Role Summary

The Test Lead is accountable for the end-to-end Test strategy, planning, and execution across one or more workstreams within a Core Banking transformation (e.g., migrations, product rollout, integration to channels and payments). The role ensures quality, compliance, and readiness across multiple environments and partners, coordinating internal teams, SI/vendors, and third parties to deliver defect-free releases within time, scope, and budget.

Key Responsibilities

Test Strategy & Planning

• Define the test strategy for the assigned scope (functional, non-functional, data, and migration testing) aligned to program timelines and regulatory requirements.
• Own the test plan, entry/exit criteria, quality gates, and traceability matrices (requirements → test cases → defects).
• Design the test approach for migration (dress rehearsals, cutover validation, reconciliation) and interfaces (payments, cards, channels, reporting).
• Align test scope and priorities with risk-based techniques and critical business journeys (E2E).

Test Execution & Leadership

• Lead day-to-day test execution across SIT, E2E, UAT support, NFT (performance, security, resilience), and dress rehearsals.
• Coordinate defect triage (severity, root cause, fix prioritization), and drive closure with development, environment, and vendor teams.
• Ensure test data management (synthetic/data-masked), environment readiness, and continuous test automation runs.
• Provide hands-on guidance to test analysts and vendor testers; mentor junior staff.

Governance, Reporting & Quality

• Establish and run QA governance ceremonies (test readiness reviews, daily stand-ups, triage, go/no-go).
• Produce test dashboards and Steer Co/Management reports: coverage, pass/fail, defect density/leakage, burn-down, readiness, and risk profile.
• Enforce compliance and auditability (traceability, evidence, sign-offs) in line with internal controls and regulators.
• Manage risks, issues, and dependencies; propose mitigation and recovery plans.

Stakeholder & Vendor Management

• Collaborate with Product lead, stream lead, Squad Masters, Product Owners, CJEs, IT BAs, Architecture, Security, Data, and Release/Environment Managers.
• Manage SSI/vendors deliverables (plans, scripts, evidence, SLAs), ensuring alignment to standards and timelines.
• Support business change through UAT preparation, training, and hypercare planning.

Tooling & Automation

• Define and evolve tooling strategy (e.g., Azure DevOps, test automation frameworks, performance/security tools).
• Drive pragmatic test automation for regression and E2E critical paths.

Core Deliverables

• Approved Test Strategy & Test Plan for assigned scope
• Requirements-to-test traceability matrix
• Test scenarios, cases, datasets, and evidence packs
• Defect dashboards and status reports (daily/weekly)
• Go/No-Go quality assessment and sign-off recommendations
• Post-implementation verification/hypercare quality report