Software Test Team Leader

Software Testing Team Lead

M-AIS is a small, technically focused aviation software company based in the centre of Edinburgh. We have clients around the world, with most of our work focused in the UK and Central Europe. We have been operating in this specialist field for over 20 years and have established a strong niche position in aviation information publishing and management systems.

We are seeking an experienced and motivated Software Testing Team Lead to lead our testing function in a compliance-defined software environment and help ensure the delivery of high-quality, reliable, and supportable software products. This role is being offered due to the retirement of a long-serving member of staff and represents an important opportunity to shape the next stage of our testing capability.

This is a challenging and visible role. The company has been moving toward SAFe Agile practices, cloud-based CI/CD, and increasingly automated testing approaches to support more modern delivery workflows. The successful candidate must be capable not only of improving testing efficiency and automation, but of doing so in a way that preserves quality control, traceability, release discipline, and compliance confidence.

The role requires a strong understanding of how testing operates within a controlled, standards-driven, and auditable engineering environment. Familiarity with ED-153, ISO 27001, and ISO 9001:2015 is strongly preferred. Candidates from other regulated, assured, or quality-controlled sectors will also be considered where they can demonstrate clearly transferable experience.

Key responsibilities

• lead, mentor, and manage a team of software testers across multiple projects and releases
• define, implement, and maintain testing strategies, plans, and processes that support both delivery objectives and compliance expectations
• ensure testing activities provide appropriate confidence for controlled releases in a standards-driven environment
• coordinate and prioritise testing activity to support timely and effective defect detection, retest, and resolution
• work closely with software developers, product managers, and stakeholders to define acceptance criteria, quality goals, and release confidence expectations
• oversee both manual and automated testing activity, including functional, regression, integration, performance, and security-oriented testing as appropriate
• help drive the transition toward stronger automated testing practices in cloud-based CI/CD workflows while maintaining control, repeatability, and evidence quality
• improve test frameworks, tooling, traceability, reporting, and overall test process maturity
• monitor and report on test progress, metrics, risks, defects, and overall quality status to senior management
• support structured release risk assessment and provide clear testing input to release readiness decisions
• ensure testing practices align with company quality, assurance, security, and compliance obligations
• support or lead root cause analysis for significant defects and guide corrective and preventive action
• contribute to continuous improvement across the software development and testing lifecycle in a way that remains compatible with the company’s controlled operating environment

Essential skills and experience

• minimum of 5 years’ experience in software testing
• at least 2 years in a leadership, senior, or team lead testing role
• proven experience working within a compliance-defined, standards-driven, or otherwise controlled software delivery environment
• strong understanding of the software development lifecycle and software testing lifecycle in environments where process discipline, reviewability, and release control are required
• strong experience in test planning, test design, execution, reporting, and defect management
• practical experience with test automation tools and automated testing approaches
• solid knowledge of manual testing techniques and defect tracking tools such as Jira, Bugzilla, or similar
• experience working in Agile, DevOps, or CI/CD delivery environments
• ability to lead, motivate, and develop a high-performing testing team
• strong communication and stakeholder management skills
• analytical mindset with good attention to detail and structured problem solving
• experience producing, using, or supporting test records, reports, and evidence suitable for controlled review and release decision-making

Desirable skills and experience

• experience with ED-153
• experience with ISO 27001 controlled environments
• experience with ISO 9001:2015 quality-managed environments
• experience in aviation, defence, or other regulated/high-integrity sectors
• experience supporting testing in cloud-based delivery environments
• experience improving or implementing automated testing frameworks
• awareness of performance and security testing principles
• experience working in small specialist software teams

Additional notes

A degree is not essential where relevant and substantial experience can be demonstrated. The initial role will primarily be office-based due to the need to manage and interact on a day to day basis with your team and the development teams, once established the role will allow for more work from home and flexibility as is available to other senior team members.

What we are looking for (In a nutshell)

We are looking for someone who is technically credible, organised, and comfortable operating in a small specialist aviation software company where quality, release confidence, and compliance discipline matter. This role requires a person who can strengthen testing leadership, support automation and CI/CD progress, and maintain effective testing control within a compliance-defined environment.