ILGAR BALASHLI
Atlanta
Summary
Results-driven Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) with 8+ years of experience in architecting test automation frameworks and implementing quality strategies across diverse sectors. Expertise in BDD, CI/CD integrations, and API testing, with a strong focus on enhancing QA operations and facilitating vendor integrations. Positioned to lead Marketplace Platform QA strategy, optimizing consumer experiences through effective enterprise architecture.
Overview
11
11
years of professional experience
Work History
Sr. SDET (Acting QA Lead)
Macy's INC
Alpharetta
09.2021 - Current
- Spearheaded foundational QA strategy and testing architecture for initial launch of Macy's Marketplace initiative, ensuring seamless integration and high-quality vendor/consumer experiences from inception through deployment.
- Test Architecture & Tooling Modernization: Architected and executed the strategic enterprise migration of legacy automation frameworks to Playwright, significantly reducing regression suite execution time. Refactored the codebase to eliminate redundant test cases, optimizing overall test coverage to 95% while achieving and maintaining a consistent 90+% test pass rate.
- Enterprise Platform Migrations: Directed end-to-end quality engineering efforts during major frontend architectural overhauls, including Vue.js and Nuxt framework migrations. Partnered closely with development to ensure zero-defect deployments and uninterrupted consumer experiences.
- Product Recommendations & Backend Models: Led QA initiatives for the continuous development and launch of complex backend recommendation models and CSG (Customer Strategy Group) updates. Validate sophisticated algorithms, data flows, and A/B testing protocols to ensure highly accurate, personalized consumer discovery.
- Directed QA operations across multiple Agile/Scrum teams, managing enterprise QA efforts for over 2 years and overseeing specialized team of 3 QA engineers.
- Functioned as the primary QA point of contact for release coordination, translating complex technical automation needs to business stakeholders and product managers.
Automation Engineer
RELX Group / LexisNexis Risk
Alpharetta
12.2020 - 08.2021
- Framework Development: Developed and maintained robust API test automation frameworks from scratch using Karate and Behavior Driven Development (BDD) methodologies.
- CI/CD Pipeline Integration: Configured and managed GitLab servers for automated scheduling and execution of smoke and regression test suites, supporting continuous delivery.
- Backend Validation: Conducted comprehensive SOAP and REST web services testing using SoapUI and Postman; retrieved and validated complex datasets through advanced SQL queries on Oracle databases.
- Agile Delivery: Collaborated with business analysts and developers to analyze user stories in JIRA, translating functional requirements into automated scripts and facilitating defect resolution.
Automation Engineer
Honeywell
Atlanta
07.2018 - 12.2020
- UI Automation: Architected robust UI test automation frameworks in Selenium WebDriver utilizing Java, Cucumber (BDD), and Page Object Model (POM) to ensure highly maintainable and readable code.
- Integrated automated test suites with Jenkins, enabling daily regression runs and providing comprehensive HTML/JSON reports for upper management review.
- Executed API testing and validated JSON responses using REST Assured and Postman, ensuring alignment between frontend and backend data.
- Data-Driven Testing: Designed automated data-driven testing by leveraging JDBC to connect the testing framework directly to Oracle databases, validating frontend GUI information against backend data sources.
Automation Engineer
Provident Bank
Sacramento
08.2017 - 07.2018
- Designed and implemented Selenium WebDriver automation frameworks for comprehensive smoke and regression testing.
- Configured parallel and cross-browser testing environments with TestNG and Maven, enhancing regression testing efficiency.
- Validated end-to-end data flow from UI to backend, using SQL to ensure data integrity in Oracle database.
Quality Assurance Analyst
Swift
Manassas
09.2015 - 07.2017
- Analyzed Business Requirement Documents (BRD) to build and execute web-based functional, integration, and UAT test plans, ensuring quality and reliability in enterprise production environments.
- Developed and executed test cases for new system features and updates.
- Conducted thorough software testing to ensure product quality and functionality.
- Collaborated with developers to identify and resolve software defects.
Education
Master of Business Administration - Marketing
UNEC
01-2014
Bachelor of Business Administration - Engineering
Azerbaijan State Oil Academy & Siegen University
Germany01-2011
Skills
- Test automation and API testing
- Quality engineering
- Java (OOP) and JavaScript
- TypeScript
- Selenium WebDriver and Playwright
- Cucumber and Karate
- TestNG and JUnit
- BDD and POM
- REST Assured and Postman
- SOAP UI
- Git, GitHub, and GitLab
- Maven
- Agile practices (Scrum)
- JIRA and HP ALM
- Rundeck
- Data validation
- Defect resolution
- Testing troubleshooting
- Continuous integration
- Project planning and team leadership
- Effective communication skills
- Oracle and SQL Server
- JDBC, JSON, and XML
- Test automation
- API testing
- Agile methodologies
- Selenium WebDriver
- Collaborative problem solving
- Test strategy development
- Effective communication
- Team leadership
- Time management
- Web application development
- Cross-platform development
- Microservices architecture
- Agile methodologies experience
- Machine learning proficiency
- Automated testing
- Version control systems
- Cloud computing
- Advanced data structures
- Software testing and implementation
- HTML and XML
- JIRA
- SQL
- Team reporting
- MySQL
- Version control
- A/B testing
- API development
- Testing and troubleshooting
- Development environment software
- Web development
- Front-end development
Languages
English
Professional
Russian
Professional
Turkish
Professional
Timeline
Sr. SDET (Acting QA Lead)
Macy's INC
09.2021 - Current
Automation Engineer
RELX Group / LexisNexis Risk
12.2020 - 08.2021
Automation Engineer
Honeywell
07.2018 - 12.2020
Automation Engineer
Provident Bank
08.2017 - 07.2018
Quality Assurance Analyst
Swift
09.2015 - 07.2017
Master of Business Administration - Marketing
UNEC
Bachelor of Business Administration - Engineering
Azerbaijan State Oil Academy & Siegen University