Summary
Overview
Work history
Education
Skills
Certification
Timeline
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VENKAT VARADA

VENKAT VARADA

Harrow on the hill,United Kingdom

Summary

Results-driven Quality Assurance professional with 20+ years of experience delivering high-quality software across diverse domains and technologies. Proven expertise in leading end-to-end testing strategies, including manual, automation, functional, non-functional, UAT, and regression testing, with a strong focus on quality improvements and risk mitigation. Adept at test leadership, stakeholder management, and mentoring high-performing QA teams in Agile, Scrum, and Waterfall environments. Known for driving continuous improvement, implementing best practices, and ensuring on-time delivery through effective test planning, defect management, and process optimization. Strong communicator with a track record of partnering with business, development, and production teams to deliver robust, reliable solutions that meet both business and customer expectations.

Overview

22
22
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification

Work history

UAT Test Lead

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
2023.08 - 2026.02
  • Define and executed a comprehensive Test Plan, Automation Test Strategy and Test Estimation documents for the releases.
  • Managed system and integration testing for D365 Field Service (FS) and Customer Engagement CE
  • Worked closely with business analysts to validate requirements and manage defect triage.
  • Collaborated with cross-functional teams to resolve issues and ensure release quality
  • Develop API Automation Framework and maintain using C#, SpecFlow, RestSharp
  • Develop UI Automation Framework and maintain using Playwright, Reqnroll, Nodejs and C#
  • Prepare CI/CD pipeline for Smoke and Regression test suite.
  • Take ownership of the testing activities for the releases and ensure timely delivery.
  • Planning D365 migration for Field Service Management.
  • Advised project manager on project tasks, sequences, and estimated time to completion to assist with project planning.
  • Wrote the Risk and Gap Analysis Report.
  • Performed pilot program for Microsoft Copilot and Amazon Q Developer for Automation and Manual Test Case, Test Data Design.
  • Responsible for 3-phase migration from architecting and planning through implementation, testing and support.
  • Provided post-migration administration.
  • Responsible for monitoring Hyper Care Support tickets and handling/resolving any/all escalations.
  • Responsible for performance and ensuring any and all issues were fully resolved.
  • Perform Dynamics 365 testing in PRE-Production
  • Identify and suggest process improvements/value adds for implementation.
  • Perform the role of an D365 SME and help clarify queries from the offshore, onshore teams.
  • Track and provide regular updates on testing progress and issues to the stakeholders.
  • Conduct peer reviews of the deliverables of colleagues.
  • Interact with developers to discuss technical problems, Business changes and Specification changes.
  • Provided guidance related to Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) initiatives, projects, plans, and reviews.
  • Bug Logging in ADO and Forwarding to cross functional teams.
  • Prepare Daily status and consolidated Weekly Status Reports.
  • Prepare Test Metrics and Lessons learned document at the end of each sprint.
  • Provide training and advice to temporary testers and other colleagues outside of the testing team.
  • Prioritize test activities according to the complexity and schedule targets.
  • Categorize review defects and prepare review efficiency reports for the releases.
  • Project 1
  • Project name : DEFRA – Retail Movement Scheme (Contract)
  • Environment : Dynamics 365, ADO, CRM Adapter, Specflow, Selenium, C#, RestSharp, Postman, AWS, Azure Repos, NUnit, NUnit, KQL, Copilot, Amazon Q Developer, Playwright, Reqnroll, Docker

QA Manager

British Telecom
2021.05 - 2023.07
  • Building a new team of 5 -8 test consultants by reviewing resumes, interviewing and decision making in hiring.
  • Ensured security clearance, access and account creation for required tools, databases and environments for new QA team.
  • I worked with source system personnel on source data delivery issues and interacted with DBA for setting up test environment.
  • Involved in collecting Business Intelligence reporting data from managers, staff across divisions and across geographies.
  • Training of new team on the QA tools, processes and existing application architecture.
  • Day-to-day task management conducting daily stand-up meetings.
  • Managed creation and upkeep of complete test case suited for the project in Test manager.
  • Conducted formal test plan walk through with internal project stakeholders.
  • Managed overtime for team of 10+ that included QA team, Business Analysts and Business Operation team.
  • Provided project timelines, level of effort, detailed status reports, risk assessments and gap analysis to all project stakeholders.
  • Participated in bug review meetings to explain and prioritize issues with PMO, Development and Product Managers.
  • Provided test strategies and managed different aspects of testing e.g. Functional, Smoke, Load, Regression, Performance, Integration, 508 Compliance, Web Service, ETL and workflow testing.
  • Managed all phases of testing from requirement to implementation e.g. SIT, SAT and IST.
  • Created RTM (Requirement Traceability Matrix) to map business rules to the test scripts.
  • Managed MMRs (Monthly Maintenance Releases) as well as CCRs (Code Change requests) for legacy products.
  • Identify and structure AWS pipeline for daily automation script execution using triggers.
  • Worked on GIT to maintain source code in Git and GitHub repositories.
  • Understand the latest features like (AWS) introduced by Microsoft Azure and utilized it for existing business applications.
  • Perform the role of an SME and help clarify queries from the offshore, onshore teams.
  • Track and provide regular updates on testing progress and issues to the stakeholders.
  • Interact with developers to discuss technical problems, Business changes, and Specification changes.
  • Prioritize test activities according to the complexity and schedule targets.
  • Prepare Test Closure Reports for each release.
  • Project 2
  • Project name : BT - MDM (Contract)
  • Environment : Cucumber, Selenium, Gherkin, Java, Maven, Postman, Apigee, AWS EC2, Amazon S3, Reltio, Snowflake, SQL, Trillium Control Centre, JIRA, Xray, Tosca

