Pravasan S. Expert Automation QA / Lead

Data QA, QA Automation / Testing

Summary

- Worked on leading positions with central high street banks/fin-tech firms like BAML-UK, ICBC-Standard Bank-UK, Fidelity, and Prudential.
- Worked in Major Asset Classes like Commodities, Money Market, Equities, Equities Derivatives, Risk-IT, Market Operation, Financial Markets, Fixed Income
- Domain Knowledge: Banking, FX, Asset allocation, Fixed Income, Regulatory reporting MiFID, Treasury, Insurance, Annuities, Mutual Funds, Retirement Services, Finance, ERP, CRM, Security, Networking, Gaming
- 15+ years of commercial experience with Java and 5+ years of commercial experience automating with Appium. First experience in the banking sector was acquired in 1999. Since the beginning of 2000, has working experience in banking and finance.
- A delivery-focused hands-on expert test professional with over 20 years of solid experience in providing test solutions to multi-million-dollar projects with an emphasis on automation and CI.
- Certified Agile Scrum Practitioner
- ISEB / ISTQB Certified Software Test Professional
- Fluent English

Experience

Lead SDET in Game Development Company, UK

Dec 2021 to till date

Chater QA Automation Lead in ICBC-Standard bank, UK

Sept-2020 – Dec-2021

Lead Test Automation Consultant in RDT, UK

Sept 2019 to  July 2020

Program test Lead in ICBC-Standard bank, UK

Oct-2018 –Sept-2019

Test Automation Architect/Lead in RDT, UK

Feb 2016 to sept 2018

Software Test Manager In Bank of America Merrill Lynch, London

Aug 2014 to Feb 2016

Software Automation Lead in Fidelity Investments, Ireland

May 2011 to Aug 2014

Lead Test Automation Engineer in Pramerica, Ireland (Prudential Financial, US)

July 2006 to April 2011.

Test Automation Lead in Datalex, Ireland

January 2006 to July 2006.

Test Automation Analyst in Pramerica, Ireland (Prudential Financial, US)

Nov 2004 to Dec 2005.

Senior Automation Engineer in McAfee (Antivirus Company)

Jan 2004 to Nov 2004.

Senior Test Engineer at Deutsche Bank

Jun 2003 to Dec 2003.

Consultant (Testing) in Intel

Mar 2003 to Jun 2003.

Programmer / QA Engineer in FCS Software Solutions Ltd

Jan 2000 to Mar 2003.

Programmer at Aptech

Jan 1999 to Jan 2000.

Projects

Lead SDET, a Game Development Company

Dec-2021- till date
Description: the Project is an upcoming competitive arena combat game developed by Game Development Company for Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android, set to be released in 2022. It’s a AAA game title set after the fall of the Galactic Empire featuring a new set of characters, including bounty hunters, rebellion heroes, and imperial stormtroopers. I was the first SDET in the team to set up automation for the game.

  • Designed  an Appium/Air test-based test framework for Unreal Engine 4

  • Created Nakama-based API test framework for server-side testing.

  • Created SpecFlow Based Soak test framework using C++ and Unreal bots

  • Created a QA dashboard to show various data points in to one place

  • Did POC , got approval from the architectural board, and introduced Air test as a new tool to the organization

  • Automated various automation flows in the above frameworks

  • Create CI setup, including build-to-fleet deployment 

  • Created RPC-based tools for player snapshot import export

Technologies: C#, Nakama, Gherkin, Airtest, Jenkins, Appium, and Perforce, AWS , Android

Chapter QA Automation Lead, Financial Surveillance Team

Sep 2020- Dec 2021
Description: FCS is in-house software to run various compliance checks. We onboarded various compliance rules in the system like Spoofing, Marking the close, wash trades etc. We also migrated functionality from Silverlight-based FCS v1 to FCS v2, which was angular-based web app.  I was responsible for overall testing for the team. 

  • Tested all implemented rules at DB, Service and UI levels

  • Maintained existing FItnesse automation.

  • created SpecFlow Based API test framework using restsharp

  • Created  SpecFlow Based UI test framework using Playwright

  • Did POC, got approval from the architectural board, and introduced Playwright as a new tool to the bank 

  • Automated various automation flows in the above frameworks

  • Introduced, implemented, and coached the team to use BDD as a delivery model.

