and vibrant City, offering an inspiring education to our students, and undertaking critically important research. We are a place of open, critical thinking, and the creation, sharing and dissemination of knowledge. Professional Services put students at the heart of all they do and enable an exceptional educational experience. They provide outstanding support to our researchers and help the University to grow its influence regionally, nationally, and globally. They ensure the University’s resources are used wisely, manage and improve the infrastructure which sits at the heart of the institution, and support decisions to be made quickly and based on sound evidence. Our Birmingham Professional programme operates across the University, supporting colleagues to network and collaborate, offering opportunities to learn and develop, contributing to the delivery of the University’s objectives, and helping everyone to understand the broader context within which we work.

  StARS (Student Administration Refresh and Simplification) is a University-wide programme to simplify, standardise and improve our student administration services, enabled by a replacement and upgrade of our student record system. Its vision is to deliver a better experience for students, academics and Professional Services staff; and enables a fundamental shift towards a more flexible set of capabilities and services that are fit for the future.

  Role Summary

  The Lead QA will be responsible for the management, planning, design and execution of test activities, with strong knowledge of creating test strategy, quality processes and have a strong technical background.

  Main Duties

  • Manage the design, preparation and execution of test scenarios, as well as detailed test cases / test scripts.
  • Ownership and co-ordination of End to End testing to test interactions between systems.
  • Provide timely and appropriate progress reports at an agreed frequency to clearly articulate progress, to key stakeholders.
  • Implement and manage the Defect Management tools and processes, including facilitating Defect Review meetings to ensure that defects are reviewed and prioritised with appropriate stakeholders.
  • Provide advice and guidance on best practice, including reporting and tooling, as appropriate.
  • Educate and support the rest of the delivery teams with testing, as well as internal and external stakeholders.
  • Ensure requirements are clearly articulated and fit-for-purpose.
  • Develop test strategies and implement appropriate risk based testing approaches.
  • Develop and implement phase level (e.g. system test, integration test, user acceptance test) test plans, detailing (for example) the scope of testing, pre-requisites / dependencies, required test environment(s), timescales, roles and responsibilities, entry/exit criteria.

  Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

  • Project test lead experience.
  • Experience with a variety of Development Methodologies (Agile, Waterfall).
  • Excellent communication skills.
  • Able to understand business situations.
  • Able to think analytically and logically.
  • Apply critical thought and rational inquiry.
  • Apply basic and fundamental knowledge.
  • Effective planning and time management.

  Desirable Skills/Experience:

  • Candidates with practical experience of test automation tools or scripting would be at a distinct advantage.
  • ISTQB Certification.

  Informal enquiries to Mary Li, email: m.li@bham.ac.uk

  View our staff values and behaviours here

  We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website .

• About the company

  The University of Birmingham is a public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Notice