Senior Operational Acceptance Tester (SFIA Level 4)

About Scrumconnect

Scrumconnect Consulting is a UK-based digital transformation consultancy delivering secure, scalable, and user-centred solutions across government and enterprise organisations. We specialise in agile delivery, cloud platforms, data, and modern engineering practices-helping clients build reliable services that meet high operational and compliance standards.

Role Overview - Senior Operational Acceptance Tester

The Senior Operational Acceptance Tester (OAT) is responsible for planning, coordinating, and executing Operational Acceptance Testing activities to ensure applications and services are fully operationally ready before production deployment.

You will work closely with delivery teams, infrastructure, DevOps, service management, and business stakeholders to validate operational readiness, identify operational risks, and provide confidence for successful production releases.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Acceptance Testing

• Plan and execute Operational Acceptance Testing activities across multiple releases.

• Define operational test scenarios, test data, and execution plans.

• Validate operational readiness before production deployment.

• Ensure OAT activities align with release and deployment schedules.

Operational Test Execution

Execute and coordinate testing for:

• Monitoring and alert validation

• Alert simulation and escalation testing

• Backup and restore validation

• Failover and disaster recovery testing

• Batch processing and restart validation

• Stability and soak testing

• Operational support procedures

• Security and access validation

• Environment verification

Defect & Evidence Management

• Produce comprehensive operational test evidence.

• Record, prioritise, and manage operational defects.

• Support root cause analysis of production readiness issues.

• Coordinate retesting after fixes.

• Maintain OAT documentation and audit artefacts.

Collaboration

• Work closely with DevOps, Infrastructure, Service Management, and Development teams.

• Participate in release readiness and go-live reviews.

• Support operational sign-off activities.

• Contribute to continuous improvement of operational testing practices.

Mentoring

• Support and mentor junior testers.

• Review operational test cases and evidence.

• Promote testing best practices across the team.

Required Experience

• 4-7 years of Software Testing experience.

• Strong hands-on Operational Acceptance Testing (OAT) experience.

• Experience executing production readiness testing.

• Good understanding of SIT, UAT, and Release Management.

• Experience with defect management tools.

• Excellent analytical and troubleshooting skills.

• Strong documentation and stakeholder communication skills.

• Experience working within Agile delivery teams.

• Experience working in regulated or enterprise environments.

Nice to Have

• Exposure to AWS and/or Azure.

• Experience with monitoring and logging platforms.

• Understanding of ITIL processes.

• Knowledge of Change, Incident, and Problem Management.

• Exposure to CI/CD pipelines.

Our Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

At Scrumconnect Consulting, we believe diversity drives innovation. We are committed to fostering an inclusive workplace where everyone feels respected, valued, and supported.

We actively encourage applications from women, people with disabilities, individuals from under-represented communities, and those seeking flexible working arrangements.

As a Disability Confident Level 1 employer, we provide reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process and employment to ensure equal opportunity for all.