  • Setup CI for automation tests using TeamCity for quick feedback using extent reports

Technologies: C#, SQL Server, Gherkin, Playwright, TeamCity, UNIX, and SVN

Lead Test Automation Consultant, Quote and Buy (QnB)

Sept-2016- June 20
Description: QnB is web driven portal to get quote and convert them into live insurance policies. This portal supports four lines of insurance (Motor/Travel/Pet/Gadget). I also facilitate short-term and long-term annual policies. It consists of profile management, Quote Management, and Policy and Claims administration. I am involved with the team as the Lead test consultant.

  • Owned QA process within the app testing group

  • Created Task-based Selenium automation framework

  • Automated 200+ Policy, MTA, and claim scenarios for the project

  • Implemented Spec Flow BDD framework on top of POM.

  • Wrote features files and step implementations for the stories

  • Create API test automation using Postman.

  • Created custom report implementation using the Allure framework.

  • Coached the dev/QA team to use the framework.

  • Created continuous integration for the app using MS Azure DevOps.

  • Optimized the CI setup to do faster test execution and fail fast approach

Technologies: C#, MS SQL, Azure DevOps, Nuget, Gherkin, Selenium, Angular 9

Lead Program Quality Consultant/Coach, Enterprise Data management (EDM)

Oct 2018- Sept 2019
Description: EDM is a CTB program to establish fundamental data management practices primarily supported by Golden Source (vendor product) that is an integrated suite of EDM software packages comprising various financial products, Position management, trade lifecycle Transactions, Counterparties data, Instrument data, and Market data. Additionally, it offers regulatory reporting frameworks such as Commodity Position Limit monitoring and MIFID II Reports. It receives trade, RFQ, and Order data from systems like Murex, QP/Brady, Fidessa, TOMs, and RET into EDM. It generates MiFID II reports for post-trade transparency (RTS 2), Transaction Reporting (RTS22), Best Execution (RTS 27, RTS 28), that is submitted to TRAX (ARM) which intern submits to FCA. I worked as an automation architect and program test manager.

  • Introduced Agile practices from Sprint setup to feature delivery.

  • Setup/managed Agile-testing practice for the program to support four streams.

  • Implemented Dev-ops processes to reduce release cadence.

  • The design developed a test automation framework (EDMAF) from scratch in Java.

  • Setup automated validation at various stages of the EDM/Reporting journeys

  • Introduced, implemented, and coached teams to use BDD as a delivery model.

  • Built efficient API testing practices using cucumber JVM

  • Set up maven repo from scratch using Nexus.

  • Set up CI using TeamCity for quick feedback cycles.

  • Introduced Test management tool Jira-XRAY to the program and to the Bank.

Technologies: Java, Oracle, GoldenSource, Toad, Jenkins, Gherkin, Cucumber-JVM, Selenium, TeamCity, UNIX, and SVN

Test Automation Architect, Trice

Feb 2016- Sept 2018
Description: Trice is a multi-platform mobile app that facilitates short-term insurance. It consists of profile management, Quote Management, and Policy and Claims administration. It caters to motor, gadget, household, and pet insurance. I am involved with the team as a test lead.

  • Owned the QA process within the app testing group.

  • Created device /OS coverage metrics for the app

  • Created Page Object model-based Appium automation framework

  • Designed the framework to be flexible to use the same script for IOS and Android devices

  • Implemented Spec Flow BDD framework on top of POM.

  • Coached the dev/QA team to use the framework.

  • Created continuous integration for the app using the team foundation server.

  • Optimized the CI setup to do faster test execution and fail fast approach

  • Did Cloud hosted test lab provider analysis, including Firebase, Sauce Lab,

  • Set up remote lab test execution with amazon device farm and pCloudy.

Technologies: C#, MS SQL, MTM, TFS, Nuget, Gherkin, Appium, Xamrin

Test Automation Architect,  Landscape

Feb 2016- Sept 2018
Description: Landscape handles relationships with millions of insurance customers and is used by 19 businesses, including Marker Study Group and Direct Line Group. It consists of modules such as Policy administration, Rating engine, Claims Management, Graphical workflow, Accounts, and Channel management. The landscape also has an independent set of APIs offered as a service, which includes Claims API and Rates API. We are currently working on landscape cloud offering and GDPR compliance. I am responsible for the overall QA/automation function of this program. 

  • Review existing QA processes and change them to be agile for efficiency

  • Reviewed existing automation (Axe + CodedUI) to reduce total execution times from 7 hours to 2 Hours

  • Introduced BDD (Behavior Driven Development) concept to the teams.

  • Created continuous integration and delivery setup for the applications using TFS/Chef/Jenkins.

  • Created POM(page object model) based SpecFlow automation framework 

  • Trained teams to write acceptance criteria writing in Gherkin.

