Arun Balaji RC

QA Manager

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India11 yrs 9 mos experience

AI ML PractitionerAI Enabled

Key Highlights

Led QA for flagship EdTech product with 14 million users.
Achieved 57% reduction in automation time with reusable library.
Implemented shift-left testing strategies to enhance quality.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a Quality Engineering Manager with expertise in EdTech and Fintech sectors.

Contact

arunbalajisdet@gmail.com LinkedIn

Skills

Core Skills

Quality EngineeringTest Automation

Other Skills

API AutomationAPI Test AutomationAgile MethodologiesAgile TestingAmazon Web Services (AWS)AnsibleAppiumAutomation TestingBehavior-Driven Development (BDD)CI/CDCI/CD pipelinesCloud Testing on AWSConsumer driven contract testingContinuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)Core Java

About

Software Quality Engineering Manager with 12 years of experience in building and leading automation and quality engineering teams across EdTech, FinTech, and SaaS products. I help engineering teams ship faster and safer by designing scalable automation, introducing shift-left testing, and strengthening CI/CD pipelines.Specialties: Scalable Automation Frameworks (Java/Python), Playwright Automation, API Test Automation, CI/CD pipelines, GenAI in QA, Cloud Testing on AWS, SaaS QA Strategy. Technical Skills: Gen AI in testing, Java, Selenium, Cypress, Appium, REST, Kubernetes, Docker, JIRA, GIT, MongoDB,Snowflake,AWS RDS,SQL,JMeter,Jenkins, and AWS.Testing Types:Proficient in Integration, Regression, Database, System, Data Verification, User Acceptance (UAT), and Load Testing.Testing Strategies: Skilled in developing Test Strategies, Test Plans, Scenarios, Cases, and Scripts tailored to User and System Requirements. Automation Frameworks: Adept in creating and implementing Data-Driven, Modular Driven, and Page Object Module Frameworks to streamline testing processes and enhance efficiency. Coding/Programming Profiles:- leetcode.com/arunbalaji2107 github.com/arun2107 - Repository with POCs/Test Automation Frameworks Certifications: AWS Certified Solutions Architect ISTQB CTFL certified Tester Roles Performed: QA Manager, Quality Engineering Manager, Test Automation Manager, SDET Lead, Automation Framework Architect, Playwright Automation, API Test Automation, CI/CD pipelines, GenAI in QA. Open to roles such as QA Manager, Quality Engineering Manager, Test Engineering Manager, and SDET Lead across Bengaluru, Chennai, and Coimbatore.

Experience

11 yrs 9 mos

Total Experience

2 yrs 8 mos

Average Tenure

1 yr 1 mo

Current Experience

Curriculum associates

Quality Assurance Engineering Manager

May 2025 – Present · 1 yr 1 mo · Bengaluru · Hybrid

Leading the Quality Engineering team from Bangalore for a large-scale EdTech platform catering to millions of students and Educators, focused on building reliable, scalable, and AI Driven automation-first QA practices.
Across all the teams I led, I have consistently focused on driving practical shift-left and QA excellence practices, with an emphasis on early bug detection, and risk reduction.
Some of the areas where I demonstrated this are:
Reducing the defect penetration of the product to later stages in development by proactive test automation
Introducing and securing buy ins for the “QA Engagement Model” which setup a mature QA process for the team
Owned the QA Side of things for releasing our flagship product of 14 million users starting from risk analysis all the way until certifying the release.
Ephemeral Test automation that led to an approximate time reduction of 7 hours to ~20 minutes per test run
Automation for Migration of test cases to test management tool - 100% complete in all the teams I lead
POC for Contract testing in Micro services which shows a potential of approximately replacing
60-70% of regression efforts.
Introduced testing the product in the beta version of the browsers which led to saving of critical defects in production

Gen AI in testingJavaSeleniumCypressAPI Test AutomationCI/CD pipelines+3

Thoughtworks

Lead Consultant

May 2024 – May 2025 · 1 yr

Led the Quality Uplift engagement for the Client working towards improving the reliability and pace for Test Automation by adopting the following strategies
Transitioned the Test environment to Elastic Kubernetes service for on-demand and ephemeral provisioning
Laid out the shift-left test strategy to reduce the time for feedback from tests
Reduced flakiness for Test Automation by 27% considering by removing cascading test automation failures in a Python based framework
Packaged a library of methods as a Python pip library and made it Re-usable for test automation
Created a Jenkins pipeline using groovy with interdependent test stages to enable parallelism and grouping of test cases
Established a strategy and created a Consumer driven contract testing framework using PACT from scratch
Created an Automation Sanity Test Suite for quality assurance in Software Defined networking along with creating a Jenkins pipeline
Tech Stack:
API Automation - Pytest/OpenAPI/Rest-Assured/Requests
Cloud - AWS,Cloudshell,Terraform
Kubernetes
Jenkins
PACT
Roles performed: SDET Lead, Test Automation Lead.

