Head of Testing

Head of Testing (Manchester / Cheltenham / London)

About Finova

Finova is the UK’s largest financial services technology provider, supporting one in every five mortgages nationwide. Our agile, cloud-native solutions enable over 60 banks, building societies, specialist lenders, equity release providers and a network of 2,400+ brokers to stay ahead in a competitive market.

Built on open architecture and backed by deep industry expertise, our platform is designed to scale. Each year, we process over £50 billion in loans, manage nearly £50 billion in savings, and support the digital servicing of more than 650,000 UK borrower accounts.

Be part of a team that’s driving innovation, enabling growth and shaping the future of UK lending.

Finova offers a flexible, modular technology suite designed to help lenders move faster, scale efficiently and deliver standout digital experiences.

Financial Institutions use Finova to launch products faster, process applications up to 50% more efficiently and reduce operational costs — all while staying fully compliant in a fast-moving market.

We’re looking for a senior testing leader to take full ownership of quality across Finova’s three platforms;
Enterprise, Apprivo and MSO. This role exists to bring clarity, credibility and consistency to how testing is understood, planned and executed, both internally and with customers.

Over the next 12 months, your impact will be measured by the confidence you build in our testing strategy, the uplift in modern and automated testing practices, and the strength of customer trust in our testing teams. You will be the senior authority shaping testing theory, defining principles, and ensuring testing is embedded early in delivery.

This is a highly visible, customer-facing position with accountability for leading a ~50-strong testing organisation and transforming our approach into one that is modern, automation-led and recognised by customers as expert and advisory not just execution-focused.

• Own testing and quality outcomes across all platforms (Enterprise, Apprivo, MSO).
• Establish clear testing principles, standards and risk thresholds for the organisation.
• Embed testing early in design and delivery decision‑making.
• Act as the senior owner for testing‑related risk, trade‑offs and escalations.

• Represent Finova as a credible, senior testing authority in customer engagements.
• Clearly explain and defend testing strategies, rationale and decisions to customers.
• Provide assurance on coverage, risk and readiness for complex changes, migrations and high‑risk releases.
• Step in directly where customer confidence needs rebuilding or reinforcement.

• Define and communicate Finova’s overarching testing philosophy and theory.
• Ensure teams can articulate both why and how testing is performed.
• Translate theory into practical, scalable and repeatable delivery models.

• Oversee and assure test strategies and test plans for major deliveries.
• Support teams in designing robust, proportionate plans aligned to customer risk appetite.
• Ensure clear communication of test coverage and outcomes to customers.
• Intervene when planning or execution quality is weak or inconsistent.

• Lead the transition to automation‑led, engineering‑focused testing practices.
• Demonstrate fluency across automated testing technologies used across multiple stacks.
• Balance automation with appropriate manual and exploratory testing approaches.

• Lead, mentor and develop a ~50‑person testing organisation, including customer‑facing roles.
• Build capability to operate confidently with both customers and delivery partners.
• Upskill teams in automation, modern testing theory and customer communication.
• Foster a culture of professionalism, ownership and continuous improvement.

You will be a strong fit for this role if you are:

• Customer‑centric and confident operating directly with senior stakeholders.
• Technically credible, with deep understanding of modern…