Resume - Raymond Esterheld

Accomplished professional with over 25 years of experience in software quality assurance, IT operations, and educational roles. Adept at building and leading cross-functional teams to drive quality across software products and platforms. Proficient in manual and automation testing methodologies and excels in architecting and implementing test automation frameworks. With a proven track record in optimizing testing processes and enhancing team efficiency, well-positioned to establish best practices and standards while ensuring the highest quality deliverables in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

Snapshot of Career Highlights

Efficiency Optimization: Reduced a test automation solution’s runtime by 50%, from over 4 hours to 2 hours, by removing unnecessary code and refactoring for better performance and readability. This benefited team onboarding and testing efficiency.

Load and Performance Testing: Implemented JMeter to automate load and performance testing, reducing test completion from one day to under 15 minutes and streamlining the need for concurrent users from 10-15 to just 1, significantly enhancing application performance monitoring.

Capacity Planning: Developed a capacity planning tool in Microsoft Excel to accurately predict sprint story points based on team availability, saving over an hour weekly in sprint planning meetings and shortening the meetings from 60+ minutes to approximately 15 minutes.

Quality Assurance Strategy: Spearheaded a testing strategy that prioritized software quality, achieving a production application with 0 known defects at release and maintaining a 0-defect count over several years for the IBM Royalty and Payment Management HUB application, which manages about $1.85B in royalty payments annually.

Code Review Process: Initiated automated end-to-end test scenario code reviews to prevent broken code from reaching the build pipeline, ensuring thorough analysis of code changes and their impact on testing solution, preserving testing solution integrity.

Offshore Team Leadership: Improved the performance and quality of work of an offshore testing team by providing regular mentorship, allowing open discussion of progress, and prioritizing essential tasks. This resulted in a significant reduction in rework and boosted team morale.

Professional Experience

SOFTWARE TEST SPECIALIST
IBM, Southbury, CT
2020 – Present

Spearheaded testing initiatives for the IBM Royalty and Payment Management (RPM) HUB application, which oversees approximately $1.85 billion in annual royalty payments.
Orchestrated comprehensive UI and API tests for the RPM Next Generation application, which leverages a microservice architecture to facilitate better asset and royalty payment data access, enhancing contract management processes.
Directed the successful testing of numerous application and database migrations to the cloud, employing extensive regression, load, and performance testing methodologies.
Crafted and implemented detailed test strategies, plans, and schedules, ensuring alignment with overarching project objectives and deadlines.
Advocated for and realized significant improvements in testing methodologies, tools, and processes, thereby advancing QA practices toward more efficient and effective outcomes.
Planned and executed in-depth test cases for application updates with meticulous attention to detail, contributing to the team’s ambition of achieving a zero-defect benchmark.
Played a crucial role in evaluating and deploying automated UI testing frameworks for the RPM Next Generation application, fostering collaboration across functional teams.
Led a geographically dispersed testing team in the development and deployment of an automated UI testing framework for the RPM Next Generation application utilizing Node.js Test Runner, Selenium, and JavaScript.
Functioned as a Business Analyst and Iteration Manager, facilitating requirement gathering, application functionality clarification, issue prioritization, and Agile ceremony leadership, thereby bolstering project management and team efficiency.
Innovated with Microsoft Excel tools to visualize critical sprint dates and forecast sprint workloads, optimizing sprint planning.
Executed critical DevOps tasks, including deploying applications to cloud platforms and managing application pods, ensuring smooth operational flow.
Assisted UAT testers with expert guidance and support, ensuring any encountered issues were promptly addressed, documented, and resolved in collaboration with development teams.

LEAD SOFTWARE QA ANALYST
Cartus Corporation, Danbury, CT
2011 – 2019

Crafted detailed test strategies, plans, and schedules, ensuring alignment with project timelines and objectives.
Innovated improvements to testing methodologies, tools, and processes, significantly refining and advancing QA practices.
Formulated and conducted detailed test cases for application updates, achieving a meticulous level of quality assurance.
Integral in story point estimation for user stories, incorporating QA considerations and identifying opportunities to enhance clarity within the development team.
Pioneered the use of BDD methodology for automating UI tests for Cartus’s MEAN stack-based hub application, employing a robust Gherkin/Cucumber/Protractor/Chai framework.
Guided the testing team in automating comprehensive end-to-end scenarios for user stories within sprints, ensuring seamless integration with the CI/CD pipeline.
Initiated and managed code reviews for all automated end-to-end scripts, offering constructive feedback to enhance code quality and the team’s skill set.
Managed a team of up to 12 offshore testers, overseeing daily operations, providing leadership, and evaluating performance to inform retention strategies.
Led testing efforts on significant projects aimed at enhancing the functionality of enterprise-wide applications, from developing test cases to reporting on testing activities to IT leadership.
Assessed and advised on the selection of accessibility, browser, and mobile automated testing tools, considering factors like cost, performance, ease of use, cloud technology integration, and return on investment.
Developed and maintained testing dashboards in Excel and MS TFS/Azure DevOps, effectively communicating testing progress and insights to project stakeholders.

Testing & Leadership Skills

Technical Skills

Education

Teacher Certification
Secondary Business Education and Social Studies
Sacred Heart University

Bachelor of Business Administration
Management Information Systems
Western Connecticut State University