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