Software Test Staff Engineer
Resume:
Richard J. Balbat
Tyngsboro, MA 01879
Mobile: 774-***-****
Email: *******.******@*****.***
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-balbat EXPERIENCE
*/** – 2/25 Staff Engineer, Innovation Software Test – Embecta, Andover, MA Agile engineering Cloud team implementing the backend for an FDA-approved wearable insulin delivery system, the Embecta patch pump, which was designed to help people with diabetes manage their blood glucose levels effectively.
● Led Digital Health cloud-focused testing initiatives as part of an agile development environment.
● Designed, implemented and executed MSTest unit tests using C# / .NET in JetBrains Rider and Microsoft Visual Studio.
● Developed API integration tests for microservices interfacing with third-party platforms including Auth0, Raygun, Opsgenie, LaunchDarkly, Contentful, Entrust, Amplitude and Marketo REST APIs.
● Tested and validated microservices deployed as containers in Kubernetes clusters.
● Validated data (JSON) persistence and integrity within Couchbase Capella (DBaaS) NoSQL environments.
● Leveraged Microsoft Azure DevOps for maintaining test source code in Git Repos, monitoring API test Pipelines, managing Test Plans, and tracking progress via Boards.
● Created and shared reusable code modules for UI and API automation projects, fostering consistency across test automation efforts.
● Performed manual testing of the insulin delivery system using Android devices to validate system functionality, reliability, and user experience.
● Trained and mentored new QA team members in product usage, debugging techniques, and automation tools.
● Validated the functionality of embedded software on the Embecta patch pump.
● Recognized for versatility and adaptability in addressing diverse engineering and testing challenges.
● Gained experience with the Cypress automation framework for functional testing of the internal Customer Support portal.
● Used SoapUI and Postman for testing new APIs and conducting proof-of-concept (POC) validations.
● Configured and maintained 15 Windows test environments in the automation lab, each equipped with an Android device and insulin pump, to support testing and validation efforts. 7/18 – 3/22 Staff Engineer, Innovation Software Test – Becton Dickinson, Boston, MA Agile digital health engineering team implementing a diabetes care management solution, which included iPhone and Android apps connecting to back-end REST API web services with a Couchbase database server.
● Created Web API integration tests using C# .NET Core and the MSTest framework.
● Developed end-to-end workflow API tests for microservices with third-party RESTful APIs.
● Maintained test code in Microsoft Azure Git repositories.
● Wrote Python scripts and .NET Core console applications to support QA and Operations teams as needed.
● Integrated API smoke test suite into the CI/CD pipeline.
● Collaborated with developers and product owners to understand new features and code changes, updating or creating tests accordingly.
● Utilized Jira for feature and issue tracking throughout the software development life cycle. 5/15 – 7/18 Principal QA Engineer / API Automation Lead – naviHealth, Newton, MA Agile engineering team implementing a SaaS-based healthcare patient discharge product, enabling seamless integration between hospitals and post-acute providers.
● Implemented a SoapUI automation framework to test integrations between internal microservices and third-party systems.
● Validated HL7 patient data integration with naviHealth, ensuring accurate data transformation and persistence in Oracle DB.
● Led back-end automation testing efforts for new features and monthly deployments.
● Integrated SoapUI regression tests into Bamboo CI/CD Build Plan.
● Developed API-level SoapUI test scenarios based on Swagger definition files and internal API documentation.
● Utilized Kafka REST API for automation testing.
● Created a Python script to execute regression testing for all SoapUI projects, covering end-to-end flows involving RESTful APIs and Oracle databases.
● Used Jira for all sprint planning, requirements and defect tracking.
● Mentored junior QA Automation Engineers.
11/14 – 5/15 Sr. QA Engineer – IDEMIA, Billerica, MA
● Designed and executed test cases for DMV driver license issuance application (web-based enterprise application).
● Created test matrices for mapping test cases to requirements.
● Implemented SoapUI test cases to test SOAP web service APIs supporting XML.
● Used TeamForge for requirement, task, and defect tracking.
● Led weekly bug triage meetings.
10/12 – 11/14 Sr. QA Engineer – Paydiant (acquired by Paypal), Newton, MA The application under test provided cloud-based services for merchants, banks, and point-of-sale (POS) and ATM providers.
● Developed reusable SoapUI scripts designed to support multi-tenant environments, ensuring scalability and maintainability.
● Implemented comprehensive SoapUI test cases to validate backend SOAP and REST APIs handling XML and JSON payloads.
● Mentored over 20 junior developers in designing and creating effective SoapUI scripts for validating their code.
● Designed and executed end-to-end API test cases covering hundreds of payment workflows.
● Utilized Splunk to analyze microservice logs, enabling efficient debugging of errors in payment flows.
● Integrated Oracle DB validations within SoapUI scripts to enhance API test coverage and ensure data integrity.
● Leveraged Jira for tracking requirements and defects throughout the development lifecycle.
● Converted SoapUI scripts to run in multi-threaded fashion as Load tests. 8/09 – 10/12 Sr. QA Engineer (Mobile Payments Business Unit) – Nokia, Inc., Burlington, MA The application under test was a Mobile Billing application running in a clustered environment consisting of a load balancer, 2 Apache web servers, 2 JBOSS app servers, and MySQL DB.
● Use Firebug for inspecting web content in Mozilla Firefox.
● Write and execute automated functional test cases using SoapUI Pro to test Web service API using both REST and SOAP interfaces for mobile payments application.
● Use Altova XMLSpy for analyzing XML Schema Documents (XSD) and generating XML test data.
● Write SQL scripts for automated tests that search, insert, update, and delete transaction data and configuration data in MySQL DB.
● Executed LoadRunner scripts, debugged errors, and analyzed metrics via HP Performance Center.
● Used MySQL slow query logger to identify SQL statements performed in the code that (negatively) impacted performance.
EDUCATION
9/98 – 5/01 Graduate Certificate in Database and Client/Server Computing. Boston University. Boston, Massachusetts.
9/95 - 6/98 Certificate in UNIX. University of Massachusetts Lowell. Lowell, Massachusetts. 1/92 - 6/95 Bachelor of Science in Meteorology. University of Massachusetts Lowell. Lowell, Massachusetts.
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