Stan Taylor
19217 Kennemer Drive, Pflugerville, Texas 78660
(512) 826-4759 · stantaylor@gmail.com
Summary of Skills and Experience
- Software quality leadership: Extensive experience in software quality assurance,
serving in hands-on leadership
roles, including architect, lead, and management (up to twelve direct
reports and offshore team members/contractors)
- Test automation: Extensive experience developing test automation,
including
Cypress, Selenium WebDriver, JMeter, Cucumber, Gherkin, SauceLabs, BrowserStack, Appium, Java/JUnit, Protractor
- Current programming languages and technologies: Java, Node.js/JavaScript, Groovy, SQL
- Database systems: Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Cassandra
- Source code control: Git, including GitHub, Bitbucket
- Continuous integration: Jenkins, Bamboo, BitBucket pipelines
- Platforms: Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, MacOS, UNIX
- Cloud: Extensive experience with AWS deployments, test environments and CI/CD
- Other programming languages and technologies: UNIX Shell, Ruby, Perl, PHP, SOAP web
services
Professional Experience
Senior SDET
Netspend
Austin, TX
January, 2023 to present
- Develop automated tests in Java and Groovy for applications with RESTful APIs
- Create Selenium-based automated tests for Angular- and React-based web and hybrid mobile applications
- Manage AWS-based cloud and on-premises test environments
- Review pull requests for test automation code from other SDETs
- Technologies used:
- REST API automation: Groovy WebClient, karate
- UI automation: Selenium WebDriver (groovy/Java)
- CI/CD: AWS test environments, BitBucket, Bamboo, Jenkins
- Test environments: AWS and on-presmises
Quality Engineering Manager
LendFlow
Remote, US
May, 2022 to January, 2023
- Oversaw a team of QA engineering professionals, including up to five direct reports and six contractors
- Developed comprehensive hiring criteria and job descriptions to attract top talent
- Designed and implemented key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure individual QA staff performance
and overall quality metrics
- Provided technical leadership and guidance for the creation and maintenance of automated test suites
using industry-standard tools such as Cypress and Selenium, with a focus on UI and RESTful API testing
- Wrote code to develop automated tests and automation frameworks using Cypress and Selenium in JavaScript
- Determined the appropriate tests to automate and supervised the automation process to ensure
high-quality results
- Collaborated with DevOps teams to determine optimal execution of automated test suites in continuous
integration (CI) pipelines at different stages of the development/release process
- Managed and maintained AWS-based test and CI/CD environments to ensure efficient and reliable testing
processes.
- Technologies used:
- Test automation: Selenium WebDriver (JavaScript), Cypress
- CI/CD: BitBucket Cloud, BitBucket pipelines, AWS-based test environments
IT Operations Manager
Netspend
Remote, US
March, 2021 to May, 2022
- Managed a 24/7 on-call operations team that supported a PCI-compliant cardholder production environment
that handled millions of users and tens of millions of financial transactions per day
- Recruited, trained and managed Linux sysadmin and application monitoring staff in the US (7) and India
(5)
- Maintained Linux production infrastructure, including OS patching, vulnerability remediation, upgrading
- Developed and managed the production monitoring strategy, tooling, and staff
- Negotiated and managed tooling vendor contracts
- Managed and escalated production incidents, perform post-mortems and write RCAs
- Served as the principal point of contact between the operations team and business partners
- Compiled and presented availability metrics to management and business partners
Quality Architect
Netspend
Austin, Texas
January, 2019 to March, 2021
- Designed and executed quality-related processes and tools for a 200-employee development organization
across multiple locations in the US and India
- Oversaw and maintained an end-to-end automation framework in Groovy/Cucumber that supported 40+
applications, containing over 20,000 tests, encompassing:
- Web and hybrid mobile UI automation utilizing Selenium and Cypress
- REST API automation using RestAssured
- Legacy Java applications
- Architected on-premises and AWS-based test and CI infrastructure for running large suites of end-to-end
tests daily, and evaluating and publishing the test results
- Acted as the product manager to an automation infrastructure team responsible for all aspects of
end-to-end test automation and reporting
