Senior Quality Engineer (Automation & Systems) +1 (815) 683 8915 | [email protected] | cedrick.io linkedin.com/in/cedrickj | github.com/chibondking
Hands-on QA Engineer focused on uncovering failure modes to avoid production failures. Experienced partnering closely with product and engineering to validate system behavior under real user conditions, surface risk early, and reduce customer-impacting defects across complex, integrated systems. Following a planned career sabbatical for full-time family caregiving, I am now returning to hands-on QA work.
- General QA (Tools and Processes): Jira, Confluence, TestRail, Charles Proxy, BrowserStack, Regression Testing, Load Testing, Integration Testing
- Specialized QA: Accessibility Testing (Axe, WCAG 2.1), Visual Regression, VPAT Audits, A/B Testing
- Automation: Playwright, Cypress, Appium, Selenium, Postman/Newman, Rspec, BrowserStack, SauceLabs, Cucumber, JMeter, JUnit/NUnit
- Languages and Data: TypeScript, Ruby, C#, R, Java, Python, SQL (Postgres, MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle), Snowflake/Snowplow, LaTeX
- CI/CD and Infrastructure: Jenkins, ConcourseCI, Git, Docker, SonarQube, CI/CD pipelines, Monitoring, Scripting (Bash, Python)
- Cloud Platforms: AWS (EC2, S3), Snowflake, Snowplow, Cube
- Radio/Systems Tech: FlexRadio Signature Series, Icom, Elecraft, MicroHam Devices, SPE Expert Amplifiers, Node-Red, Antenna Design, Interstation Interference Mitigation
- Financial Markets: Listed Options, Equities, Government Bonds, Corporate Bonds, Forex, Swaps, Credit Derivatives (CDS)
Acquia | Remote / Madison, WI | 04/2022 – 12/2023
- Spearheaded UI test automation using Playwright for a new analytics front-end, supporting regression and release testing across multiple platform iterations (Cumul.io and Highcharts).
- Ensured compliance with accessibility standards, utilizing Applitools and Axe.
- Partnered with UX teams to conduct comprehensive VPAT accessibility audits (WCAG 2.1) and responsive testing across browsers and mobile devices (iOS and Android).
- Created automated tests using Playwright to maintain pixel-perfect design and functionality alignment for the Uploader module.
- Deployed and managed test environments on AWS, leveraging infrastructure as code for repeatable, scalable QA environments.
- Conducted thorough unit-level testing on Acquia's immersive analytics platform, ensuring the seamless ingestion, processing, and storage of data into Snowflake.
- Tested and optimized data retrieval/caching via Cube to ensure that customers with large datasets experienced minimal latency.
- Designed and executed manual tests for database migrations within the Product Information Management (PIM) module.
Johnson Radio Technologies, LLC | 08/2020 – Present
- Architect and deploy complex remote operation solutions, integrating legacy radio hardware with modern control software (FlexRadio, ICOM RS-BA) to ensure seamless station automation and low-latency performance.
- Deliver high-level technical support, diagnosing and resolving intermittent hardware/software conflicts in real-time to minimize system downtime for mission-critical setups.
- Develop custom scripts and logic flows (using Node-Red) to automate antenna switching and logging processes, reducing manual operator error and increasing station efficiency.
- Conduct remote performance tuning and interference mitigation analysis, tailoring configurations to specific client environments and network constraints.
- Author comprehensive technical documentation and user guides to empower clients to independently manage their systems, resulting in a 97% client retention rate.
GPShopper / Synchrony Financial | Chicago, IL | 07/2018 – 02/2020
- Tested mobile applications (iOS/Android) using different physical devices/emulators.
- Implemented and maintained an in-house Appium test platform for Android and iOS, automating mobile test coverage using Selenium (Java).
- Integrated and managed the TestRail test management system, standardizing test case organization and automated metric reporting across the team.
- Established foundational QA processes for a newly formed team, providing technical guidance across unit, functional, and integration testing levels.
- Developed real-time alerting and monitoring systems to rapidly diagnose and troubleshoot failures related to external third-party vendor APIs.
- Managed and maintained CI pipeline operations in ConcourseCI, ensuring reliable automated builds and testing for both mobile and web applications.
Uptake | Chicago, IL | 06/2017 – 01/2018
- Refactored a legacy suite of Selenium tests (approx. 270) to use updated page objects (POM) and vastly simplify test readability and maintainability.
- Eliminated inefficient data setup and teardown methods to yield average test execution from 2 minutes to 30 seconds and improve test stability.
- Onboarded teams to use Jenkins pipelines to execute tests, code coverage metrics (SonarQube) and automatically report status of pipeline runs via various channels.
- Refactored the Jenkins pipeline codebase to give users of pipelines accurate, helpful error messaging when builds could not complete successfully.
Convergex, LLC | Chicago, IL | 01/2016 – 02/2017
- Implemented test environment infrastructure: Jenkins, Git (Github/Gitlab).
- Drove the reduction of regression test times from 2 weeks to 2 days through automation and real-time reporting of metrics.
- Performed manual and automated test coverage of GUI and API based high availability trading applications and algorithmic routing engines.
- Streamlined manual testing workflows and enhanced reporting accuracy by centralizing test cases and results in TestRail.
Enova International | Chicago, IL | 08/2014 – 12/2015
- Led testing of the re-implementation of a popular loan product that directly contributed to a marked improvement in the UK loan revenue stream, with no issues upon launch.
- Created and maintained Rspec, Cucumber test automation scripts and suggested/implemented new test frameworks and continued to evolve testing best practices.
- Performed load testing on several new Ruby On Rails projects to identify performance bottlenecks and suggest improvements.
Backstop Solutions Group, LLC | Chicago, IL | 08/2011 – 08/2014
- Led testing of C# applications (both manual and automated): Excel plugin (Statistics, Reporting and Custom tear sheet creation), Outlook plugin and SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS).
- Led testing of the new Analytics platform written using the R statistics language and powered by Ruby On Rails. This engine is approximately 90%-95% covered in automated tests (Ruby, Rspec).
- Performed load testing of the Analytics (R) platform and various API-level interfaces using Apache JMeter.
- Involved in setting up and maintaining Jenkins build jobs and test-related infrastructure.
- Open Source: Creator of R package
datawrapper, contributed patches toQuantmod. - Expert Group Member: JSR 91: Telecom Trouble Ticket API Specification.
- Community Leadership: Metro DX Club Vice President & Digital Manager (2023 - 2025); Society Of Midwest Contesters Board Member (2019-2021).
- Volunteering: Math & Electronic Engineering Tutor, Main St. Baptist Church; Radio Communications & Field Operations, Kane County (IL) Office Of Emergency Management.