Automation Test Lead

Embark Group
2020.02 - 2021.02
  • Assess size and complexity of project.
  • Training of the new team on existing applications, tools and QA processes identified for the project.
  • Played an integral part in the proposal writing, requirement review process, use case identification and use case creation.
  • Authored and presented master test plan to all project stake holders.
  • Understand the latest features like (Azure DevOps, OMS, NSG Rules, etc...) introduced by Microsoft Azure and utilized it for existing business applications.
  • Migrated Snowflake database to Windows Azure and updating the Connection Strings based on requirement.
  • Dimensional Modeling for creation of Star Schema and Snowflake Schema.
  • Provide demo to customers on Automation Framework and technology stack.
  • Perform the role of an SME and help clarify queries from the offshore, onshore teams.
  • Track and provide regular updates on testing progress and issues to the stakeholders.
  • Conduct peer reviews of the deliverables of colleagues.
  • Interact with developers to discuss technical problems, Business changes, and Specification changes.
  • Review of release notes for each build.
  • Coordination of smoke test with QA and Dev teams.
  • Compiling and reporting deployment issues through Test Track
  • QA certification and acceptance of each build and overall certification of entire application upon code freeze.
  • Prepare Test Closure Reports for each release.
  • Prioritize test activities according to the complexity and schedule targets.
  • Categorize review defects and prepare review efficiency reports for the releases.
  • Project 3
  • Project name : Embark Group - Debussy
  • Environment : C#, Asp.net, .net MVC, SQL, Snowflake, SoapUI, CSS3, HTML5, Wire Mock, Azure, BrowserStack, Appium and JIRA

Test Lead

TMP Worldwide
2018.03 - 2019.12
  • Analyzed system specifications and business requirements and helped create the detailed Test Plan.
  • Enhanced Selenium WebDriver automation framework according to the requirements
  • Integrated Mobile components and reusable libraries to existing framework.
  • Monitor test execution and perform test execution scheduling using Jenkins.
  • Automated Smoke and Functional test cases using Selenium.
  • Wrote complex SQL scripts for Backend testing and Frontend Data validations.
  • Provide demos to customers on Automation Framework and technology stack.
  • Rate card negotiation with customers for offshore teams.
  • Take ownership of the testing activities for Releases and ensure timely delivery.
  • Prepare Test Plan, Test Strategy and Test Estimation document for the releases.
  • Liaise with HR, Facilities, Training, IT & Network teams to ensure seamless delivery.
  • Identify and suggest process improvements/value adds for implementation.
  • Perform the role of an SME and help clarify queries from the offshore, onshore teams.
  • Track and provide regular updates on testing progress and issues to the stakeholders.
  • Conduct peer reviews of the deliverables of colleagues.
  • Interact with developers to discuss technical problems, Business changes, and Specification changes.
  • Prepare Daily status and consolidated Weekly Status Reports.
  • Prepare Test Metrics and Lessons learned document at the end of each release.
  • Prepare Test Closure Reports for each release.
  • Prioritize test activities according to the complexity and schedule targets.
  • Categorize review defects and prepare review efficiency reports for the releases.
  • Project 4
  • Project name : TMP Worldwide Application Maintenance and Support
  • Environment : C#, Asp.net, .net MVC, SQL, JavaScript, CSS3, HTML5, Elastic Search, RabbitMQ, Protractor, Jasmine, NodeJS, Jenkins, Docker, SuccessFactor and JIRA

