Lead Assurance Consultant /Test Lead

Lead Assurance Consultant / Test Lead

Location - Hybrid, across the UK

A Lead Assurance Consultant with a strong background in software testing and software development lifecycles to join a leading assurance and testing consultancy.

The role involves providing client-side assurance across complex delivery environments, helping clients understand risk, prioritise issues and improve confidence in technology-enabled change.

Acutest, part of Trustmarque, is a specialist testing consultancy focused on assuring and testing software, business processes and IT solutions. Our objective is to help our customers achieve the benefits of their technology-enabled change faster. With an enviable portfolio of blue-chip clients our consultants are engaged on some of the most interesting and high-profile projects taking place across the United Kingdom right now. Our clients come from a range of industry sectors including, amongst others, financial services, media, retail, public sector, and telecommunications. Every day you will likely use a solution assured by Acutest.

We are looking for bright, enthusiastic and experienced Assurance and Testing Consultants to join us on a wide variety of projects across our high-profile client base. You will need to demonstrate experience leading, or taking significant ownership of, testing activities across varied delivery environments, with strong consultative capability and the confidence to work with stakeholders of different technical backgrounds and levels of seniority. Many of the projects you will be involved in will enable leading blue-chip businesses to demonstrate the productivity, reliability and effectiveness of their systems and websites. A majority of these are in the public eye, so will give you the professional satisfaction of being able to see the results of your work in action.

As Lead Assurance Consultant at Acutest, you will be expected to undertake the following:

• Support the Senior Consultant / Test Manager in the implementation and execution of Test Plans
• Be able to explain to client the benefit of implementing Acutest’s principles and practices in their solution delivery
• Conduct reviews on key project, requirement, design and test documentation
• Facilitate risk-based analysis of requirements, specifications and test assets, working with business users and technical teams to identify priorities and coverage gaps
• Provide / collate estimates on the work to be carried out by the test team
• Create test schedules for individual projects and / or releases
• Monitor adherence to the agreed defect triage and management processes to ensure correct prioritisation and timely turnaround of issues
• Provide assurance across multiple project streams, identifying delivery risks, triaging issues and helping clients focus testing effort where it matters most
• Liaise with third party suppliers, vendors and stakeholders
• Lead a team of test analysts, day to day, in the creation and execution of test cases
• Collaborate with project team members and subject matter experts to define and create effective test data
• Maintain test repositories to ensure up to date and accurate test progress and defect status data
• Provide metrics on test progress and defect status as requested by the test manager
• Communicate well with client and supplier teams
• Inspire and motivate others to undertake change
• Coach team members and wider organisation on Acutest best practice assurance
• Support the improvement of client assurance practices through coaching, practical guidance and adoption of better ways of working
• Take part in the wider Acutest and Trustmarque community
• Contribute to Acutest’s and Trustmarque’s ongoing development and evolution of its service offerings

Essential experience

• Applying risk-based thinking to testing, with the ability to prioritise effort based on business impact, delivery risk and available time.
• Owning, or taking a significant role in shaping, test scope, planning and execution at feature, project or release level, including making clear decisions about what will and will not be tested.
• Establishing or maintaining traceability from requirements, risks or user journeys through to test coverage, execution outcomes and defect evidence.
• Working directly with business and technical stakeholders to clarify requirements, challenge ambiguity and resolve issues during delivery.
• Supporting or coordinating UAT with business users, SMEs and client representatives, including preparation, execution support, issue management and progress reporting.
• Demonstrating sound judgement, ownership and stakeholder confidence in situations where testing decisions affect delivery outcomes.

Desirable experience

• Data-focused testing, including checks around data migration, transformation logic, reporting outputs, reconciliations or SQL-based analysis.
• Facilitating risk workshops, test planning sessions or defect prioritisation discussions with mixed business and technical groups.
• Contributing to release readiness, cutover assurance or go/no-go decision-making by providing clear evidence of test progress, residual risk and unresolved issues.
• Improving testing processes or introducing better practices such as earlier test involvement, clearer acceptance criteria, better defect discipline or shift-left approaches.
• Exposure to automation, AI-assisted testing, responsible AI use or other evolving approaches to improving test efficiency, coverage and assurance outcomes.
• Experience supporting cloud, data or complex technology change programmes where assurance activity needed to align with wider business or transformation objectives.

We have a large client base in London, as well as up and down the UK, so there is requirement for our consultants to travel. However, we do understand that people have a life outside of work, so will try and work with you to make this as easy as possible.

Why Acutest

There are real benefits in working for a niche organisation composed of like-minded and highly skilled individuals. Acutest is a close-knit community of consultants built on mutual respect, creating a shared learning environment for everyone. Unlike some larger consultancies we are not in competition with our peers, so we can really rely on each other for knowledge sharing. Your colleagues will go out of their way to support you, so that you will never feel like just a number. We are also a sociable bunch and get together regularly for professional development and social events. With Acutest there are lots of opportunities to socialise, learn and share experiences.

We believe in providing our people with career long learning by focusing on their training and personal development. Our training programme is tailored to fit individual needs and is supported by a People Manager who concentrates on the testing and technical aspect of your skills development as well as consulting skill development and fulfilling your potential.