The humble tester is becoming a more important position within banks' tech teams
The role of the quality assurance officer, or tester, within banks' technology teams has never been overly auspicious and some firms still require developers to check their own work. It’s a function that is growing, however, but this is something of a doubled edged sword for job prospects.
On the one hand, investment banks, retail banks and other financial services organisations are tipped to outsource more of their testing functions. Generally, UK companies are expected to up their spend on outsourcing software testing functions by 10% a year between 2011-15, according to research by Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC).
This implies that some roles currently performed internally will inevitably have to be eliminated. However, while some work will be outsourced, more specialist software developed in-house will also require banks to perform more vigorous testing and this is creating jobs.
"The financial sector is among the most mature for outsourcing software testing functions, but generally this work is around the back office, customer relationship management software and data analysis systems," says Nick Mayes, research director at PAC. "For front office systems, banks no longer want developers to 'mark their own homework' and more specialist testers are being recruited."
Mayes suggests that some developers who include testing as a large proportion of their role currently may be ousted as banks beef up their specialist testing units.
"Testing is no longer going to be buried in a development function, and anyone with experience in quality assurance within a specialist sector such as financial services are likely to be more in demand in the future," he says.
At the senior end, these roles can be relatively lucrative, with a head of testing within an investment bank typically able to earn between £100-140k. Lower down the career ladder, a test manager is likely to be paid £65-75k, suggest recruiters.
Still, even if the testing function is growing in prominence, there's not a universal approach to building out these divisions. A large team within a top tier investment bank still only comprises around 35 people, and some firms still prefer to bring in external expertise.
"Testing professionals have become more important, as more investment banks take a holistic approach and perform quality assurance at every stage of the development lifecycle. Inevitably, this has resulted in an increase in recruitment," says Paul Bennie, director at IT in finance headhunters Bennie MacLean. "However, some firms still favour the third-party route – some have a senior person managing an offshore testing team, while others utilise large consultancy firms for this work."
