Samhita Saxena
SS Herndon, VA • 571-***-**** • ***********@*****.***
S E N IOR PROGRAM MANAGER
Dedicated Program Manager
with cross cutting initiatives including numerous business stake holders teams of Service Providers like Accenture, Mind Tree, KPMG etc. for governance purposes at the Program Level, for full cycle development activities.
Dedicated and detailed
technologist with over a decade of progressive experience in program management, quality assurance
(QA), testing to address business needs for product based companies like CustomInk, Marriott, Blackboard and high-profile federal clients including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Subject matter expert applying
methodologies, processes and procedures in the execution of a full life cycle approach. Increase value to the customer through corrective and preventive action including reducing life cycle time, cost and defects.
Fact-based decision maker with
excellent analytical abilities and a demonstrated aptitude to learn and utilize new and complex technologies to provide scalable solutions.
Proficient at building and
leading teams and prioritizing projects to consistently deliver quality work under tight deadlines. Demonstrates balanced judgment under pressure.
Proficient in Program
Integrations to optimize day-to-day Operations and streamline work flows to improve Cost and Efficiency, adding to the EBITDA.
Expert in managing huge
financial ERP implementations for Financial Consolidation and Reporting. CORE COMPETENCIES
Strategic Alignment and Vision • Leadership and Team Management • Budget Creation & Management • Communication • Risk Management• Quality Management• Financial Management • Technical Management
Agile Methodology •Performance Metrics • Metrics & Trends & Analysis • External & Internal Audits • Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES
TOOLS: Monday, HP QuickTest Pro • LoadRunner • WinRunner • Test Director • HP Quality Center • Call Tracker
• Bugzilla • Req trace • ClearQuest • ClearCase • Oracle Apps •SOAPUI • JIRA • TFS • Snagit • WAVE •JAWS DATABASES: Oracle • MS-Access • SQL Server • DB2 • Sybase TOOLS & APPLICATIONS: HTML / DHTML • Visual Basic 6.0 • SOAPUI • SalesForce • Oracle Fusion • PeopleSoft & CPQ, AWS knowledge, Kubernetes concepts and Containerization. PROGRAM MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE
PORTFOLIO MANAGER (ENGINEERING, QA) – CustomInk LLC. 2018 – Present; Fairfax, VA Samhita Saxena • 571-***-**** • ***********@*****.*** Being part of technology platform team of 700 mil $ company with continuous effort to improve the processes with key focus on improvements in project inception, kickoff, product management, Engineering and QA automation to reduce cycle time with improved productivity and high h quality. Select Accomplishments:
• Streamlined SDLC with improved
performance metrics, shorter cycles and shipping high quality products resulting several points growth in Sales
• Improved customer satisfaction
and experience with higher WoW rates.
• Improved Efficiency through
Tech, optimizing existing work flows and reducing operating costs. PMO – PROJECT MANAGER (TESTING) – Marriott Inc. 2017 – 2018 Nov; Reston, VA
Governance IT efforts at the Program Level of a highly visible project, in support of Data migration effort for Starwood hotels into the Marriott’s platform.
Additionally, manage the entire Business Readiness Testing effort which includes several components like Business Data Validation, Business Process Validation, Day in The Life and Cutover testing. Prepared detailed test schedules, driving daily standups and meeting stake holders for collaboration and planning of this huge cross cutting effort.
Select Accomplishments:
• Kicked off Business Data
Validation Testing and laying out test strategy, approach, planning, execution, defect triage process and reporting status to Senior Management for this effort.
• Overall planning of Day in The
Life, strategic selection of Property and cloning it in a live setup to perform real time testing and give the feel of “Day in The Life”.
SENIOR QA MANAGER – Blackboard Inc. 2016 – 2017 Dec; Reston, VA
Manage IT QA efforts in support of development and operations including Oracle patch upgrades and six Agile development lanes. Supervise a team of ten in-house manual testers for Salesforce, PeopleSoft, Oracle Fusion and MuleSoft integrations for the order to renewal program. Additionally, supervise a team of ten offshore automation testers building regression suites for Oracle patch upgrades and automated test scripts for Salesforce and CPQ. Oversee annual QA budget of $1 million. Consistently communicate with business users on deliverables to manage expectations. Select Accomplishments:
• Transitioned an offshore team of
seven to a fully functional in-house QA team including developing transition plan, hiring and training resulting in increased productivity, cost savings and internal knowledge.