Elastic Kubernetes ServiceShift-left testingPythonJenkinsConsumer driven contract testingTest Automation+1

Fidelity investments

2 roles

Lead SDET

Promoted

Jul 2021 – May 2024 · 2 yrs 10 mos

Led the development and enhancement of a robust, reusable Java-based test automation library for Trade management and validation system by utilizing Java, Selenium, Rest Assured, TestNG, and Cucumber that is used across the organisation.
Key Highlights:
Achieved a 57% reduction in automation time by designing a comprehensive test automation library for
API/UI, incorporating over 200 reusable methods.
Automated 180+ test cases and maintained a dynamic Test Automation Suite to ensure consistent quality.
Conducted thorough test case audits to proactively identify and address potential bugs.
Integrated the automation suite with Jenkins for continuous integration and led the migration to cloud
environments using Docker and Kubernetes that saved 20% costs to test infrastructure
Automated 80+ API test cases, enhancing coverage and efficiency.
Collaborated closely with developers to ensure comprehensive test coverage and performed regular peer reviews to validate test cases.
Tech Stack:
UI Automation : Java - Selenium/Cypress
API Testing : Rest Assured
Database - MySQL, Maria
BDD - Cucumber
TestNG,Pytest
Cloud - AWA
CI/CD - Jenkins
Container - Docker
Container Orchestrator - Docker Swarm, Kubernetes
Container Orchestrator Manager - Rancher

JavaSeleniumRest AssuredTestNGCucumberJenkins+4

SDET

Jul 2019 – Jun 2021 · 1 yr 11 mos

Played a key role in the creation and execution of a comprehensive test automation framework leveraging Java, Selenium, Rest Assured, Cypress and Cucumber.
Developed Test automation for UI test cases using Selenium, and API test cases with Rest Assured and
Postman for 3 products.
Implemented data-driven testing methodologies using Apache POI and JSON Path for enhanced test
accuracy.
Onboarded the automation testing suite to the cloud with Docker and Elastic Kubernetes Service,
optimising scalability and performance.
Contributed to the end-to-end development of the test automation framework, establishing robust
testing practices from the ground up.

JavaSeleniumRest AssuredCypressPostmanDocker+2

Dalet flex

SDET

Oct 2018 – Jul 2019 · 9 mos · On-site

Driven the UI and API automation for the Ooyala LIVE Platform and server-side ad insertion systems, leveraging Java, Selenium, Appium, and Rest Assured to enhance platform reliability.
Streamlined automation of 120+ test cases using Rest Assured, significantly improving test coverage and efficiency.
Executed comprehensive compatibility and localization testing across diverse iOS and Android devices
with Appium, ensuring broad platform support.
Applied Python and SQL to perform rigorous data accuracy and integrity checks, delivering high-quality and reliable data.
Tech Stack:
UI Automation : Java - Selenium/Cypress
Mobile Automation : Appium
Database - RDS
BDD - Cucumber
Cloud - EKS
CI/CD - Jenkins

JavaSeleniumAppiumRest AssuredPythonSQL+1

Accenture

Software Test Analyst

Aug 2014 – Oct 2018 · 4 yrs 2 mos · On-site

Software Test Analyst involved in manual and automated Test cases creation/execution for a Healthcare and billing application with a front-end and rest endpoints.
Customised the UI Test Automation framework containing 140 test scenarios to accommodate frequent changes in the the UI.
Integrated the API Test Automation framework with Cucumber for Behavior driven development
Integrated the automation framework with extent reports for visually appealing reports.
Ensured comprehensive test coverage by collaborating with stake holders and product owners.
Leveraged Oracle and Maria DB for data accuracy checks
Tech Stack:
UI Automation : Java - Selenium/Cypress + API Automation using Rest Assured
Database - Oracle,Maria
BDD - Cucumber
GitHub
CI/CD - Jenkins