Tester

Job description

About Barclays


Barclays is a transatlantic consumer, corporate and investment bank offering products and services across personal, corporate and investment banking, credit cards and wealth management, with a strong presence in our two home markets of the UK and the US.

With over 325 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays operates in over 40 countries and employs approximately 130,000 people. Barclays moves, lends, invests and protects money for customers and clients worldwide . Please visit our website here for more information.


About

API Platforms are a small group making a big difference, building API platforms for internal and external developers. Our primary purpose is to lead Barclays into the API Economy by executing an API first strategy. Working in a truly agile, co-located environment you will have the chance to display your work on the world stage, helping to build the Barclays API Store and creating Innovative products that will bring new revenue and exciting opportunities to Barclays, Fin-Techs and beyond. Our API portals will support Barclays traditional services such as Savings, Loans, Mortgages, Investments and Payments but you will also have the opportunity to work with the latest technologies such as Virtual assistants and Internet of Things to create New and Innovative services.


Overall purpose of role

· To contribute to the User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) of the Barclays API Store and Internal API Portals, across the design, build and unit test phases of the lifecycle.
· To maintain a technical understanding and correlation of user interface of the API Platform Products, providing support for technical queries, live incidents and problems.
· To ensure that the technical integrity and quality of the API Portals are maintained across their lifetime, contributing to the development of any technical changes being proposed.
· To build knowledge of how UX/UI will underpin the market strategy of the API business.

Key Accountabilities

Technical Consultancy (5%)

· Review Project Vision and Solution Outlines to determine impacts to the API Portals and assess potential change/impact.
· Review Advice and Guidance (A&G) documents and project Plan and Estimates (P&Es) that impact applications / products within the API Portals, and assess potential impact.
· Solve software-related problems, providing analysis and recommendations as appropriate.
· Develop an awareness of new tools, processes and technical developments relevant to component area of expertise.
· Clearly explain the design approach, process and timelines to business stakeholders.

Requirements Gathering (10%)


· Review Business and Technical requirements to understand how the requirements will fit within the overall API Portal solution. Challenge any requirements that are incomplete or do not provide sufficient clarity to support effective system development.
· Review requirements to ensure that all areas of functional and non-functional requirements (e.g. capacity, availability, response times, etc.) have been considered.
· Maintain awareness of ‘best-in-class' design and a deep understanding of the Barclays brand and design language.

Technical Development – Application Management (Design, Build, Unit Test) (70%)


· Work with other partners to understand the needs and characteristics of target personas.
· Understand business process and translate these into wireframes and information architecture.
· Translate wireframes and detailed requirements into engaging, user-centred visual design.
· Understanding of print design, photo retouching, iconography and infographics.
· Using software tools and techniques to build highly performant, responsive designed web portals for the API platforms.
· Participate in technical implementation planning, ensuring that the integrity of live operations will be maintained.
· Support the handover of software into business-as-usual (BAU) operation, providing the relevant IT service teams with information and education relating to the system technology and function.
· Coordination and resolution of Problem Management for system problems/Defects.
· Understand the various phases of the software development lifecycle.
· Undertake impact assessment of problem records against applications / products within the API Platform.
· Collaborate with other software engineers across teams to build the technical solution.
· Deliver to all software engineering to quality standards / benchmarks.
· Complete assignment work to budget, time and quality requirements. Document all work in accordance with agreed standards, and with re-use in mind.

Project Management (5%)


· Assist in the identification, management and resolution of any software-related Risks, Assumptions, Issues and Dependencies (RAIDs).
· Track work and report progress to team leader on a timely basis

Team Leadership and Staff Development (10%)

· Understand emerging software development methods, tools and standards. Look for ways to apply as appropriate.
· Identify own development needs and seek opportunities to address these needs through guidance, coaching and formal training.

Risk and Control Objective

Ensure that all activities and duties are carried out in full compliance with regulatory requirements, Enterprise Wide Risk Management Framework and internal Barclays Policies and Policy Standards.

Person Specification
Knowledge and Expertise

· End-to-end software development lifecycle
· Software development methodologies, e.g. waterfall, agile
· Awareness of leading-edge tools, techniques, services within IT
· Ability to interface with infrastructure and service management areas.

Key Competencies
Business Skills

· Understanding customer needs and priorities to providing quality services.
· Using creative problem solving and successfully executing tasks.
· Explaining, advocating and expressing facts and ideas in a variety of settings both orally and in writing.

Control Environment

· Awareness of, adherence to and compliance with governance, risk policies, procedures and compliance policies.
· The ability and willingness to escalate breaches of policies and procedures.
· The ability to maintain appropriate documentation.

Personal and Interpersonal

· Demonstrate integrity, initiative and commitment when interacting with colleagues & clients.
· Win together through collaboration & teamwork.
· Be aware of personal development needs and work to gain the experiences and training necessary to progress professionally and remain current.
· Contribute to the bank's well-being & culture.


Technical Knowledge


· Skills and abilities across user interviews, persona development, storyboarding, wire framing, visual designs, prototyping, and usability testing.
· Maintaining an in-depth understanding of relevant and up to date technical knowledge, applications and techniques
· Using technical knowledge to create new opportunities and solutions.
· End-to-end software development lifecycle.
· Software development methodologies, e.g. waterfall, agile.
· Awareness of leading-edge tools, techniques and services within UX/UI.
· Software development consisting of some of the following languages and technologies:
· Wireframe Prototyping (Axure, Omnigraffle)
· Graphics design software (Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator)
· Software development (HTML/CSS, Java, Angular, Javascript)
· Test Automation (jsonassert, rest-assured , junit, Parasoft, Selenium, Sikuli).
· Strong level of experience of IT software development (essential).
· Financial services (preferred).
· Large-scale blue-chip organisations such as Barclays (preferred).
· Broad knowledge of Barclays Group (beneficial).

Educational qualification

· BSc degree in relevant software engineering discipline, equivalent to UK 2nd class honors (preferred).
· Formal qualification in area of specialism, e.g. Sun Java certification (beneficial)
Benefits


Our customers deserve the best. The same goes for our employees. That's why at Barclays you'll receive a range of benefits that include a competitive salary and all the tools, technology and support you need to succeed.


Our Culture


Everything we do is shaped by the five values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship. The values inform the foundations of our relationships with customers and clients, but they also shape how we measure and reward the performance of our employees. Simply put, success is not just about what you achieve, but about how you achieve it.

Dynamic working gives everyone at Barclays the opportunity to integrate professional and personal lives, if you have a need for flexibility then please discuss this with the hiring manager.

Barclays is an equal opportunity employer and are opposed to discrimination on any grounds. For more detailed information, please visit our dedicated Diversity and Inclusion site here .