Head of IT Product Centre Testing

Job summary

This is an exciting role will allow the successful candidate to define, shape and lead an IT testing team to ensure that we deliver great digital systems which are safe, and which meet the needs of our clinical and operational staff as well as our donors and patients. In this role, you will build a new team and establish effective working practices across all testing functions, including functional, automation, performance, PEN, DevOps, systems integration and testing (SIT), and defect management. You will be responsible for ensuring the quality of application changes by developing strategies, selecting appropriate tooling, and managing resourcing and processes. Additionally, you will provide professional guidance across all testing functions to the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) team. Your leadership will be crucial in creating a testing centre of excellence with a strong collaborative team culture. By working closely with both internal and external partners, you will help produce high-quality software and foster a culture of continuous improvement. This is a unique opportunity to lead transformational change in our testing function, utilizing your leadership, experience, and passion to help save and improve lives. Note: This role offers hybrid working; however, you will be assigned a base location at one of NHSBT's main centres, which will be finalized after the final interview.

Main duties of the job

We are starting out on a modernisation journey to significantly improve the speed of delivery across our IT systems to support the Blood directorate. Key to this is setting up a brand-new IT testing function to facilitate safe and efficient testing and quality of software. This will be a major transformational initiative. In this new role you will be responsible for: Develop an existing team and establishing ways of working across Blood Systems portfolio of applications. You will need to lead the transformational change across the testing function. Establishing new functions across automation, Systems Integration and Testing (SIT) and defect management Providing professional direction to the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) function (which sits within the business) and aligning end-to-end processes to remove duplication of effort for example. Creating, maintaining, and implementing technical testing strategies across the portfolio of applications Managing and leading technical testing e.g Automation, Performance, DevOps, PEN etc. across the application portfolio through a combination of internal resources, external software providers and other partners Managing the budget related to staffing, training, tools, technologies and any third parties providing specialist testing services You will be required to travel and spend time away from base, which will involve working irregular hours and overnight stays when required, with prior notice

About us

It takes all types of people to deliver the kind of service that saves and improves lives. At NHS Blood and Transplant, youll join a team of more than 6,000 people who are making a genuine difference to communities, families, friends, relatives and more across the UK. We play a unique and special role in the NHS by helping people do something extraordinary- donate blood, blood products, organs, tissues, or stem cells to save someone in need. Our three core values are what set us apart. They guide and inspire everything we do. By being caring, expertly meeting the needs of our patients and our people, and accepting nothing less than the best quality, we can do extraordinary work and help our people to do something extraordinary in their career, too. Three small words, one big difference - Caring, Expert and Quality. Together we'll save and improve more lives than ever. You will join us on our journey to create an inclusive workplace and aim to reflect the diverse communities we work with, and we positively encourage applications from all sectors of the community.