Jan 2025 – Present · 1 yr 4 mos

• Inspiring the next generation of confident tech educators

Sep 2023 – Present · 2 yrs 8 mos · Reading · Remote

• Producing software engineering video courses as an independent Pluralsight author.
• https://www.pluralsight.com/authors/james-willett
• Courses Published:
• Spring Certified Professional: Introduction to Spring and Core Configuration - https://www.pluralsight.com/courses/spring-certified-professional-introduction-spring-core-configuration
• Web3: The Big Picture - https://www.pluralsight.com/courses/web3-big-picture
• Karate Fundamentals - https://www.pluralsight.com/courses/karate-fundamentals

Jan 2022 – Dec 2024 · 2 yrs 11 mos

• Led diverse DevOps and Platform Engineering teams to transform the software development lifecycle at SAP Concur. Developed advanced automation tools, refined CI/CD processes, and introduced infrastructure improvements that minimised downtime and accelerated delivery. Acted as a technical leader, mentoring teams and fostering collaboration to drive innovation in developer experience and operational excellence.

Mar 2021 – Jan 2022 · 10 mos

• Managing a talented team of software engineers in the development of highly concurrent, robust and distributed cloud-based expense audit solutions

Nov 2015 – Mar 2021 · 5 yrs 4 mos

• Work in a fast-paced fully Agile (SCRUM) environment, with a devops approach.
• Currently working on a project that involves performance testing of microservices hosted on AWS architecture using the Gatling load test tool with custom code written in Scala
• Previously developed and implemented a mobile automation testing framework written in Java utilising Appium
• Making use of Elastic Search (Kibana) and New Relic to monitor production applications health, customising dashboards as required

Jun 2018 – Mar 2021 · 2 yrs 9 mos · Maidenhead, UK

• Using Scala, Akka & Kubernetes to leverage Big Data and Machine Learning to build a system that automates customer's expense reports with no manual intervention

Oct 2015 – Nov 2015 · 1 mo · London, United Kingdom

• Worked on the creation of a new BDD focussed automation framework to test the 'Oil Operator’s Workbench' platform, a highly feature-rich and complex bespoke WPF application. The test framework was built in C# using the White Framework from TestStack, with SpecFlow used to implement the BDD aspect.

Jun 2015 – Nov 2015 · 5 mos

• Responsible for implementing performance and automation testing frameworks on client sites

Jun 2015 – Oct 2015 · 4 mos · Bournemouth, United Kingdom

• Lead consultant responsible for managing the work streams of 7 other consultants on a variety of performance, automation and functional testing projects.
• Designed and Implemented the performance testing proposal for a brand new native iOS application, using a combination of Jmeter for the backend testing in conjunction with Xamarin Test Cloud for automated testing on real devices.
• Wrote custom C# applications to facilitate the automated creation of complex test data by leveraging exposed Web APIs.
• Designed bespoke, realistic performance load test scenarios that can be customised by any business user by changing a few of the input parameters.
• Diagnosis, analysis, troubleshooting and resolution of performance bottlenecks identified across the complex environment infrastructure

Jul 2013 – Jun 2015 · 1 yr 11 mos · Twyford, Berkshire

• Lead Test Engineer responsible for planning, delegating and delivering all testing activities across a range of virtual queuing products.
• Built multiple automation frameworks from the ground up that use Selenium Webdriver to drive tests across a continuous integration approach (TeamCity and Jenkins).
• Automated testing of RESTful APIs using DSLs such as rest-assured.
• Designed performance test framework and developed numerous complex test scripts with Apache Jmeter.
• Developed and configured UNIX bash script to dynamically spawn multiple load generators on Amazon Web Services, with Jmeter installed, and run performance tests with up to 100,000 virtual users.
• Created performance test plans with comprehensive detail of all testing activities including volumetric analysis, test scenario details and test results design.
• Managed key stakeholders to board room level with regular presentations of testing status updates and test results.
• Credited with identifying multiple performance bottlenecks in existing systems, leading to major improvements in transaction response times and system capacity.
• Delegation of testing activities to other team members and management of the entire testing process across multiple work streams.

