SQA/TET Engineer with Test Automation Leadership

Liming Zhao

SQA Engineer Software Development Engineer in Test

*************@*****.*** 919-***-**** Cary, NC

Professional Experience

Target Seasonal Tech Consultant 2025 - 2026

● Consulted with customers to understand their technology needs and recommended tailored product and accessory solutions, translating technical features into clear business value to support informed decision-making.

● Acted as a subject matter advocate for top technology brands, articulating value propositions such as pricing strategy, warranty programs, and extended return policies to align solutions with customer priorities.

● Delivered a client-focused engagement experience by actively identifying customer challenges and providing structured, solution-oriented recommendations to address specific use cases.

● Managed inventory operations and product lifecycle processes using enterprise tools (Workday via PDA), ensuring data accuracy, stock optimization, and seamless fulfillment workflows including picking and packing—supporting operational efficiency and service reliability.

Truist Insurance Holdings

Software Engineer III, Test Automation Lead 2020 - 2024

• Collaborated with developers and business stakeholders to review and refine requirements, user stories, and acceptance criteria to ensure clarity, testability, and alignment with business goals. o Contributed to the development of comprehensive functional and regression test plans, identifying test scope, automation priorities, coverage gaps, and potential risks, and creating test cases. o Designed, configured, and maintained test and test automation environments to support continuous integration and delivery pipelines.

o Reviewed technical designs and pull requests to ensure code quality, testability, and adherence to best practices.

o Applied Agile methodologies, including Scrum, TDD, and pair programming, to enhance collaboration and product quality.

o Drove early defect detection, traceability management, and comprehensive verification and validation efforts, reducing production defects by over 50% by embedding proactive quality practices throughout the SDLC.

o Mentored junior developers and QA engineers, fostering a culture of quality, continuous learning, and technical excellence.

• Architected and developed a Behavior-Driven and Data-Driven end-to-end test automation framework for a billing reconciliation application, reducing regression execution time by 60%. o Implemented the Page Object Model (POM) design pattern using Selenium and xUnit. o HTML based test reports were automatically generated. o Built CI-integrated automation infrastructure in on-premises Azure using Infrastructure as Code (IaC). o Integrated automated test pipelines with GitHub using SQL, PowerShell, and YAML.

• Designed and implemented a SQL Unit Testing framework for stored procedures using SQL Server Data Tools

(SSDT).

• Configured SQL Server Performance Monitor profiles via SQL Server Management Studio to identify long- running stored procedures and deadlock issues.

o Generated and analyzed XML performance reports to pinpoint bottlenecks, enabling developers to optimize queries and improve load performance by over 50%. o Improved system testability and integration architecture within an insurance billing reconciliation platform.

• Refactored tightly coupled integration with Vertafore Sagitta SaaS by introducing parameterization and configuration-driven design (Smartbear SoapUI, Postman). o Developed mock SOAP-based payment APIs in .NET to simulate Sagitta accounting services. o Deployed mock payment microservices to IIS across development and test environments, significantly reducing external system dependencies and improving test reliability. Xylem Sensus Inc, Morrisville, NC

Test Automation Engineer 2018-2020

● Designed and developed a Behavior-Driven, data-driven Python-based API automation framework using Behave to test smart water meter operations within a large-scale smart metering system.

Achieved 100% automated test coverage for core API requests, including meter reads and configuration endpoints. Test reports were automatically generated.

Implemented a CI/CT pipeline using Jenkins integrated with Git repositories (GitHub, Bitbucket), executing automated nightly builds.

Enabled cross-platform test execution on Windows and Android environments using JSON-driven test data.

Built and executed API test collections in Postman for meter configuration, status validation, and data reading scenarios.

Performed root cause analysis of failed tests by parsing and analyzing meter telemetry data; logged, prioritized, and triaged defects in TestTrack.

Developed QA dashboards and visual reports using TestTrack XSLT templates to visualize defect trends, test status, and requirements traceability.

● Led the planning, cost estimation, and architectural design of a cloud-based smart meter testing farm.

Established an integrated test environment for smart meters, mobile devices, and communication networks.

Configured connectivity testing using Bluetooth, Raspberry Pi, and virtualization software to simulate real- world deployment conditions.

IBM WATSON HEALTH (Truven Health Analytics), Durham, NC Senior Test Automation Engineer 2016 – 2018

Developed unit and workflow validation tests for a Health Analytics application (Operation Administration Tool – OAT), focusing on data driven, value-based care, built with Java and Spring Boot.

• Validated ETL workflow steps producing data inputs for IBM Cognos Analytics (AI-powered reporting platform). o Implemented automated test scripts to verify input/output integrity at each stage of the data processing pipeline.

o Reviewed acceptance criteria and designed comprehensive test strategies within a Kanban delivery model. o Authored detailed test cases and release-level test plans aligned with business requirements. o Designed and implemented database tables and stored procedures for hospital and patient records, ensuring HIPAA-compliant data handling.

