Test Analyst - Core Banking at Hurren and Hope Holdings Ltd, Cambridge - Occasional minimal travel, 9 Months, £Contract Rate

Core Banking Test Analyst - Platform Modernisation & Servicing

£350 - £400 per day (Outside IR35) | Remote (UK-based) with occasional onsite attendance

We are an established UK financial institution currently undertaking a critical upgrade to our core banking platform. This upgrade impacts the very heart of our operations, modernising day-to-day servicing capabilities-from payment processing and transaction handling to account management, product servicing, and interest calculations.

Given the criticality of these services, robust testing is the safety net that ensures continuity of operations, data integrity, and minimal disruption to our customers and internal teams. We are looking for an experienced, highly autonomous Test Analyst to guide this upgrade through system, integration, and UAT phases. We need a true specialist who takes ownership of their deliverables and thrives in an independent, outcome-focused environment.

What You'll Be Doing

You will own the testing life cycle for our core servicing journeys:

• Scenario Design & Validation: Design comprehensive test scenarios covering end-to-end servicing workflows. You will translate business and system requirements into robust test cases and coverage matrices, ensuring every product life cycle event and transaction is thoroughly accounted for.

• Test Execution & UAT Leadership: Execute testing across core servicing processes while providing structured support and guidance to business users navigating UAT. You won't just be running scripts; you'll be the anchor for operations teams validating the system, collating progress, and maintaining strict audit trails.

• Defect Management & Vendor Coordination: Take complete ownership of the defect life cycle. You will facilitate triage sessions, conduct root cause analysis on critical servicing issues, and collaborate closely with third-party vendors to raise, explain, and drive defects through to resolution.

• Strategic Environment Management: Ensure test environments are primed and ready for action. You will validate user access, coordinate test data setup aligned to servicing scenarios, and proactively identify risks-offering strategic recommendations to optimise our future testing and automation approaches.

Who We're Looking For We value "battle-tested" delivery over theoretical frameworks:

• Core Banking Mastery: You possess deep, proven experience testing core banking platforms. You inherently understand day-to-day banking operations and the complex integration between downstream and upstream systems.

• Architectural Independence & Agility: You are comfortable working under an Outside IR35 framework. You retain full discretion over your methods, tools, and the sequencing of your activities, provided the agreed project milestones are achieved. You are a self-starter who delivers without needing micro-management.

• Clear Communication: You are skilled at bridging the gap between technical vendors and business users, capable of producing clear test completion reports, status updates, and defect trend analyses for project stakeholders.

• Bonus Backgrounds: While not a strict prerequisite, any prior exposure to the Finova platform will be highly regarded and allow you to hit the ground running even faster.

This is a high-impact contract where your expertise will directly ensure the seamless rollout of critical financial infrastructure.

Please note: Hurren & Hope is our chosen talent partner for this search. All speculative applicants from individuals or agencies will be forwarded directly to them in the first instance.

We endeavour to get back to all applications, phone calls, direct outreach via LinkedIn etc, simply slows down our ability