• Completed QA and user
acceptance testing (UAT) for several large, complex projects with renewal opportunities meeting tight deadlines of only hours to three days in some cases, while maintaining quality. QA MANAGER & SENIOR BUSINESS ANALYST – Tellenger, Inc.: Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) 2014 – 2016; Reston, VA
Samhita Saxena • 571-***-**** • ***********@*****.*** Performed QA related to the organizational common data platform (CDP), a web- and role-based grants performance management system and single solution intended to replace three legacy systems. Followed Agile methodology, managing end-to-end resources and testing for all project phases, supervising a group of eight testers and business analysts. Developed test plan, wrote and executed test cases for multiple phases and regression suites and gathered and documented client requirements and use cases. Tested complex functionalities with development team and periodically validated tester-defined bugs and defects. Conducted client Change Control Board weekly meetings, serving as liaison between the customer and development. Conducted back-end and black box testing and scheduled system deployments ensuring unit testing, peer review and lower environment testing prior to production. Managed release cycles and maintained product backlog and defect tracking.
Select Accomplishments:
• Completed complex data
migration testing with 99% accuracy, encompassing data from all three legacy systems with different data structures.
• Executed UAT, training and
system launch with 100% customer satisfaction leading to new businesses and enhancements of $1.2 m. BUSINESS ANALYST/ QUALITY ASSURANCE LEAD/ PROJECT MGT. LEAD – National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)/ REI System 2011 –
2014; Sterling, VA
Provided QA, analysis and project management support for life cycle of three NASA J2EE-based grant management systems from different departments accessed by a single sign-on. Produced client deliverables, conducted back-end, black box, system, functional and technical system testing, scheduled system deployments and managed release cycle, maintaining JIRA over the defect life cycle. Drafted release notes, weekly client status reports, proposals, statements of work, test cases and re-competes. Attended joint application design meetings to prepare workflows and define requirements. Served as internal auditor for Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) audits. Worked on 508 compliance with power mapping for public facing sites.
Select Accomplishments:
• Improved productivity, saving
time through automating multiple manual tasks by recommending and implementing new solution to replace legacy system for planetary science, applied sciences and NASA’s earth science technology. SR. BUSINESS ANALYST & QUALITY ASSURANCE TESTER – Federal Communications Commission (FCC) - Auctions 2010 – 2011; Washington, D.C.
Conducted system, functional and technical testing. Prepared test cases using business and functional requirements, matching wire frames and Solutions Design Document. Gathered client requirements, collaborated with the Change Control Board on releases and prepared test team standard operating procedures (SOPs). Tested auctions through full cycle, reporting defects. Attended training sessions on Drupal and JIRA integration with HP Quality Center.
Collaborated auction team to produce several successful electromagnetic spectrum auctions, providing live secured war room monitoring and publishing customized auction reports for the White House. SR QA TESTER – Client Network Services, Inc. (CNSI) - Champs 2007 – 2010; Gaithersburg, MD Prepared system, functional and technical requirements. Readied test cases, tested concurrent and complex programs with multiple financial business rules and validated data transmitted system to system. Tested database to database jobs, conducting end-to-end scenarios for functionality. Wrote and executed Pl/SQL Queries (DDL, DML) to validate data using TOAD. Understood data mapping and writing SQL Queries to validate COGNOS reports. Conducted data-driven, functional, GUI, black box, and regression testing manually. PREVIOUS POSITIONS as SR. QA TESTER at Network Solutions in Herndon, Virginia and QA TESTER at First Insight Corporation in Portland, Oregon.
Samhita Saxena • 571-***-**** • ***********@*****.*** CERTIFICATION
CERTIFIED ITIL PROFESSIONAL – APMG 2012
AWS CERTIFIED CLOUD PRACTITIONER - 2022
E DUCATION
BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING, ELECTRONICS & TELECOMMUNICATIONS – Cummins College Pune, Maharashtra, India