---
title: "Nikhil Sai Patnam - SDET in Chittoor | Tal"
description: "Meet Nikhil Sai Patnam, SDET @Swiggy | Backend Engineering | Python, AI/LLM Testing | Product driven Software Engineer based in Chittoor. AI stack includes antigravity and opencode."
image: "https://tal.club/meet/nikhil-sai-patnam/share-image"
---

# Nikhil Sai Patnam on Tal

## Headline

SDET @Swiggy \| Backend Engineering \| Python, AI/LLM Testing \| Product driven Software Engineer

## About

SDET with deep expertise in AI/LLM quality assurance and backend development\. SDET & AI/LLM Quality: I specialize in testing intelligent systems\. Strong expertise in test automation frameworks \(Cypress, Playwright, Pytest\) combined with deep understanding of system architecture and AI evaluation methodologies\. At Apna, I evaluated AI Voice Agent features across different models, engineered evaluation frameworks, and built systematic approaches to AI quality assurance moving beyond manual testing to production\-grade AI validation\. Backend Development: I've also contributed to backend development across Django, Go \(Gin\), and Spring Boot\. Worked on designing and developing features, solving critical issues, and building observability into systems\. This backend knowledge ensures I test systems with architectural understanding, not just surface\-level validation\. My Unique Combination: SDET \+ AI Systems \+ Backend Engineering\. I combine test automation expertise with deep AI system understanding and backend development knowledge\. This allows me to: 1\. Design systematic test strategies for AI\-driven backend services 2\. Understand the systems calling AI models \(not just test the AI\) 3\. Build reliable, observable systems that users trust What I Believe: Quality is built in, not bolted on\. Especially for AI systems test early, evaluate systematically, monitor continuously\. Tech Stack: Cypress, Playwright, Pytest \| Python, Go, Django, Spring Boot \| AI evaluation, RAG frameworks, LLM understanding \| Datadog, observability Always interested in: AI\-driven features, quality automation, system design, observability\.

## Location

Chittoor

## AI stack

antigravity

opencode

## Work experience

SDET at Swiggy, May 2026 \- Present · 4 mos, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

SDET 1 at apna, Jun 2025 \- May 2026 · 1 yr, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, 1\. Test Automation & Coverage: Contributed to and expanded Playwright \+ Pytest automation suite for UI and API testing, increasing test coverage and reducing manual testing cycles by 50%\. 2\. AI\-Powered Quality Assurance: Owned end\-to\-end testing of AI Voice Agent; verified performance across different LLM models; engineered system prompts and response schema for desired LLM output; designed RAG\-based evaluation framework with LLM\-as\-judge for non\-deterministic responses enabling production\-grade AI feature validation\. 3\. Cross\-Functional Collaboration & Risk Mitigation: Partnered across Product, Design, and Development teams from PRD grooming through deployment; highlighted technical risks and edge cases early accelerating feature alignment and reducing mid\-stage pivots\. 4\. End\-to\-End Feature Ownership: Took complete ownership of features across development and testing from design and implementation \(HLD/LLD\), test execution; identified and implemented optimizations, resolved critical bugs, and ensured reliable rollouts with zero critical production issues\. 5\. Backend Development & System Integration: Developed backend features across Django, Go \(Gin\), and Java \(Spring Boot\) frameworks; owned end\-to\-end solutioning \(problem analysis, HLD/LLD design, implementation, and verification\); integrated 40\+ communication channels \(WhatsApp, SMS, Email\) into existing features, increasing customer engagement and feature adoption; Worked on Temporal\-based workflow orchestration, resolving critical stability issues: reduced workflow failures by 40%, optimized call dropout rates, eliminated candidate flow bottlenecks; integrated Temporal with Datadog for production observability\. 6\. Observability, Debugging & Production Monitoring: Configured Datadog alerts, GCP Cloud Scheduler, and anomaly detection for owned features; debugged production issues using GCP Log Explorer and trace analysis; reduced mean\-time\-to\-resolution by 35%; served as on\-call engineer for owned features\.

Software Engineer Intern at Securonix, Jul 2024 \- May 2025 · 11 mos, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, 1\. Test Automation & Coverage: Designed and executed 200\+ Cypress automation test cases using Page Object Model, achieving 90% end\-to\-end UI test coverage and reducing manual testing effort by 40% for critical workflows\. 2\. Manual Testing & Quality Assurance: Managed 300\+ functional, regression, and integration test cases in TestRail; authored comprehensive test documentation \(test plans, cases, bug reports\) following ISTQB best practices, ensuring robust validation of features pre\-release\. 3\. Infrastructure Management & DevOps: Administered RHEL servers across 5 AWS test environments; performed build deployments from dev to production\-like servers, including version\-specific application upgrades/downgrades \(Tomcat, Redis\), build compatibility verification, and hotfix validation\. Optimized infrastructure costs by monitoring and scheduling service start/stop cycles, reducing cloud spend by \~15% through resource utilization improvements\. 4\. Cross\-functional Collaboration & Customer Interaction: Partnered with developers and product managers to resolve critical vulnerabilities; conducted customer verification calls to validate reported issues and confirm fixes reducing bug resolution time by 25%\.

## Education

Integrated M\.Tech in Software Engineering, Computer Software Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology

[View the original profile](https://tal.club/meet/nikhil-sai-patnam)

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