QA & Test Lead

About MSIG Specialty Marine

MSIG Specialty Marine NV is part of the Japanese MS&AD Insurance Group and operates in the global marine and specialty insurance market.

Across our international locations, we provide underwriting and claims-handling services to clients worldwide. Our specialist areas include cargo, hull, liability, shipowners’ P&I, specie, political violence and yacht insurance.

We are an entrepreneurial, open and collaborative organisation with short lines of communication. We encourage colleagues to take ownership, share knowledge and develop in line with their strengths and ambitions.

The opportunity

We are looking for an experienced QA & Test Lead to develop and strengthen our quality assurance capability across Business Change.

This is a senior, hands-on role combining portfolio-wide QA leadership with direct responsibility for testing across selected change initiatives. You will establish proportionate, risk-based testing standards and ensure business validation is effectively connected with technical testing, data, environments, defects and release dependencies.

Working closely with business owners, Project Managers, Business Analysts, IT teams, technical specialists and external suppliers, you will create greater consistency across testing and provide stakeholders with a clear, evidence-based view of quality, risk and release readiness.

The role does not have formal line-management responsibility. You will lead through expertise and influence by setting standards, coaching colleagues, reviewing test approaches and constructively challenging gaps in quality or evidence.

What you will do

Develop and improve our QA capability

- Define and continuously improve proportionate, risk-based QA standards, templates and evidence requirements.
- Establish clear expectations for test strategy, planning, execution, defect management, completion and sign-off.
- Promote traceability between requirements, acceptance criteria, key risks and test results.
- Develop reusable testing assets, regression coverage and practical guidance.
- Identify opportunities to simplify testing and make appropriate use of automation.
- Maintain a prioritised QA improvement roadmap alongside delivery commitments.

Provide functional leadership

- Guide and coach QA colleagues, business testers and delivery teams.
- Review test strategies, plans, scenarios and evidence based on project risk and significance.
- Provide clear, practical feedback and ensure material gaps are addressed or escalated.
- Identify testing capability, capacity and resource needs.
- Encourage teams to take ownership of quality while providing the structure required for effective delivery.

Improve requirements and test readiness

- Engage early with Project Managers, Business Analysts and business owners to assess requirements, acceptance criteria and testability.
- Constructively challenge unclear requirements, assumptions and insufficient evidence.
- Identify critical processes, controls, user outcomes, data needs, environments and dependencies before testing begins.
- Ensure risks and dependencies are reflected in the test approach.
- Maintain awareness of DORA and Solvency II requirements, working with Risk, Compliance and IT specialists where relevant.

Lead testing across change initiatives

For assigned initiatives, you will:

- Develop integrated, risk-based test strategies and plans.
- Define test scope, responsibilities, resources, environments, data requirements and dependencies.
- Establish appropriate entry and exit criteria.
- Lead or coordinate user acceptance testing and end-to-end business validation.
- Design and, where appropriate, execute functional, exploratory and business tests.
- Coordinate testing across business teams, developers, technical testers and external suppliers.
- Ensure test outcomes are traceable to requirements, acceptance criteria and identified risks.
- Work across system, integration, API, regression, data migration and end-to-end testing.
- Coordinate specialist input relating to performance, security, resilience and other non-functional requirements.

Manage defects and release readiness

- Lead defect triage with business and technical stakeholders.
- Assess defect severity and business impact, establishing clear ownership and resolution priorities.
- Monitor critical, disputed or overdue defects and escalate where necessary.
- Report clearly on test coverage, progress, defects, evidence gaps, untested scope and residual risk.
- Assess completion against agreed entry and exit criteria.
- Ensure business acceptance and specialist conclusions are appropriately documented.
- Provide evidence-based readiness recommendations to Project Managers, sponsors, the Change Advisory Board and other governance forums.

Drive continuous improvement

- Analyse recurring defects, requirement gaps and production issues to identify underlying causes.
- Work with business and delivery owners to agree and monitor improvement actions.
- Share lessons learned and embed stronger practices across future initiatives.
- Improve the effectiveness of test tools, reporting, regression coverage and reusable assets.

What you bring

This is an experienced-practitioner role requiring recent and directly relevant experience leading complex testing activities and improving QA capability.

Essential experience

- Significant hands-on experience in quality assurance and software testing, typically gained over at least seven years.
- Proven experience leading complex user acceptance and integrated testing activities.
- Experience developing risk-based test strategies and detailed test plans.
- Strong capability in structured test design, exploratory testing, functional execution and regression testing.
- Experience managing defects, traceability, test evidence and release-readiness reporting.
- A track record of establishing and improving QA standards across multiple projects or change initiatives.
- Experience coaching colleagues and influencing outcomes without formal line-management authority.
- The ability to balance portfolio-wide QA improvement with hands-on delivery.
- Strong understanding of APIs, integrations, data, environments and test-data requirements.
- Sufficient knowledge of performance, security, resilience and other non-functional testing to coordinate specialists and challenge evidence.
- Experience using test-management and defect-tracking tools.
- Strong stakeholder-management skills across business, technology and external supplier environments.

Qualifications

A relevant higher-education qualification in software engineering, computer science, information systems, quality assurance or a related discipline is preferred.

Candidates with substantial relevant professional experience demonstrating equivalent knowledge, analytical ability and judgement will also be considered.

A recognised testing qualification, such as ISTQB or an equivalent certification , is strongly preferred. Regardless of qualifications, candidates must be able to demonstrate the practical application of their testing knowledge.

Desirable experience

- Experience within insurance or the wider financial-services sector.
- Awareness of DORA and Solvency II and their implications for technology change and testing.
- Experience coordinating suppliers and third-party technology partners.
- Exposure to test automation and assessing suitable automation opportunities.
- Experience working across international teams and locations.

Your approach

You will:

- Combine a strong quality and control mindset with practical, proportionate delivery.
- Constructively challenge weak assumptions and insufficient evidence.
- Communicate technical findings in terms of clear business impacts, options and decisions.
- Lead and coach through expertise, credibility and influence.
- Distinguish between confirmed facts, evidence gaps and untested assumptions.
- Recognise when specialist input is required and involve the appropriate experts.
- Manage competing priorities transparently and make capacity constraints visible.
- Take ownership while respecting the accountabilities of business, delivery and technical teams.

Our cultural behaviours

Our culture is reflected in how we work together:

- Client-centric: We keep clients, business users and intended outcomes at the centre of our decisions.
- Innovative: We look for practical improvements in delivery, governance and technology-enabled change.
- Empowering: We create clarity, encourage ownership and help colleagues perform effectively.
- Collaborative: We work across Business Change, IT, control functions and external partners to achieve shared outcomes.
- Accountable: We take responsibility for our commitments, transparency, quality and follow-through.
- Disciplined: We apply proportionate structure, control and evidence to our work.

Why join us?

This is an opportunity to shape and strengthen QA practices across an international marine and specialty insurance organisation.

You will have the scope to establish sustainable testing standards, introduce meaningful improvements and directly influence the quality of important business and technology changes. At the same time, you will remain close to delivery through hands-on involvement in selected high-impact initiatives.

You will join an open and entrepreneurial organisation where expertise is valued, communication is direct and colleagues are encouraged to take ownership of their development and contribution.

Apply

If you are an experienced QA professional who combines hands-on testing expertise with the ability to establish standards, coach others and influence senior stakeholders, we would be pleased to hear from you.