Senior Test Engineer

About this role

• Description Senior Test Engineer - Automation and Non-Functional Testing (AWS / Performance) Programme Name: Logistics Commodities & Services Transformation (LCST) Location: The role is based in our Bristol office About the Role We are looking for a capable Senior Test Engineer with approximately 10 years of overall software testing experience, including 2-4 years of hands-on experience in non-functional testing and test automation, and the confidence to take ownership of these areas to ensure our cloud-native applications are fast, reliable, and scalable.
• In this role, you will design automated test suites, execute performance and load tests, and build synthetic monitoring solutions within an AWS environment.
• You will work closely with developers and DevOps engineers to catch bottlenecks early and maintain high system availability.
• While this is a hands-on technical role rather than a formal line-management position, you will act as the go-to subject matter expert for performance and automation, helping shape our testing strategy and supporting junior team members.
• Key Responsibilities: Manage the Non-Functional Test Phase : Able to run and manage the non-functional test phase end to end, including planning, coordinating test execution, monitoring progress, managing risks and defects, and reporting outcomes and test closure.
• Lead Performance & Non-Functional Testing : Take end-to-end ownership of designing, scripting, and executing load, stress, endurance, and spike tests using Apache JMeter to uncover bottlenecks and validate scalability.
• Drive Test Automation : Build, maintain, and enhance automated functional and API test frameworks, ensuring smooth integration into our CI/CD pipelines.
• Own Synthetic Monitoring : Design, deploy, and manage automated synthetic checks using Amazon CloudWatch Synthetics (Canaries) to continuously validate critical user journeys and API health.
• Observability & Metrics : Build and maintain clear, real-time dashboards in Grafana and AWS CloudWatch to track test execution, system telemetry, latency, and resource utilisation.
• Technical Leadership & Collaboration : Act as the quality champion within Agile ceremonies, collaborating with developers and DevOps engineers to define non-functional requirements (NFRs), conduct root cause analysis, and mentor junior testers.
• Required Skills & Experience: Proven Hands-On Experience : Substantial overall commercial experience in software testing, including strong hands-on experience in non-functional/performance testing and test automation.
• Technical Ownership : Demonstrated experience leading testing efforts for projects or features, defining test plans, and communicating risks clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Performance Testing : Strong practical skills in Apache JMeter, including custom scripting, correlation, parameterisation, and distributed load testing.
• AWS Cloud Ecosystem : Hands-on working knowledge of core AWS services (such as EC2, ECS/EKS, Lambda, S3, RDS, and API Gateway) and how to monitor them under load.
• Monitoring & Observability : Practical experience configuring AWS CloudWatch Canaries and building insightful visual dashboards in Grafana (using Prometheus, InfluxDB, or CloudWatch data sources).
• Test Automation : Proficiency in writing maintainable automated UI or API tests using modern frameworks (e.g., Playwright, Cypress, Selenium, RestAssured, or PyTest) in languages like Python, Java, or TypeScript/JavaScript.
• CI/CD Integration : Experience embedding automated and performance test suites into CI/CD workflows (e.g., GitHub Actions, Jenkins, GitLab CI, or AWS CodePipeline).
• Desirable Skills: Experience with infrastructure-as-code (IaC) tools like Terraform or AWS CloudFormation to spin up test environments and load generators.
• Familiarity with containerisation and orchestration ( Docker , Kubernetes ).
• Exposure to other performance or APM tools (e.g., k6, Gatling, Datadog, New Relic, or Dynatrace).
• Experience testing microservices and event-driven architectures (e.g., SQS, SNS, Kafka).
• Clearance Requirements: ?BPSS pre-screening required to start SC required for the role What we do for you: At Leidos we are PASSIONATE about customer success, UNITED as a team and INSPIRED to make a difference.
• We offer meaningful and engaging careers, a collaborative culture, and support for your career goals, all while nurturing a healthy work-life balance.
• We provide an employment package that attracts, develops and retains only the best in talent.
• Our reward scheme includes: * Contributory Pension Scheme * Private Medical Insurance * 33 days Annual Leave (including public and privilege holidays) * Access to Flexible benefits (including life assurance, health schemes, gym memberships, annual buy and sell holidays and a cycle to work scheme) * Flexi-Time Working Commitment to Diversity: We welcome applications from every part of the community and are committed to a truly diverse and inclusive culture.
• We foster a sense of belonging, welcoming all perspectives and contributions, and providing equal access to opportunities and resources for everyone.
• If you have a disability or need any reasonable adjustments during the application and selection stages please let us know, and we will respond in a way that best fits your needs.
• Who We Are: The Logistics Commodities & Services Transformation (LCST) Programme for the UK Ministry of Defence is a critical effort to enhance and improve the UK's defence supply chain.
• The programme provides essential services such as storage and distribution for the MOD's materiel, including a global freight service and the procurement and inventory management of 70,000 commodity NATO Stock Number (NSNs).
• Working together as Team Leidos we are helping to transform the UK's defence supply chain by providing an integration of a complex mixture of services, at low risk, using a modern suite of systems that will deliver one version of the truth.
• For the first time, the MOD will see the whole picture, as it is happening.
• What Makes Us Different: Purpose: you can use your passion and abilitie

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