Agile Test Lead

Job title: Agile Test Lead

Salary: circa £85k
Grade: Band 3

Contract type: TfL                                                    Reference: 4503

Contract details: Permanent                                                 Location: Pier Walk, North Greenwich

Application closing date: 1/7/2026 at 23:59

External - All offers of employment are subject to satisfactory right‑to‑work checks.  Candidates must be able to demonstrate their right to work in the UK.  At the present time TfL is unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. 

*Hybrid working within this role enables a balance of 50 per cent of time split between the office and home over a 4-week period. Hybrid working arrangements can evolve subject to business requirements.

Job Overview:

Are you an experienced Agile test professional? Would you like to join a growing team delivering exciting data products and services to help ‘Keep London Moving’?
The Agile Test Lead (ATL) is responsible for the allocation of resources to perform all types of testing on their portfolio of projects. You will have a test specialism and strong all-round knowledge of the following: Cross-Platform Integration; Performance Testing; Automation Testing; Functional Testing.

ATLs promote best practices, standardisation, continuous improvement, and efficient reuse of testing frameworks and infrastructure across all delivery streams. They do this while also evaluating new tools and techniques, always looking for opportunities to bring further efficiencies into our practices.

They will ensure that their guidance is being adhered to by continually assessing test activities and monitoring results, throughput, and the quality of the software produced.

Key Accountabilities:

• Manage, lead, and mentor a cross-functional team of testers, fostering collaboration, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement in testing practices.
• Manage the allocation and utilisation of testing resources, ensuring the right skill sets are assigned to the appropriate tasks and adjusting resources based on project needs and workload.
• Line management duties, including conducting end-of-year performance reviews, setting development goals, providing regular feedback, and supporting the career progression of team members.
• Define and implement the overall test strategy for Agile projects, ensuring alignment with business objectives, timelines, and quality standards across multiple projects or workstreams.
• Provide technical leadership to automation and performance test teams in developing new test suites while continuously seeking to enhance existing test frameworks for improved performance and consistency.
• Drive the adoption and integration of automated testing within the CI/CD pipeline, ensuring tests are run efficiently and consistently.
• Introduce test tools to the Agile test team to bring efficiency and consistency to functional testing.
• In conjunction with the respective Agile Test Lead and other discipline leads, analyse and agree on priorities for testing on a per-release basis.
• Responsible for efficient test implementation, considering automation and performance testing and making decisions based on long-term financial benefits.
• Engage with third parties to deliver automation or performance test solutions as required.
• Ensure test assurance for projects delivered by external suppliers; this includes test assurance of artefacts and bidder evaluations.

Knowledge:

• Expert knowledge of industry testing techniques and methodologies, best practices, and quality assurance activities, assuring the delivery of robust, performant systems that meet quality expectations.
• Broad knowledge and understanding of planning and project management tools and techniques, particularly within the Agile arena.
• Expert knowledge of how to effectively test the integration of internal/external websites and back-office transactional systems.
• Expert technical leadership and a proven ability to apply strategic direction.
• Expert knowledge of test automation best practices and frameworks.
• Expert knowledge of test artefacts, including well-formed test scripts, test execution, test metrics, and test review processes.
• Expert knowledge of Agile methodologies.
• Knowledge and understanding of third-party contractual requirements when working with multiple vendors and test assurance of their deliverables.
• Proficient in C#, using it to develop test automation frameworks for web and API testing.
• Knowledge of accessibility testing and WCAG guidelines.

Skills:

• Strong software testing capabilities: proven ability to evolve test processes to improve software quality and test efficiency.
• Exceptional problem-solving, analytical, non-functional, and estimation skills.
• Strong ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with people within the delivery team, including project managers, business analysts, developers, and testers.
• Proven ability to influence people at all levels across the organisation and externally, including negotiating and successfully facilitating joint decision-making, driving quality across all software development disciplines.
• Good people management skills.
• Ability to build effective working relationships (partnering) with people at all levels across the organisation and externally.
• Strong ability to act as a source of inspiration and expertise within a team.
• Ability to manage stakeholder expectations and deliver a service or product to meet these expectations.
• Ability to identify potential opportunities, risks, and threats and build risk mitigation plans.
• Proven testing skills, using some or all the following technologies: Azure DevOps, ATDD/TDD/BDD, testing tools and practices for .NET, SQL Server, SpecFlow, exploratory testing, etc.
• Expert understanding of Agile development practices.

Experience:

• Extensive experience in large-scale IT systems, with specific experience in testing and developing test infrastructure for high-performance, high-volume enterprise-level software platforms.
• Active practitioner of Agile testing principles, particularly CI, TDD, BDD, and high levels of automation.
• Expert experience in people management and team development for high-volume, high-revenue systems.
• Proven experience in leading the functional and non-functional testing of business-critical, large multi-tier applications.
• Experience in communicating concepts and demonstrating software to key business stakeholders.
• Experience prioritising defects, managing test environments, estimating stories, and organising UAT.
• Expert experience in working with third-party suppliers.
• Experience in delivering the test strategy.

Application Process 

• Please apply using your CV only
• Think carefully about the skills, knowledge and experience in the advert and cover this in your CV
• PDF format preferred and do not include any photographs or images

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. We want to represent the city we serve, which will help us become a more innovative and efficient organisation. Our goal is to make our recruitment as inclusive as possible. We are a disability confident employer who guarantee an interview to any disabled candidate who meets all of the essential criteria. We also use anonymising software that removes identifying information from CVs and cover letters to make the process fair.
  
Benefits

In return for your commitment and expertise, you will enjoy excellent benefits and scope to grow. Rewards vary according to the level of role but mostly include the below:

• Final salary pension scheme 
• Free travel for you on the TfL network 
• Reimbursement of 75% of the cost of a standard class Ticket for National Rail travel from home
• 30 days annual leave plus public and bank holidays
• TfL is committed to work-life balance, operating a hybrid working approach where business and role requirements allow
• Private healthcare discounted scheme (optional)
• Tax-efficient cycle-to-work programme
• Retail, health, leisure and travel offers 
• Discounted Eurostar travel

We will make every effort to give you as much notice as possible, however some interviews/assessments could be organised at short notice.

Vetting Process

At Transport for London, safety, trust and fairness sit at the heart of how we recruit. Our Vetting Charter (https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/careers/our-vetting-process) explains the checks we carry out before you join us, helping ensure we create a safe, inclusive and reliable network for everyone who depends on our services. We simply ask that the information you provide is honest and accurate so we can progress your application smoothly. If something doesn’t match or can’t be verified, we may not be able to move forward with your application, but we’ll always treat you with transparency, respect, and clear communication throughout.