We’re 1st Central, a market-leading insurance company utilising smart data and technology at pace. Rapid growth has been based on giving our 1.4 million customers exactly what they want: great value insurance with an excellent service. And that’s the same for our colleagues too; we won Insurance Employer of the Year at the British Insurance Awards 2024 and our Glassdoor score is pretty mega too!
We're looking for a Business Quality Assurance Manager who'll ensure that the software delivery lifecycle (SDLC) across the value streams aligns with business expectations for quality, functionality, and delivery. Acting as both a consultant and quality auditor, the Business Quality Assurance Manager will partner with the cross-functional value stream teams and Quality Engineering to ensure the right test coverage, adherence to best practices, and alignment to business goals across the Focus platform and associated services.
Operating in a cloud-native, BDD-enabled environment, this senior role is responsible for embedding quality from a business perspective ensuring practices such as BDD, test traceability, risk-based coverage, and quality metrics are applied consistently across teams to enable reliable and high-value software delivery.
We value flexible working arrangements, so you can choose to work remotely or maybe you live within a commutable distance from one of our offices in Salford Quays, Manchester, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, or Guernsey, and want to work in the office occasionally.
Core skills were looking for to succeed in the role:
Excellent leadership and people management skills, including ability to motivate and inspire teams.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
Excellent stakeholder influencing and management skills.
Formal Testing qualification such as ISEB or equivalent is desirable.
Ability to assess, audit, and uplift quality practices across distributed teams
Experience of Business-Technical Bridging
Test Coverage Analysis – Evaluate adequacy of test scenarios, data, and traceability to requirements
DevOps Familiarity with working knowledge of how testing fits into the broader DevOps ecosystem
You’ll be working with the Quality Engineering Lead and Focus Product Owner community to own, develop and maintain an ‘End to End’ test strategy and approach for new capabilities and initiatives that span the Focus Application and Services
You’llbe responsible formaintaining department risk registers (as applicable), providing evidence and commentary for controls, updates for Mitigation Actions and maintaining control matrices and attestations. Also, ensuring that your colleagues are aware of their responsibility to identifyand report risk.
You’ll own the auditingand assessment to the adherence to quality standards, testing practices, and SDLC policies across value streams.
You’ll provide guidance to teams on business requirements and any manual testing, supporting with risk-based test coverage analysis, and quality practices aligned with business priorities
You’llbe responsible for ensuring that the functional and non-functional test coverage aligns with business requirements, regulatory obligations, and user expectations.
You’ll promote consistent use of BDD practices, facilitating collaboration between business, QA, and development to ensure shared understanding of requirements.
You’ll own the definition and reporting of cross-team quality business KPIs, offering actionable insights to improve delivery quality and reduce business risk.
You’ll conduct regular audits and reviews of test documentation, traceability, and quality practices. Identify gaps and recommend improvements across the SDLC.
You’ll work closely with DevOps and QE to embed testing early in the lifecycle and ensure smooth quality integration into CI/CD pipelines.
You’ll be responsible for working with the Focus Product owners and key business stakeholders to ensure delivered software meets business objectives and customer needs through proactive engagement, validation, and feedback loops.
You’ll support the release and regression processes across the Focus application and associated services
You’ll support Service Delivery and the Resilience team with the speedy resolution of Focus IMTs ensuring RCAs are reviewed and appropriate remediation is performed to strengthen controls and processes across the SDLC
You'll comply with the requirements, and act in accordance with, the Group Code of Conduct and Fitness and Propriety policies at all times
You’ll ensure compliance with Company Policies, Values and guidelines and other relevant standards/ regulations always
Demonstrable experience of software testing in Agile/SAFe methodology preferably in Insurance or Financial services
Experience of involvement in NFT (Non-Functional Testing) and API testing is desirable but not mandatory.
Excellent experience of all stages of the software development lifecycle in an Agile environment
7+ years in QA, Quality Consulting, or Business-Focused Testing roles in agile/DevOps environments
Strong experience in collaborating with both business and engineering teams in a matrixed or federated model
Deep understanding of test strategy, planning, risk-based coverage and traceability
Solid hands-on or coaching experience with BDD (e.g., Gherkin, Cucumber, SpecFlow) would be preferrable
Knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and implications for testing and quality assurance
Familiarity with modern DevOps practices including CI/CD, infrastructure as code, and shift-left testing
Exposure to regulated or compliance-heavy environments
Demonstrable experience of working with web-based applications
Some experience of software testing automation tools is desirable but not mandatory.
Line management experience of minimum 6 team members
Knowledge of FCA requirements (including TCF)
Excellent leadership and people management skills, including ability to motivate and inspire teams.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
Excellent stakeholder influencing and management skills.
Formal Testing qualification such as ISEB or equivalent is desirable.
Ability to assess, audit, and uplift quality practices across distributed teams
Experience of Business-Technical Bridging
Test Coverage Analysis – Evaluate adequacy of test scenarios, data, and traceability to requirements
DevOps Familiarity with working knowledge of how testing fits into the broader DevOps ecosystem
Acts as a role model and motivates others.
Embraces, embeds, and incorporates the Company values.
Leads and influences up to a senior level.
A flexible approach and positive attitude
Able to balance attention to detail whilst retaining focus on broader needs.
So, if you’re up for the challenge and would like to join our vibrant and busy team, we want to hear from you today.
People first. Always. We’re passionate about our colleagues and know the best people deserve an extraordinary working environment. We owe it to them so that’s what we offer. Our workplaces are energetic, inspirational, supportive. To get a taste of the advantages you’ll enjoy, take a look at all our perks in full here.
Intrigued? Our Talent team can tell you everything you need to know about what we want and what we’re offering, so feel free to get in touch.
Originally posted on Himalayas
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