Senior Automation Tester

On behalf of Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), we are looking for a Senior Automation Tester (Inside IR35) for a 12 month contract based Hybrid in Glasgow.

This is a high-impact role focused on transforming an existing automation estate, reducing regression execution times and improving overall test efficiency across a secure government platform.

This role sits within the Rosa Service Organisation (RSO), supporting the ongoing development of secure government platforms. The team currently operates with extensive regression packs and this position will play a critical role in transforming and scaling the existing automation capability - improving regression efficiency, enhancing test stability, and embedding automation into CI/CD pipelines.

You will take ownership of evolving (and where required, redefining) the automation framework, ultimately enabling a more efficient, reliable and self-service testing capability across the team.

• Design, develop, and maintain automated test solutions across UI, API and integration layers.
• Review existing regression test packs and drive their optimisation and automation to significantly reduce execution time.
• Assess current automation frameworks and extend or refactor them to improve scalability, maintainability and overall test coverage.
• Improve test environment stability and alignment with production to increase confidence in releases.
• Build and enhance automation frameworks (Selenium, Playwright, Cypress), developing reusable components to support scalability.
• Conduct root cause analysis for defects and collaborate with developers to resolve issues.
• Validate application reliability, performance and compatibility across environments.
• Integrate and execute automated test suites within CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, Jenkins).
• Monitor pipeline execution and address failures or flaky tests.
• Produce clear documentation and enable knowledge transfer to support a more self-sufficient testing capability across the team, including key stakeholders where required.

• Proven experience improving or scaling automation frameworks in complex or legacy environments.
• Strong experience in regression testing and optimisation, ideally within large or complex test estates.
• Experience with automation tools such as Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, or Appium.
• Experience with API testing tools (Postman, RestAssured, Karate).
• Strong understanding of CI/CD pipelines and tools (Azure DevOps, Jenkins, GitHub Actions).
• Knowledge of Git and branching strategies.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with high attention to detail and a commitment to delivering quality outcomes.
• SC or DV Clearance is an essential requirement; you must be willing and eligible to undergo DV clearance.
• Experience with cloud environments (Azure/AWS/GCP) and containerised systems (Docker/Kubernetes).
• Familiarity with BDD/TDD practices and tools like Cucumber or SpecFlow.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering or equivalent practical experience.
• ISTQB certification.

Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not overseas.

Disability Confident: As a member of the Disability Confident Scheme, FCDO guarantees to interview all candidates who have a disability and who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of candidates who have a disability who meet all the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. This scheme encourages candidates with a disability and/or neurodivergence to apply. In exceptional circumstances, we may also need to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.

Veteran Support: FCDO guarantees to interview veterans or spouses / partners of military personnel who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of ex-military candidates / military spouses or partners who meet all the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. In exceptional circumstances, we may also need to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.