Lead, Trade Testing COE

This job is with Standard Chartered Bank, an inclusive employer and a member of myGwork – the largest global platform for the LGBTQ+ business community. Please do not contact the recruiter directly.Job SummaryStrategy/ Business People & Talent Team Leadership & Resource Management •Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of test experts. Identify skill gaps within the Domain and provide training programs to enhance the competencies of testing professionals. •Define team structure, roles, and responsibilities in alignment with the Bank's Change Delivery and Software Delivery Lifecycle standards and individual Product value streams. •Continuously engage with the test leads and other stakeholders from the programs to solicit feedback and insights on the quality of delivery and services. Use this to drive personnel and process improvement. •Conduct performance evaluations, support career development, and build a culture of excellence. •Collaborate with the Program Managers / Leads and the steering committee to identify the capacity needs and manage resource deployment across multiple programs. Risk Management Risk Assessment and Mitigation Processes/ Governance Centre of Excellence (CoE) Leadership •Lead the Testing Centre of Excellence, fostering innovation, cross-team alignment, and build a high-performing cohort. •Working with central TCoE, contribute to evaluation, selection, and managing testing tools and infrastructure to support various testing activities, including functional testing, performance testing, automation, and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines. Build and manage test competency frameworks, skills matrices, and capability uplift plans. •Collaborate with Program Managers / Leads, Chief Product Owners, Engineering Leads and Delivery Excellence Coaches to evolve a quality strategy. •Collaborate with the Delivery Excellence Coaches to implement early testing practices (Shift Left) and encourage team-wide ownership of quality. •Champion the adoption of test automation frameworks (UI, API, Performance, Security). Key ResponsibilitiesTest Strategy & Governance •Define and own the domain-wide test strategy, aligned with the organisational Test Centre of Excellence and the Change Delivery and Software Delivery Lifecycle Standards of the Bank. •Create a framework that ensures test coverage across all levels: unit, integration, system, regression, and user acceptance. •Establish and maintain testing standards, policies, templates, and best practices across teams. •Set up governance models and quality metrics to measure test effectiveness and efficiency. •Defines key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of testing processes. •Helps identify and mitigate risks associated with software defects and failures before they impact end-users or business operations. •Collaborate where testing professionals from different teams and departments can share knowledge, best practices, and lessons learned. •Foster a culture of continuous improvement by regularly evaluating and refining testing processes, tools, and methodologies based on feedback and lessons learned from previous projects. Regulatory & Business Conduct •Display exemplary conduct and live by the Group's Values and Code of Conduct. •Take personal responsibility for embedding the highest standards of ethics, including regulatory and business conduct, across Standard Chartered Bank. This includes understanding and ensuring compliance with, in letter and spirit, all applicable laws, regulations, guidelines and the Group Code of Conduct. •Effectively and collaboratively identify, escalate, mitigate and resolve risk, conduct and compliance matters. Key stakeholders •COO & Operations (Group, Regional, Country and Hub) •Business - Product/Sales (Global, Regional, Country) •Technology (Global and Country) •Head, Group Testing COE Qualifications• Education• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related field • Master's degree or MBA (preferred for strategic leadership roles) Skills and Experience• Experience• 16+ years in software testing and quality assurance • 5+ years in leadership roles within testing governance or CoE functions • Proven experience in Agile, DevOps, and hybrid delivery environments • Exposure to banking or financial services domain (preferably regulated environments) • Experience working in matrixed organizations with decentralized delivery teams • Designing and implementing enterprise-aligned testing strategies • Establishing governance models across decentralized application teams • Driving risk-based testing aligned with regulatory and compliance frameworks • Influencing without direct authority across business-aligned hives • Deep understanding of testing tools (e.g., Tosca, Selenium, JMeter, Postman) • Familiarity with test automation frameworks and CI/CD pipelines • Knowledge of performance testing, security testing, and model-based testing • Ability to interpret KPIs and testing maturity metrics • Strong stakeholder management across business and technology teams • Ability to mentor embedded testers and foster knowledge sharing • Skilled in cross-functional collaboration with Enterprise Testing CoE • Excellent communication and presentation skills for executive engagement • Championing modern testing practices (AI-driven testing, shift-left strategies) • Driving continuous improvement initiatives across testing processes • Staying abreast of industry trends and regulatory changes impacting testing• Certifications• ISTQB Advanced Level (Test Manager or equivalent) • PMP or PgMP (for program-level governance and delivery alignment) • Agile certifications (e.g., SAFe Agilist, Scrum Master - optional but valuable) • ITIL Foundation (for service management alignment) About Standard CharteredWe're an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 170 years, we've worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you're looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents and we can't wait to see the talents you can bring us. Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you'll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion. Together we: Do the right thingand are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do Never settle,continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well Are better together,we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others, and work collectively to build for the long term What we offerIn line with our Fair Pay Charter,we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing. Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance,with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations. Time-offincluding annual leave, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 months maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum. Flexible workingoptions based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns. Proactive wellbeing supportthrough Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and all sorts of self-help toolkits A continuous learning cultureto support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning. Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation,one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies - everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential.