Test Manager - Scottish Forestry - HEO

Hybrid working out of any Scottish Forestry office, with occasional travel to our Edinburgh office (Saughton House) required.

About the team

This post sits in the Digital Transformation Team within the Transformation and Corporate Services function in Scottish Forestry (SF). This function is responsible for leading organisation-wide change and improvement.

The Digital Transformation team (DTT) provide development, maintenance and support of operational delivery systems, in particular SF's case management system, as well as management information systems.

The Test Manager post will report to the Digital Service Manager and will lead the test team and be responsible for assuring and minimising the potential risk of systems delivered by development teams or 3rd party vendors.

What you will do

The Test Manager is responsible for defining, implementing, and overseeing the testing strategy and processes to ensure the delivery of high-quality digital services. This is a hands-on Test Manager role, requiring both strategic coordination and detailed test execution.

This role ensures that all products and systems meet agreed standards, function as intended, and provide a seamless experience for users.

The Test Manager will lead the test team, manage all testing phases and approaches, and collaborate with stakeholders to align testing activities with business priorities and project timelines.

Main Duties

Key Focus Areas:

• Lead system testing strategy and planning, involving key roles across the DTT; Head of Innovation, Head of PMO, Senior Business Analyst, Digital Services Manager
• Develop and manage comprehensive test plans, leading test team to deliver, and working with Developers, Product Owner, Live Support team
• Team Management: Lead, mentor, and line manage tester(s), ensuring effective resource allocation and skills development.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Communicate testing progress, risks, and outcomes clearly to project teams and senior management.
• Collaborate with project managers, developers, and business stakeholders to align testing activities with delivery timelines.
• Collaborate with Product Owner and Live Support Manager to prepare and plan release schedules.
• Coordinate with colleagues in L&SD, Live Support, SMEs, and Operational Leads to plan learning programme which provides a good experience to new staff, ongoing learning for existing staff and case type specific learning when new functionalities are released.

Success Profile

The Success Profile below set outs the essential and desirable elements that make up the vacant position - you'll be expected to demonstrate these element in your application and/or during your interview and/or assessment.

Experience

Essential:

• Proven experience in software testing, within a management or coordination role.
• Experience in enterprise-level systems or case management platforms.
• Experience in use of automated testing tools.
• Familiarity with business-critical systems and compliance requirements.
• Strong experience coordinating User Acceptance Test (UAT) with business users.
• Demonstratable experience creating and managing test plans, scripts, and execution cycles.
• Previous involvement in digital transformation projects or large-scale system rollouts.
• Experience of using recognised project and programme methodologies (i.e. Agile, Prince 2).

Desirable:

• Test Manager or equivalent certification e.g. ISTQB or ISEB.
• Experience with Agile/Scrum environments.
• Knowledge of risk-based testing.
• Familiar with exploratory testing techniques.
• Understanding of public sector systems or regulatory frameworks.
• Knowledge and experience of Jira
• Knowledge and experience of delivering government digital standards, for example SG Digital Scotland Service Standard or GDS Digital by Default.