- Coordinated with management and personnel to ensure that comparable processes and tools are adopted in
all development sites in the US and India
- Designed and executed quality metrics to evaluate the success of quality initiatives
- Worked with management to upgrade the programming skill sets of QA engineers
- Developed hiring standards for QA personnel, drafted job descriptions, evaluated resumes and candidates,
and worked with managers in staffing the team
Front-end Infrastructure Engineer
Netspend
Austin, Texas
March, 2018 to December, 2018
- Developed and tested migration of cordova-based hybrid mobile app from serving embedded files
to files from a web server
- Developed proof-of-concept and initial code for using JavaScript-based UIs in EBX data management
software,
allowing UI developers to participate in EBX development
Front-end Test Automation Developer
Netspend
Austin, Texas
November, 2014 to March, 2018
- Developed and managed an automated testing framework for web and mobile application UI testing:
- Selenium WebDriver- and Appium-based tests using the webdriver.io node.js Javascript bindings
- Multiple device and browser testing with SauceLabs and BrowserStack integration,
including iOS and Android hybrid mobile apps
- BDD (cucumber) framework which allowed non-programming QA engineers to write new automated tests
- Reusable steps that allow the test creator to specify attributes for identifying UI objects
- Simplified page-object-like central repository of element identifiers
- REST API calls to fetch and create test data and to interact with SauceLabs' API
- Direct database calls to fetch and create test data
- Integrated automated tests into Bamboo and Jenkins continuous integration for nightly execution
- Tests used screenshots, compared to baselines to verify consistent layout and formatting
- The same UI tests can be run against web and hybrid mobile app deployments of product code
- Managed daily reviews of automated test run results
- Trained and advised other QA engineers on writing automated tests
- Conducted code reviews
- Consulted with business analysts and management about testing strategies and priorities
- Helped to migrate front-end tests from the JavaScript framework to a Groovy-based framework:
- Trained automation team staff on how to evaluate front-end automated test results efficiently
- Evaluated testing services (SauceLabs, AppliTools), recommended purchase and figured out licensing needs
- Helped offshore QA engineers in India and Colombia be more productive by trying to make myself a
non-threatening on-site reference for them to ask questions
- Coached (onshore and offshore) QA engineers on how to diagnose problems and on strategies to get help
more
effectively
- Started and run a code management guild to discuss and implement process and technology changes related
to code management
- Helped to systematize and make QA engineer candidate evaluation more effective:
- Created general job description for front-end and later, full-stack QA engineers and helped HR to
understand the requirements
- Created HackerRank test for full-stack QA engineers, allowing HR to validate candidates' resume claims
more
effectively before passing candidates off for phone screens
- Performed phone screens for full-stack QA engineering candidates
Quality Engineering Manager
Rapid7
Austin, Texas
May, 2013 to September, 2014
- Managed quality engineering program for development of the Metasploit penetration testing software
- Assessed manual test coverage and plan and coordinate the creation of automated tests (web UI, REST API,
proprietary API)
- Hired and supervised QE team members
- Planned VMWare ESX test lab needs and supervised implementation by engineering services team
- Identified future automated testing needs, scope, plan and supervised their creation
- Created REST API tests using ruby test-client gem
- Created web UI tests using cucumber, capybara, gherkin, Selenium WebDriver (tests written in ruby)
- Worked with engineering services team to run tests in continuous integration environment (Jenkins) and
report on results
- Analyzed continuous integration needs, and developed and implemented test tagging strategy so that
different
tests were run at appropriate times
- Coordinate with customer support to prioritize and process customer bug issues through the development
process
Details for previous employment are available on request
Education
- Ph.D., Translation Studies/German Cultural Studies, The University of Texas at Austin
- B.A., German, The University of Texas at Austin
Languages
- Native speaker of English
- Near-native fluency in German
Interests
- Commissioner, City of Pflugerville, Texas, Parks & Recreation Commission