Job Description

Acknowledgement of Country

CSIRO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land, sea and waters, of the area that we live and work on across Australia. We acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. View our vision towards reconciliation

Role highlights

• Lead functional, regression, system & integration testing to support quality product delivery
• Mentor test analysts and contribute to testing strategy & continuous improvement
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver solutions supporting CSIRO's strategic objectives

About CSIRO

As Australia's national science agency, CSIRO is solving the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. Many of our iconic innovations were once considered impossible until someone, just like you, joined us and took on the challenge.

Visit CSIRO.au for more information.

The opportunity

As the Senior Test Analyst, you will lead and coordinate a range of testing activities, including functional, regression, system and integration testing, to support the successful delivery of high-quality digital products. Working in an agile, collaborative environment, you will contribute to test strategy, mentor and build the capability of test analysts, and help shape the future direction of the testing function.

Partnering with developers, business analysts, infrastructure specialists and business stakeholders, you will play a key role in delivering solutions that support CSIRO’s strategic and operational objectives while demonstrating initiative, leadership and a strong focus on continuous improvement.

High-level duties include

• Lead Testing Activities: Oversee and manage functional, regression, system integration, release, and regression testing activities, ensuring thorough and effective testing processes. Apply risk-based testing principles to identify quality risks, prioritise testing efforts, and support successful product releases.
• Strategic Planning: Develop, maintain and communicate test strategies, test plans, schedules, environments, and quality objectives that align with organisational and business goals, ensuring effective delivery and stakeholder visibility.
• Reporting: Produce comprehensive test reports for key product releases, providing quality assessments, risk analysis, release readiness evaluations, and evidence-based go/no-go recommendations to stakeholders.
• Capability Building: Take responsibility for building the capability of test analysts, providing mentorship and guidance to enhance team skills.
• Innovation and Improvement: Foster a culture of continuous review and improvement, encouraging innovation and the adoption of best practices.
• Advanced Automation Strategy and Quality Engineering: Define and influence automation strategy, continuous testing practices, and quality engineering improvements. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to establish and deliver automation roadmaps that improve delivery efficiency, coverage, and product quality

Role particulars

Location and office arrangements:All major Australian capital cities with CSIRO sites

Salary: AU$118,102 – AU$127,808 per annum (pro rata for part-time), plus 15.4% superannuation

Tenure & work schedule: Indefinite

Reference: 103980

As the successful candidate, you will bring:

Essential criteria

• Extensive Testing and Quality Assurance Experience: Demonstrated extensive experience (minimum 12 years) in software testing and quality assurance, supported by relevant tertiary qualifications in Information Technology or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant industry experience.
• Advanced Testing Leadership and Delivery Management: Demonstrated ability to lead and manage end-to-end testing activities across complex projects, including functional, system integration, regression, release, and user acceptance testing, ensuring high-quality and reliable software outcomes.
• Strategic Test Planning and Risk Management: Proven experience developing, maintaining, and communicating test strategies, test plans, schedules, quality objectives, and risk-based testing approaches that align with organisational priorities and support informed release decisions.
• Quality Engineering and Test Automation Expertise: Demonstrated experience defining and implementing test automation strategies, continuous testing practices, and quality engineering improvements, with the ability to influence technical direction and improve delivery efficiency, coverage, and product quality.
• Agile Delivery and Scrum Experience: Extensive experience working within Agile delivery environments, including active participation and leadership in backlog refinement, sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, retrospectives, and other Agile ceremonies to embed quality throughout the software development lifecycle.
• Stakeholder Engagement and Influencing Skills: Highly developed communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively and influence quality outcomes across multidisciplinary teams, including Product Owners, Business Analysts, Developers, Infrastructure Teams, executive stakeholders, and business representatives.
• Reporting, Analysis and Release Readiness Assessment: Proven ability to prepare and present comprehensive test reports, quality assessments, risk analyses, and release-readiness recommendations, providing evidence-based advice to support organisational decision-making.
• People Leadership, Mentoring and Capability Development: Demonstrated experience mentoring, coaching, and developing testing professionals, fostering capability uplift, knowledge sharing, and high-performing teams.
• Continuous Improvement and Innovation: Demonstrated ability to drive continuous improvement initiatives, promote testing best practices, and identify innovative approaches that enhance testing effectiveness, team capability, and delivery outcomes.
• Independence, Leadership and Strategic Contribution: Proven ability to operate with a high degree of independence, exercise sound judgement, and provide leadership that contributes to the achievement of organisational, strategic, and operational objectives.

Desirable

Experience testing both front-end and back-end web application systems with

1. A focus on discovery and access of research data;

2. high throughput requirements for relational & file-based data processing.

3. significant data scale/magnitude (i.e. Terabytes, Petabytes).

4. a focus on discovery and access of research data.

5. Integrations and interfaces with external systems e.g. REST web services
6. Knowledge/ hands-on experience with NFT tools

For full details about this role, and other criteria, please review the

Not sure if you meet all the criteria?

While it is CSIRO policy that the successful candidate must meet all the essential criteria, there are many ways to demonstrate this. Don’t let the list discourage you. If you are unsure about applying, please reach out to the contact person in the Position Description.

Setting you up for success

We are committed to providing a recruitment process that is fair, equitable and accessible to everyone. We recognise that it may be helpful for us to adjust our process to make it equitable for your individual situation. Please contact Careers.online@csiro.au and let us know how we can support you.

Life at CSIRO and flexible work arrangements

We work flexibly at CSIRO, offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. We can discuss flexible work arrangements with you during the recruitment process. CSIRO also offers a range of leave entitlements, benefits and career development opportunities. To find out more, visit Careers at CSIRO

Inclusion and belonging

Solving Australia's greatest challenges takes a diversity of minds and lived experiences. We know diverse teams are more effective and deliver more innovative outcomes. As an equal employment opportunity organisation, we are committed to creating diverse and inclusive teams where people feel they belong. We recognise true diversity encompasses all ages, abilities, cultures, faiths, levels of education, genders, sexualities, diversity of thought and much more. We focus on hiring people who share our values of People First, Further Together, Making it Real and Trusted.

CSIRO holds Platinum Status for the Australian Workplace Equality Index for LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and a Science in Australia Gender Equity Bronze Award.

Eligibility

This is a security assessed position, applications for this position are open to Australian Citizens only with the successful candidate being required to be able to obtain and maintain a security clearance at the Negative Vetting 1 level.Appointment to this role is subject to provision of a national police check and may be subject to other security/medical/character requirements.

Child safety

CSIRO is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people involved in our activities and programs. View our Child Safe Policy

How to apply

Please apply online and submit a cover letter (maximum 2 pages) and CV that demonstrate your motivation and ability to meet the essential requirements of this role.

Applications close

Sunday 13th of September, 11pm AEST