Head of Testing

Role/Job title: Head Of Testing

Work Location: Reading, UK

Role type: Min 6 month Contract

Mode of working: Hybrid / 2 to 3 days per week office based

Our client, working on behalf of a major British energy company are seeking an experienced Head of Test with explicit experience in Utility Industry (essential) to lead and transform the Testing and Quality Assurance function across enterprise-scale digital transformation programs. The ideal candidate will define the testing strategy, establish governance, drive quality best practices, manage testing teams, and ensure successful delivery of business-critical applications within a complex stakeholder environment.

Required Skills & Experience:

Essential

• Explicit experience in Utility Industry (a must have)
• 12+ years of experience in Software Testing and Quality Assurance.
• 5+ years in Test Management or Testing Leadership roles.
• Proven experience managing enterprise-wide testing programs.
• Strong understanding of:
  • Test Strategy & Governance
  • Quality Engineering
  • Test Automation
  • Agile Delivery
  • DevOps Practices
  • Risk-Based Testing
• Experience managing geographically distributed teams.
• Excellent stakeholder and vendor management skills.
• Strong leadership, communication, and presentation abilities.

Technical Skills

• Test Management Tools (JIRA, Azure DevOps, HP ALM, qTest, Zephyr).
• Automation Frameworks (Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, Tosca).
• CI/CD Tools (Azure DevOps, Jenkins, GitHub Actions).
• Performance Testing Tools (LoadRunner, JMeter).
• Cloud Platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP).

Preferred

• Experience within Financial Services, Utilities, Retail, Telecom, or Public Sector.
• Knowledge of AI-assisted testing approaches.

• Experience leading large-scale digital transformation programmes.