Nov 2012 – May 2013 · 6 mos · Singapore, Bangkok, Sao Paulo, London

• Worked as a test Lead on a global performance testing programme to migrate the existing local data centres for various countries into one of three Regional Data Centres
• Worked on the data centre migrations for Singapore, Thailand and Brazil. Attended the offices in each country onsite and gathered performance volumeteric, system architecture, environment details and project planning data first hand.
• Created detailed peformance test plans in coherent format that included information on script / business process coverage, scenario design, volumeteric assumptions, test data requirements and test result design.
• Managing the activities and schedules of a performance testing team of up to 5 SQS consultants, in addition to working closely with client personnel in Sao Paulo, Bangkok, Dublin and Singapore.
• Utilized various project management tools, including MS Project 2010, to plan key delivery dates and resource requirements with complex constraints for each country.
• Working with a wide range of protocols utilizing the LoadRunner v11.5 performance testing tool including; Web (HTTP/HTML), Citrix ICA, RDP and Oracle Forms

Nov 2012 – Nov 2012 · 0 mo · Brighton, United Kingdom

• Worked on the project to deliver the Citrix performance testing of the ‘Online Claims’ application
• Executed stress test of the application and supplied performance tuning recommendations to the client based on analysis of the results
• Created comprehensive performance test results report including key observations and detailed application performance metrics
• Worked in an Agile environment with daily SCRUM meetings

Aug 2012 – Sep 2012 · 1 mo · Sheffield, United Kingdom

• Performance testing of PEGA case handling system
• Developed multiple complex Loadrunner HTTP scripts with various custom code and error handling functions
• Installed and configured Loadrunner environment with six injectors
• Assisted with creation and review of test planning documentation

Jul 2012 – Aug 2012 · 1 mo · Fareham, Hampshire

• Performance testing of Red Prairie WMS to replace existing Compierie WMS functionality
• Completed POC exercise to establish feasibility of testing voice picking functionality using direct web service calls
• Worked with multiple offshore resources to complete initial test planning exercises and to assist in creation of early scripts
• Developed training material to be delivered to wider Specsavers audience on the importance of providing accurate performance non-functional requirements

May 2012 – Jul 2012 · 2 mos · Liverpool, United Kingdom

• Test Lead of a performance testing project aimed at evaluating the performance of a complex, be-spoke SAP BPC application in a large-scale Citrix environment. Tasks achieved included:
• Delegation and management of performance test process tasks to team members including test analysis & design, implementation, execution and results reporting.
• Assisted in creation of complex Loadrunner Citrix scripts including numerous custom built functions developed for error-handling.
• Designed and executed numerous load tests against the Citrix environment, whilst gathering suitable monitoring metrics.
• Provided crticial feedback and tuning recommendations to the client on the performance of the SAP BPC application in the Citrix environment.
• Created comprehensive test results document with full details on all activities completed in the performance test exercise.

Dec 2011 – Feb 2012 · 2 mos · Liverpool, United Kingdom

• As description with Unilever above.

Feb 2012 – May 2012 · 3 mos · Manchester, United Kingdom

• Performance testing of a SharePoint driven mail transfer receipt system
• Completed the full testing lifecycle from specification, planning & design through to implementation, execution and reporting
• Created multiple HTTP protocol Loadrunner scripts with bespoke custom code and functions to simulate load on the system.
• Designed and executed multiple test scenarios to provide confidence that the system could successfully process the expected maximum concurrent load
• Completed detailed analysis of performance results findings and made tuning recommendations, including installation of SQL server patch to improve server stability
• Wrote detailed test results document containing details of all test activities completed and the findings.
• Created test transition pack to enable the client to execute additional performance tests at their leisure, independent of testing consultant.

Nov 2011 – Dec 2011 · 1 mo · Derby, United Kingdom

• Created and amended Loadrunner Citrix scripts against the End X Casino platform
• Designed and executed numerous tests against the Citrix platform including Load, Stress and Soak tests.
• Gathered suitable performance metrics and provided critical feedback and tuning recommendations to the client
• Wrote detailed test results document with full description of all work completed
• Created regression testing pack to enable client to execute performance tests against future releases of End X Casino platform

Aug 2011 – Oct 2011 · 2 mos · Derby, United Kingdom

• Completed full functional test cycle of all aspects of new release of latest Casino 4.1 platform
• Designed, executed and reported on over 400 individual test cases as part of the testing cycle. All test cases documented and stored in HP Quality Centre
• Created regression testing pack to be executed by client upon release of further updates to Casino platform.
• Wrote detailed testing strategy document and distributed to all interested parties for review and sign-off.
• Created test results document with details of all tests run, outcome of testing and recommendations for improvements in future cycles.

Oct 2011 – Nov 2011 · 1 mo · Bradford, United Kingdom

• Worked as a key member of the performance test team for the ‘Horizon Phase 2’ project, which utilised the Oracle PeopleSoft application
• Developed numerous Loadrunner scripts using HTTP protocol to simulate online business processes and batch processes
• Designed peak load test and soak test scenarios from existing production volumetric data, then executed these scenarios
• Executed numerous batch testing scenarios against Time and Labour payroll process
• Undertook critical analysis of performance testing results and made recommendations for performance tuning based on these
• Wrote detailed test completion report of performance test findings and recommendations made
• Created regression testing package and instruction documentation to enable client to execute performance regression tests against future software releases
• Worked with on-site client teams to help resolve numerous issues with environment configuration
• Setup hardware monitoring of all application servers with Perfmon

