Commonwealth Secretariat jobs in London WC1H

The Commonwealth Secretariat is seeking to appoint a Software Architect – QA Analyst within the Debt Management Unit (DMU), part of the Economic Development, Trade and Investment Directorate (EDTI). EDTI works closely with Commonwealth member countries to strengthen economic resilience through trade and investment policy, digital connectivity, investment facilitation, and wider economic and sustainable development priorities. Its work includes technical assistance, advisory support, knowledge exchange and capacity building, delivered through in-house expertise and strategic partnerships.

The DMU delivers the Secretariat’s debt management programme, providing member countries with an integrated package of support covering policy advice, capacity building and debt management systems. This includes strengthening institutional and legal frameworks, supporting the development and implementation of debt management strategies, and contributing to market development.

Through the Commonwealth Secretariat Debt Recording and Management System, Commonwealth Meridian, the Secretariat supports client countries to manage public debt effectively at central and state government levels, covering back, middle and front office functions. Commonwealth Meridian is currently deployed in more than 40 countries.

Reporting to the Adviser and Head – Debt Management Unit through the Adviser & Team Leader (IT Systems) and working closely with business analysts, economists, debt specialists and IT professionals, the Software Architect – QA Analyst will design, implement and continuously improve quality assurance strategies, testing processes, methodologies and automation frameworks for Commonwealth Meridian. The role will help identify and resolve defects, support the delivery of high-quality software, and may also involve providing technical support to clients and contributing to capacity-building activities.

Key responsibilities include:

• Performing API testing using Postman, RestAssured, or similar tools to validate integrations.
• Designing and implementing test automation frameworks for UI, API, and performance testing.
• Managing the complete test cycle of software development from requirements testing to user acceptance and release testing.
• Planning testing across the software development lifecycle, including defining testing objectives and quality criteria, developing testing strategies, recommending appropriate testing approaches, and ensuring effective integration between testing and development activities.
• Making recommendations on appropriate testing tools to support the improvement and automation of DMU software testing activities.
• Supporting user queries when required, including helping to prioritise, diagnose and resolve support issues.

To be considered for this role, you will need a Master’s and/or Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, software testing or a related discipline, with a substantial component relevant to computing. You will also need at least five years’ software testing experience, including experience of developing software automation scripts using .NET, NUnit and Selenium WebDriver, as well as quality assurance experience in a structured test environment. Candidates with experience in scripting unit-level test cases using C# in the Microsoft Visual Studio environment and who have an understanding of how AI and machine learning can be applied to public debt management quality assurance functions will have an added advantage.

The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 56 member governments and provides guidance on policymaking, technical assistance and advisory services to Commonwealth member countries. We support governments to help achieve sustainable, inclusive and equitable development.

Please apply by submitting a CV and cover letter. Covering letters should be structured to address the key criteria required in the person specification, giving clear examples.

To join us, you must be a citizen of a Commonwealth country.

The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 56 independent and equal countries.

It is home to 2.5 billion people, and includes both advanced economies and developing countries. 33 of our members are small states, including many island nations.

Our member governments have agreed to shared goals like development, democracy and peace. Our values and principles are expressed in the Commonwealth Charter.

The Commonwealth's roots go back to the British Empire. But today any country can join the modern Commonwealth. The last two countries to join the Commonwealth were Gabon and Togo in 2022.