• Built an automated testing framework using Spring, Spock, and Groovy. o Leveraged Spring Profiles to enable environment-specific test execution (dev, test, staging). o Engineered a configurable web UI test automation framework for an AngularJS application using JavaScript and Node.js.

o Automated UI, integration, smoke, and functional tests in a CI environment using WebDriverIO/Selenium and JUnit.

• Implemented automated data validation tests using SQL and RESTful service consumption. o Achieved 100% acceptance criteria coverage through automation. o Created Ansible playbooks (YAML, IaC) for server provisioning and automated application deployment across environments.

o Utilized H2 and Oracle databases, Mockito for unit testing, and Webpack for build optimization. ITRON, Raleigh, NC

Senior Software Engineer 2010 – 2015

• Architected and developed an end-to-end automated API testing framework for a smart metering data collection system — a high-availability, secure endpoint communication platform. o Automated testing of meter data reading, configuration, and firmware installation/update APIs. o Designed reusable test frameworks for both Data Collection Web Services and Web-based UI using SoapUI and Watir.

o Implemented automated response parsing and validation of meter telemetry data to ensure data correctness and integrity.

o Reduced manual execution time by over one hour per test case through automation.

• Performed validation of embedded meter devices and firmware releases in integrated network environments. o Installed and verified meter security keys and validated meter-to-meter and meter-to-system communication.

o Configured and tested Cisco Connected Grid Routers to validate communication over RF, Zigbee, Cellular, and power-line networks.

o Conducted protocol-level validation across TCP/IP, Linux-based systems, IPv6, and 6LoWPAN environments.

• Established and configured end-to-end test environments for smart metering systems. o Installed and configured data collection engines, smart meters, networking interfaces, routers, and security configurations.

o Integrated data collection services with backend servers and field devices to simulate real-world deployment conditions.

POCKETGEAR, Durham, NC

Software Engineer / Operation Support Engineer

2009 – 2010

● Developed large scale, web-based JavaEE applications for mobile storefronts and content delivery API platform for mobile phones and content-management system for the FIRST App Store of Samsung Mobile (Android, Linux, B2C).

● Designed and Implemented Data Ingestion Process for CMS through Seller Site Interface: Consuming a restful seller webservice, importing mobile product data in Json Format into content management system through the repository API of the CMS. The system was deployed to Tomcat Server and ran 24/7 (oncall support). Wrote SQL query to verify the success of the importing operation. Analyzed HTTP traffic to troubleshooting connections and data integrity. Worked with QA engineers and customers from Samsung on feedback from user acceptance tests. MOTRICITY, Durham, NC

Senior Software Engineer I 2008 – 2009

● Developed and maintained portal and storefront applications for mobile carriers (Tracfone), allowing mobile users to browse, search, and purchase through mobile devices. Developed and integrated web service-based billing systems

(Java, Maven, Spring, Linux). Designed and maintained functionalities for portal web application and storefront application used by millions of mobile end users.

Skills

Core Skills: data structure, algorithms, micro services, software testing, A/B testing, machine learning, distributed system Cloud Platforms: AWS, GCP, AZURE

DevOps: Jenkins, Ansible, Azure DevOps, Maven, Gradle, GitHub, Bitbucket, Kubernetes, Docker (container), Vmware Languages: Java, Go, C#, BASH, .NET, Python/R, SQL, NoSQL, React, Angular, CSS, XML, Json, CSS Software Testing Tools: Selenium, Cypress, Pytest, Appium, SpecFlow, Cucumber, Junit, TestNG, JMeter, Postman, SoapUI, Swagger, Wireshark, Sonar, Veracode

Frameworks: FastAPI, NumPy, Pytest, NodeJS, Webdriverio, Webpack, Spring, Airflow, Mockito, Redis Software/Platform: SQL Developer, Unity, Intellij, Visual Studio, Jupyter Notebook, Jira, Bitbucket,Veracode, Adb, Gdb Big Data/AI Service: Spark, LIAMa4, LangChain, Kafka, Tableau, Scikit-learn, Data Bricks, Snowflake, MLflow Networking: TCP/IP, HTTPS, Rest (OpenAPI), gRPC, Soap, RabbitMQ, LAN/WAN, Zigbee, Bluetooth, Wifi Databases: SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MySQL Operating Systems: Windows, Linux/Unix(CentOS, Ubuntu), Mac OS X, Android, IOS Education

● Master of Science Computer Science University of Kentucky 2006

● Bachelor of Science Computer Software Chengdu University of Technology 1998 China Certificates/Course

AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials, Jan 2026

Databricks Fundamentals Accreditation, 2025

Building RAG Apps Using MongoDB Apr 2025

Machine Learning - Coursera Stanford Online Apr 2024

Contact this candidate