Jun 2011 – Aug 2011 · 2 mos · Hilmore House, Gain Lane, Bradford

• Performance testing of HP Service Manager 9.21 and Bridgwater Oracle Warehouse systems including ORWMS and BI Publisher
• Created detailed and robust Loadrunner scripts of all key business processes with a tight time constraint
• Loadrunner scripts created in a range of protocols, including WEB, Oracle NCA and RDP
• Designed, created and executed a variety of test scenarios against the application including baseline test, average load test, peak load test and soak test
• Used built in functionality of Performance Centre to setup hardware monitoring of web, application and database servers according to test plan specification
• Provided critical analysis of performance test results, using results as a basis to recommend changes to system hardware configuration
• Produced numerous interim test reports to keep client fully aware of testing progress and issues encountered
• Created final Master Test Reports used by Project Manager to obtain testing sign-off before go-live

Apr 2011 – Jun 2011 · 2 mos · Liverpool, United Kingdom

• Performance testing of the Sales & Operations Procedure Reporting Dashboard. The complex application architecture included Sharepoint Server 2007, Reporting Services 2008 & SQL Server 2008
• Held numerous meetings with key business stakeholders to agree performance test approach, SLAs and volumetrics
• Created numerous scripts in Loadrunner to emulate the key business processes identified
• Setup performance monitoring counters in Perfmon for each of the many servers in the application architecture
• Executed several performance test cycles and provided critical analysis of performance test results. Output from performance tests used by application developers to tweak application
• Created analytical performance test reports and delivered to key stakeholders in form of powerpoint presentation.

Mar 2011 – May 2013 · 2 yrs 2 mos · London, United Kingdom

• Summary of client placements:
• Performance Test Lead at Liberty International (November 2012 - May 2013)
• Performance Test Consultant at Bupa (November 2012)
• Performance Test Consultant at Irwin Mitchell (August 2012 - September 2012)
• Performance Test Lead at Specsavers (July 2012 - August 2012)
• Performance Test Lead at Unilever (May 2012 - July 2012)
• Performance Test Consultant at The Co-Operative Group (February 2012 - May 2012)
• Citrix Performance Test Consultant at Unilever (December 2011 - February 2012)
• Citrix Performance Test Consultant at Gala Coral Group (November 2011 - December 2011)
• Performance Test Consultant at WM Morrisons (October 2011 - November 2011)
• Functional Test Consultant at Gala Coral Group (August 2011 - October 2011)
• Performance Test Consultant at WM Morrisons (June 2011 - August 2011)
• Performance Test Consultant at Unilever (April 2011 - June 2011)

Sep 2007 – Apr 2011 · 3 yrs 7 mos

• After winning a position in the company on the much sought after graduate scheme, I initially completed placements across several analytical and development based departments in the company. This early experience gave me the opportunity to develop a vast network of contacts across the business as well as gain insight of inter-departmental working relationships, before beginning my permanent role of Performance Test Analyst.
• My responsibilities included:
• Critical analysis of performance test data to determine breaking points, bottle
• necks and other issues in billing systems, web-services and other ad-hoc systems.
• Development and execution of test strategies and test scripts to cover various
• performance test scenarios such as stress testing, soak testing and load testing
• Key role in developing KPIs for billing system based on performance related data
• Collaborating with the development teams of billing systems and web services to
• provide analysis and feedback of system performance.
• Creating analytical performance test reports and communicating as a presentation
• to interested parties when required.

Apr 2007 – Aug 2007 · 4 mos

• Responsibilities included:
• Analysis and detection of issues in a wide range of interactive 'red button' services
• including; interactive advertisements, television-based games and various casino
• and poker software games.
• Working collaboratively with development teams to provide critical analysis and
• feedback of new services developed
• Extensive use of Excel and Quality Centre to create and monitor test strategies and
• test reports

Aug 2006 – Mar 2007 · 7 mos

• Responsibilities included:
• Detecting, reporting and recreating faults in video game software.
• Liaising closely with the development teams to test code and tools as and when
• they were developed
• Maintaining and updating a SQL-driven database of all game feature interactions
• Using analytical skills to provide critical feedback on software features to aid in
• continuous development and testing.
• Participating in regular meetings with developers to discuss progress and issues
• with current project.
• Extensive use of Mercury Quality Centre to log and track defects

Jul 2005 – Jul 2006 · 1 yr

• Responsibilities included:
• Liaison with customers directly on the phone and attempt to analyse and resolve
• technical computing issues first hand.
• Issues dealt with included Internet connection problems, hosted services issues
• such as Microsoft Hosted Exchange email, Microsoft Sharepoint, web hosting issues
• and various others on ad-hoc basis.