Business Test Manager - Retail Banking - Mortgages

ROLE - Business Test Manager

DURATION - 6 months

LOCATION - Edinburgh

OVERVIEW OF THE PROGRAMME

- Manages the test scope and delivery for medium to large sized project (Gold/Silver) and/or portfolios or workstreams of a large programmes.
- Responsible for managing a medium-sized test team which may be multi-site. Typical test activities include devising the test strategy, planning, and test status reporting.
- Assists that delivery is within testing budget, quality and time objectives.
- May play a specialist role within the test team, such as Environments management, Test Data Management, Release Management, Operational Planning, Change Request Management, etc.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:

- Business Context and Knowledge: Uses broad business and divisional knowledge to consider the impact on other processes and additional testing needs. Understands the overall project or programme benefits and how the delivered solution impacts these. Works with business and IT to ensure that the system solutions fully meet business requirements. Uses conceptual knowledge to form recommendations Provides test input to requirements and design workshops.
- Analysis and Design: Defines and implements the overall test approach; works effectively with the IT contact to determine which types of testing (eg. non-functional, UAT) are required and aligns the business and IT test phases. Ensures adequate requirement coverage and traceability between requirements and test scripts.
- Estimation and Planning: Applies different estimating methods to estimate timescales, effort and costs for the testing phases. Produces the overall test delivery plan defining the business test deliverable milestones, test tasks and activities. Determines whether automation tools can be utilised. Works with IT to ensure that the necessary environments and data are available and coordinated within the release schedule. Accountable for test resource planning within their delivery project.
- Execution: Manages a large testing capability, resources and testing process from project initiation to post implementation review and extended wellness. Monitors progress against the test deliverables plan, identifies slippage and develops strategies to recover. Owns and resolves issues around the technical solution delivered into the business test environment.
- Quality Control: Ensures that all test phases have appropriate entry/exit criteria and monitors achievement of these criteria. Obtains sign-off against these prior to Go Live. Implements a well-structured approach to test defect management and incident reporting.
- Communication and Reporting: Monitors and reports the status and progress of each test phase to different stakeholders and to agreed CMT standards Contributes to Go/No-Go decision. Responsible for maintaining and distributing the MI reporting suite.
- Stakeholder Management: Builds strong relationships with all project stakeholders including business and IT to ensure a collaborative approach to testing. Maintains internal network to influence and support the delivery of projects and champions the Business Testing function.
- People & Self Development: Contributes to the development and performance of the wider testing community, including identifying opportunities for Colleagues in line with future skill and resourcing requirements and sharing best practice approaches.
- Risk: Continuously monitors projects for test-related risks and issues and regulatory compliance and takes appropriate steps to mitigate. Ensures effective issue escalation to senior management where there is a significant threat to delivery.

ESSENTIAL SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

- Can investigate the business test requirements for a medium to large sized project and define and develop test case scenarios using a range of options, to ensure end to end changes to business processes deliver improved ways of working for the end user
- Can apply analytical techniques to identify underlying issues and business needs
- Has the ability to distil and interpret information to evaluate solutions options, make recommendations
- Is able to identify appropriate testing approach for more complex requirements including model office concept, regression testing and systems quality
- Has the ability to oversee and manage, via a team, the testing approach, governance, deliverables and resources
- Monitors data and tracks progress - Monitors progress of a deliverable against plans by making changes as needed in order to ensure completion is on time and of high quality for various teams
- Is well aware of the impact and implications of incorrect work or data on the reputation of the function/business unit and organisation overall and continuously monitors and supervises teams on the importance of accuracy of data and attention to detail
- Discovers and corrects missing steps in a plan or strategy
- Identifies and resolves contradictions, inconsistencies or problems before they become critical
- Previous experience of managing Test activity on a Mortgages project
- Displays good awareness of how the wider external environment impacts on role and the business and the financial services sector
- Builds a wide and effective network inside and outside the organisation and invests time in cultivating relationships
- Identifies own leadership style and is able to flex it to suit different colleagues and situations
- Understands the organisational standards and is compliant with all policies and processes
- Utilises all available tools to gain the best results eg Online applications, Microsoft office