Test Lead

Time Inc., USA
2014.04 - 2018.02
  • Reviewed all the Requirement documents, Functional Specification and Use Case documents.
  • Analyzed the use cases provided by analysts and wrote test cases.
  • Implemented automation using Selenium WebDriver, JAVA, Selenium Grid, Cucumber, and Maven.
  • Developed test cases, test scenarios and test data according to specifications.
  • Analyzed the functionality and designed test cases for both functional and regression testing and editing of automated script by inserting logical commands to handle complicated test scenarios.
  • Used Test Director to store all testing results, metrics, implemented test plan documents, created test cases, defect tracking and reporting.
  • Performed functional, integration, black-box, and system, regression, and user acceptance tests.
  • Automated Regression Test cases using Selenium Web Driver, Jenkins and Maven.
  • Used Firebug and Fire Path plug-ins to find the elements on the web page based on the element locator ID, Name, Tag, Class Name, XPath, Link Text, Partial link Text and CSS Locator.
  • Expertise in developing automation scripts in BDD format using cucumber and proficient in writing cucumber scenarios in GHERKIN format.
  • Enhance test frameworks and develop automated tests using Selenium Web Driver to ensure consistency.
  • Developed the features, scenarios, step definitions for BDD (Behavior Driven Development) and TDD (Test Driven Development) using Cucumber, Gherkin and Ruby.
  • Involved in analyzing and feasibility check of a newly added functionality for automation. Design and implement Hybrid Driven Framework approach using Selenium Web Driver.
  • Used python to develop Automation framework to Validate RESTful Web Services.
  • Used SVN tool for Source code management and also used Selenium Grid for parallel, Batch Test Execution.
  • Developed test suite for all the Web service operations in the SOAP UI test tool.
  • Tested the application in highly dynamic environment with sprint team using agile methodology.
  • Project 5
  • Project name : Time Inc. - CMAS (Media & Services)
  • Environment : Java, Gherkin, Cucumber, Selenium, Maven 3.1.1, Eclipse, GIT, JIRA, Appium, Protractor, Soap UI, Jenkins, TestNG, Junit, Agile (SCRUM).

Test Analyst

NFUM National Farmers Union Mutual, United Kingdom
2011.09 - 2014.03
  • Develop Automation Framework (Hybrid Framework) using Java.
  • Identify and prepare Automation Test scripts (Java) for patch test suite.
  • Take ownership of the testing activities for the releases and ensure timely delivery.
  • Prepare Test Plan, Test Strategy and Test Estimation document for the releases.
  • Liaise with HR, Facilities, Training, IT & Network teams to ensure seamless delivery.
  • Identify and suggest process improvements/value adds for implementation.
  • Perform the role of an SME and help clarify queries from the offshore, onshore teams.
  • Track and provide regular updates on testing progress and issues to the stakeholders.
  • Conduct peer reviews of the deliverables of colleagues.
  • Interact with developers to discuss technical problems, Business changes and Specification changes.
  • Prepare Daily status and consolidated Weekly Status Reports.
  • Prepare Test Metrics and Lessons learned document at the end of each release.
  • Provide training and advice to temporary testers and other colleagues outside of the testing team.
  • Prioritize test activities according to the complexity and schedule targets.
  • Categorize review defects and prepare review efficiency reports for the releases.
  • Project 6
  • Project name : Release 38 (Life Insurance)
  • Tools : Assyst
  • Environment : Java, J2EE, SQL, .Net, Silver light, SAS, TFS, JIRA, UFT 11.5, Angular JS, CI, Python, Unix

Test Analyst

NFUM National Farmers Union Mutual, United Kingdom
2010.04 - 2011.08

Test Analyst

NFUM National Farmers Union Mutual, United Kingdom
2009.03 - 2010.04

Test Analyst

NFUM National Farmers Union Mutual, United Kingdom
2008.11 - 2009.03

Test Analyst

BTFG - Westpac (Bankers Trust Financial Group), Australia
2004.05 - 2008.11

Education

B.E - Computer Science Engineering

Madha Engineering College
India

Skills

  • Tools: ADO, JIRA, Confluence, Mainframes, IBM I AS400, MS-EXCEL, MSWORD, PowerPoint, Excel Macros, MS Access, Junit, Selenium Web Driver, Jenkins, Docker, Gradle, Linux
  • Microsoft Tech: C#, Net,
  • Databases: Oracle 8i, MS- Access, SQL Server 2005
  • Operating Systems: Windows 98/ NT/ 2000/XP/7/81/10/11
  • Languages: C#, JavaScript, Python, Java

Certification

Microsoft Azure Fundamentals

ISTQB Foundation

ISTQB Advanced Test Management

Timeline

UAT Test Lead

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
2023.08 - 2026.02

QA Manager

British Telecom
2021.05 - 2023.07

Automation Test Lead

Embark Group
2020.02 - 2021.02

Test Lead

TMP Worldwide
2018.03 - 2019.12

Test Lead

Time Inc., USA
2014.04 - 2018.02

Test Analyst

NFUM National Farmers Union Mutual, United Kingdom
2011.09 - 2014.03

Test Analyst

NFUM National Farmers Union Mutual, United Kingdom
2010.04 - 2011.08

Test Analyst

NFUM National Farmers Union Mutual, United Kingdom
2009.03 - 2010.04

Test Analyst

NFUM National Farmers Union Mutual, United Kingdom
2008.11 - 2009.03

Test Analyst

BTFG - Westpac (Bankers Trust Financial Group), Australia
2004.05 - 2008.11

B.E - Computer Science Engineering

Madha Engineering College
VENKAT VARADA