SUMMARY:

• Highly accomplished software test and quality management professional with a distinguished career in the UK & USA leading the hands - on program management of test and QA operations to meet challenging business needs.
• Strength in partnering with business stakeholders, management, teams and customers to identify needs and guide the delivery of systems, applications, tools and analytics to help position organizations for advanced growth.
• Organized, take-charge Test professional with exceptional follow-through abilities and detail orientation; able to plan and oversee projects from conception to successful conclusion.
• A natural communicator and manager with strong motivational skills and a proven ability to create, manage and produce results.

STRENGTHS:

• Extensive International experience UK/USA
• Team Direction & Leadership
• Architecture and Solution Design
• Automated and manual test management
• HP/Mercury, CMMi & Prince2 Certified
• UAT design and supervision
• Outsource/Offshore Management
• Test Strategy & Process creation
• P&L Responsibility
• Customer relationship management
• Process & Problem Resolution

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Confidential, Houston

Delivery Management and QA Architect

Responsibilities:

• Engaged to supervise delivery of QA Automation Program for a number of newly-completed Shell Applications - mainly in the geophysics and subsea sectors.
• Working alongside senior Shell Scientists, created methodologies, hired teams of both manual and automated test engineers, supervised project and test plans, designed approaches and created various on/offshore models to facilitate secure testing using both Agile and Waterfall patterns.
• Architected the overall solution, put in place Quality Gates and a structured SDLC, Introduced Quality Center and the concept of full Traceability.

Confidential, Houston

Snr. QA Manager

Responsibilities:

• Contracted to build and manage the entire QA process & team for a $41m Solarc Right Angle to SAP ETRM project intended to streamline Confidential ’s trading operations and allow accurate MTM reporting.
• Hired and trained a team of eight, including BA’s and QA Analysts. Architected the overall solution and supervised the creation of Strategies, Plans, approach and the creation of 1500+ functional test cases.
• Put in place Quality Gates and a structured SDLC, Introduced Quality Center and the concept of full Traceability. Had P&L Responsibility..
• Put in place organizational processes designed to integrate three sets of suppliers, as well as Data, Environment, Build and Test Plans to coordinate the Dev. Delivery into QA.
• Introduced Agile (XP) practices.
• Planned, managed and coordinated both QA & UAT from Houston on a follow-the-sun model.

Confidential, Houston

Vice President QA

Responsibilities:

• Designed & supervised the creation of automated and manual test frameworks for Openlink Endur using HP BPT and .NET for multiple internal applications and database systems using an on/offshore model.
• Introduced HP toolset (ALM11, QC10 and QTP) and supervised the creation of ~10,000 test cases. Linked QC to JIRA to permit coordination with cross-functional teams.
• A complex suite of trading and risk-management systems demand a highly-efficient - and fast - testing process to meet challenging business requirements. Since the process started, QA has had a direct impact in reducing Resiliency, shortening release cycle times and bringing improvements to the business.
• Example: Reduction of EOD testing by >60%, and development cycles reduced overall by >40% where QA was engaged.
• Introduced, supported and managed QA and UAT for multiple cross-system trade migration projects using Agile (Scrum/XP hybrid) methodologies..
• Built a UK/US/India QA team of test analysts, developers & automation engineers, introduced a set of best-practice processes across functional teams, reverse-engineered and extended test libraries.

Confidential

Principal Consultant

Responsibilities:

• Contracted to design and manage large test programs
• Contracted by Confidential to manage (& firefight ) complex test programs.
• This position required not only expert test/QA management experience, but also advanced subject matter knowledge.

Confidential

Principal Consultant/Test Program Manager

Responsibilities:

• Presales and solution design for ICAP, launching a major new Commodities Exchange in the City of London.
• This engagement involved managing a considerable number of third-party vendors.
• Technologies used were Mirage, Java and SQLServer.
• Test strategy design and process creation (mainframe and c/server) for Confidential ’s mainframe and client/server policy management application.
• This involved working closely with IBM and others to migrate the application from Supra to DB2 via a fully automated framework.
• Presales and Solution Design for Virgin Media. Confidential were requested to provide a three-stage Managed Testing Service for VM, together with introduction of best practice processes and an on/offshore model across the entire Enterprise.
• I designed the Solution, set up the on and offshore resources and put in place the overall management of the project.
• Test Program management for two new products with Confidential .
• Confidential wish to provide realtime pricing for all their Brokers, and this is achieved by building a Portal and thin client application which resides partially on clients’ systems.
• The technology is very complex, touching on almost all of Confidential ’s internal systems.
• Transition Management at Confidential .
• Managed the full transition of Confidential ’s testing operations from an onshore model managed by Confidential to an offshore model managed by IBM.
• This involved a complex series of stages to KT to IBM staff, transition systems and operations to offshore, and put in place processes to monitor and track progress.

