Part-Time Manual Quality Assurance (QA) and User Experience Testing

Released: 27 August 2026

Join Govforms in a part-time Manual Quality Assurance (QA) and User Experience Testing role, helping us test and improve software used by UK public sector organisations and related private-sector organisations.

Location: Remote, UK

Working pattern: Flexible, irregular part-time hours offered according to testing requirements. Hours are not guaranteed and may vary from week to week. We are happy for you to have another job or other work alongside this role.

Contract: 6-month zero-hours contract

Pay: £13.50 per hour

Benefits: Statutory holiday entitlement and workplace pension subject to eligibility.

Travel: You will need to travel to London at least once a fortnight. Train travel for required London attendance is reclaimable. There may also be occasional ad hoc meet-ups in the Farnborough, Basingstoke or Guildford area.

Reports to: Client Director and Technical Director

Why the hours vary

Govforms develops and improves its software in waves. We are currently embarking on a significant upgrade to our platform, which means there will be periods with more testing activity and periods with less.

We think this could work particularly well for someone who wants to get practical software-testing experience under their belt alongside another job, study or other commitments.

About the role

Around 95% of the work will be manual testing. The main responsibility is to use Govforms as a real user would, complete realistic journeys and identify anything confusing, misleading, broken or difficult to recover from.

You will test the scenarios users are expected to follow, as well as alternative, unexpected and mistaken paths they might take. This includes checking what happens when users misunderstand instructions, enter incorrect information, navigate in an unusual order or make mistakes.

We do not assume you already have technical knowledge or previous software-testing experience. What matters most is that you are bright, inquisitive, driven and curious enough to keep exploring.

What you will be doing

• Emulating real users and completing realistic end-to-end journeys.
• Testing expected, alternative, unexpected and mistaken user scenarios.
• Trying incorrect inputs, unusual sequences and unexpected navigation choices.
• Exploring expected and unexpected user behaviours to uncover defects, confusing experiences and edge cases.
• Checking what happens when users misunderstand instructions or take the wrong path.
• Identifying confusing wording, unclear choices, dead ends, broken journeys and poor recovery experiences.
• Recording issues clearly with steps to reproduce, screenshots and the impact on the user.
• Retesting fixes and confirming the experience is clearer afterwards.
• Testing across different browsers, devices and screen sizes.
• Supporting accessibility, usability, regression and release testing.

Tools you will learn to use

You will gain practical experience with professional tools used by modern digital teams, including Atlassian Jira or similar bug-reporting and issue-tracking platforms, Slack, Google Workspace and business AI tools such as OpenAI products. Previous experience with these tools is not required.

About Govforms

Govforms develops secure digital platforms that help public sector organisations and related private-sector organisations design, build and improve online services.

Our team combines software engineering, automation, artificial intelligence and service design to help organisations modernise how they deliver services.

What we are looking for

No previous software-testing experience or technical knowledge is required. We do expect you to be comfortable actively using software yourself — for example, signing in, completing tasks, changing settings, entering information and working through different screens or journeys. This can be experience with any kind of software, at work, in education or in everyday life.

Simply consuming content on apps such as TikTok or YouTube is not enough on its own. We are looking for people who have actively used software and are curious about how it behaves.

We are looking for bright, inquisitive and driven people who:

• Are naturally curious and enjoy asking questions.
• Like trying things out to see what happens.
• Enjoy exploring software, unexpected user behaviour and edge cases.
• Can put themselves in the position of different users rather than assuming everyone will behave the same way.
• Notice when something is confusing, frustrating, inconsistent or unexpectedly difficult.
• Can explain clearly what happened and why it matters to the user.
• Have excellent attention to detail.
• Are self-motivated and driven to investigate an issue until they understand it.
• Can manage their time effectively while working remotely.
• Are willing to learn and respond positively to feedback.

Career development

For someone new to software testing, the natural development path is:

Trainee QA Tester → Junior QA Tester

The experience gained can also provide a foundation for other trainee and junior roles across the wider digital and software industry, for example Automation Test Engineer, AI Quality Engineer, Product Specialist, Software Engineer, Software Developer, Technical Consultant, User Experience or Service Design, and Accessibility Testing and Assurance.

Why join Govforms?

• Flexible part-time remote working.
• Work on real software and customer services.
• Work directly with the Client Director and Technical Director.
• Build practical manual QA and user-experience testing skills.
• Gain experience with professional tools used across modern digital teams.
• Help improve software used by UK public sector organisations and related private-sector organisations.
• Receive practical mentoring and training.