  • Created Integration test and end-to-end test  strategy

  • Facilitated upstream/ downstream environment setup in UAT and Lab

  • Acted as a gatekeeper for QA and UAT environments

  • Managed monthly release QA Cycles

Technologies: C#, MS SQL, TFS, Jenkins, MS test, Gherkin, SpecFlow, SoapUI, Selenium, MTM, TestNG

Automation Test Manager, Broker/Dealer Platform (Traffic)

Aug 2014- Feb 2016
Description: In Bank’s Capital Investment & Treasury Division, Traffic (Treasury Real-time Account Forecasting & Funding Integrating Cash-positions) provides liquidity planning and funding efficiency by consolidating cash flow across Bank of America. Subsidiaries can borrow/repay funds from/to parent legal entities to achieve better funding rates than they could individually achieve on the street. Listed below are areas where I contributed to the project.

  • Built and managed vendor facilitated QA Team.

  • Created POM(page object model) based SpecFlow automation framework

  • Story Acceptance criteria writing with Gherkin.

  • Worked with team to get stakeholder buy-in for the BDD approach

  • Created continuous integration for the application using Jenkins.

  • Created and enhanced Legacy QTP automated regression bed, which covers 1700+ user flows

  • Acted as gatekeeper for QA and UAT environments

  • Managed 7+ releases QA Cycles 

Technologies: C#, MS SQL, MTM, TFS, Jenkins, TestNG, Gherkin, SpecFlow, Selenium

Automation Test manager, Global Funding Treasury Platform

Aug 2014- Feb 2016
Description: QZ Funding is a Treasury workstation, a collection of modules that includes trade capture/blotter (Time deposit/FX/ICLs), Credit limits, Flow Summary, and reports (Funding forecast, Trade Performance, Daily Flash, and Inter Unit Funding). I also worked on a global position viewer and universal blotter for the money market. This platform is used by 2000 + Bank of America traders worldwide. some of my Contributions to the project are listed below.

  • Introduced quality practices from scratch for applications within Global Funding.

  • Improving Unit test quality/run frequency and proper code review practices

  • Remote QA Team integration within agile feature teams

  • Coached teams to improve their agile practices, which includes backlog creation and grooming, 

  • Introduced and coached BDD Concept to the development team. Created a BDD automation framework using python and Lettuce.

  • Created automated regression bed which covers 4000+ user flows

  • Reduced production defect count from 25+ defects/release to 2 to 3  defects/release

Technologies: Java, Python, Sandra, MQ, Jenkins, PyUnit, Selenium, Appwatch, Gherkin, Lettuce, Version one, CVS

Automation Test manager, Portfolio Management Platform

May 2011- Aug 2014
Description: PM Platform is a Portfolio management platform used by the Portfolio Managers within the Fidelity back office. It replaced an excel spreadsheet-based system used to model various investment plans. The platform has also provided various quants based “what if” functionalities (Solver) and automated many manual trade analysis processes. Below is a list of some of my contributions to the project.

  • Created and implemented an Agile test automation plan.

  • Created, implemented, and maintained a performance test plan

  • Ran Scrums, Retrospectives, story elaborations, and planning sessions

  • Coached manual QA team to start creating automation using the Cucumber framework

  • Created SpecFlow + MS CodedUI Custom Framework that supports BDD for WPF Front-end

  • Worked with technical architect and MT team  to propose and implement Cucumber-JVM for Java middle tier

  • Created/maintained/executed performance test scripts using LoadRunner and QTP.

  • Actively participated in Continues integration using Jenkins, maven, and shell scripts.

  • Performed peer review of the documents using GIT

Technologies: Envision (C#), Java, Groovy, Oracle, Jenkins, Maven, Junit, MS test, QTP, Cucumber-JVM, Soap sonar

Test Automation Analyst, Replacement Register, SPOCS, COMtrac, Protegent, vPAS

Nov 2004- April 2011

Test Automation Engineer,  McAfee Antivirus

Jan 2004- Nov 2004

Test Automation Analyst, Autobahn Foreign Exchange Trading (FX Plus)

June 2003- Dec 2003

Senior Test Engineer, Channel Revenue and Inventory Management (CHRIS)

March 2003- June 2003

Test Automation Engineer, Singer ERP

Jan 2000- March 2003

Faculty/Programmer, Allahabad Bank Customer Portal

Jan 1999- Dec 1999

Education

BS, DCA, PGDCA

Training Attended 

  • Attended C# for java Programmers' training 
  • Attended Agile Scrum Master Training
  • Attended Loadrunner training