Confidential

Test & QA Solutions Delivery

Responsibilities:

• Recruited to define and ensure the appropriate and on-time delivery of technology solutions to clients.
• Set up & managed multiple testing projects from initial analysis and design through implementation and problem resolution.
• Define overall project scope, timelines and budget. Design and deliver project plans and prepare status reports to management.
• Manage risk assessment, issue resolution, and change management initiatives. Lead teams in the full life cycle development and delivery of test plans, test cases and associated processes;
• Hands-on Test Tool and Test Automation implementations using Quality Center and Quick Test Pro.
• Test process and tool training to staff. Collaborate with sales team to introduce company’s services to new and existing customers.
• Define and deliver technical presentations. Participate in hiring. Establish and enhance relationships with teams and management.

Confidential, Houston

Test & QA Management and Delivery

Responsibilities:

• Recruited to define and ensure the appropriate and on-time delivery of SQM solutions to global clients.
• Direct multiple simultaneous projects from initial analysis and design through implementation and problem resolution.
• Define overall project scope, timelines and budget. Design and deliver status reports to management and clients.
• Manage risk assessment, issue resolution, and change management initiatives.
• Lead teams in the full project life cycle development and delivery of software QA/QC processes; Test Tool and Automation implementations; SQM process and tool training solutions, including extensive use of HP/Mercury Quality Center, Quick Test Pro, WinRunner, and Rational tools.
• Collaborate with sales teams to introduce company’s services to new and existing customers.
• Define and deliver technical presentations and proof-of-concept designs. Participate in the selection and hiring of Consultants and Software Engineers.
• Manage efforts and the career development of up to 50 team members through 5 direct reports, and projects valued up to $10M.
• Establish and enhance relationships with teams, management and partners.
• Recognized for consistently delivering solutions, on-time, within budget and with high customer satisfaction.
• Collaborated with colleagues and Offshore and Near-Shore outsourcing partners.
• Designed and delivered training on SQM tools and methodologies to Development staff for 3 global clients.
• Oversaw the design of an automated Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity Testing and Validation Program for a large multinational engineering corporation to support divesture from its parent company.
• Drove the development and delivery of an enterprise-wide QA Reporting System for America’s largest mortgage buyer. Tool provided senior management with a dashboard to access current and historical data in over 30 mission-critical applications in support of 2006 Restatement processes, achieving a potential $5M in cost savings.
• Spearheaded all efforts to establish a complete Quality Assurance Test Automation Program to replace previous manual testing operations for a large Independent School District. Oversaw the deployment of Mercury/HP tools, and trained development staff on tools and Automated QA processes, minimizing regression test cycle on a key Oracle Financials Application by over 70%.

Confidential, New York & Houston

Senior Technical Officer

Responsibilities:

• Provided leadership and framework to actively identify needs and resolve critical issues.
• Full accountability for overseeing the design, deployment and management of tools, systems, processes and Best Practices for new organization.
• Functional areas of accountability span team building and leadership, SQM framework and process design, standards development, project design and management, staffing and training, and test automation transition planning and execution.
• Staffed, trained and managed a geographically dispersed team of 6 in Houston and New York in the full project life cycle testing of company’s mission-critical Trade Capture applications, from initial definition of requirements and development of test cases and plans, to successful execution.
• Credited with establishing 1st Automated Quality Assurance Organization, minimizing overall defects by 60% across multiple mission-critical applications while delivering millions of dollars in cost savings.
• Championed the introduction of CMMi, RUP and SQM standards and methodologies, a key factor in facilitating the capture of CMMi Level 2 Certification within 6 months.
• Drove the implementation, programming and enforcement of QALC strategy and processes to effectively support Java/J2EE trading applications.
• Defined and directed implementation of tools such as DB Artisan, Rational Requisite Pro, ClearQuest and Mercury WinRunner, Loadrunner, Test Director and QuickTestPro automated tools.
• Facilitated the successful transition of mission-critical applications to North American Technology Center, with zero interruption to business operations.