Headline

Senior Quality Engineering Leader | 16+ Years Enterprise QE | AI Quality Engineering, Testing and Automation | Reduced Defect Leakage by 35% | Quality Strategy

About

I am a hands-on Quality Engineering Leader with 16 years of experience driving quality for large-scale enterprise platforms, specializing in next-generation AI-driven QE solutions. I have spent nearly 7 years leading QA strategy across multiple concurrent 5G programs at a global telecom leader, achieving zero critical production escapes and accelerating flagship product launches by 20-30%. My expertise lies in building and leading high-performing QA teams (10 engineers), defining comprehensive end-to-end test strategies, and transforming testing processes into repeatable, efficient systems. I leverage advanced automation, including AI-assisted testing, to significantly reduce risk and accelerate release cycles. My background encompasses: - Mobile QA (Android/iOS via Appium) - API testing (Postman, REST Assured) - CI/CD enablement (Jenkins, GitLab) - Risk-based and Shift-Left Testing methodologies I partner closely with Product, Engineering, and DevOps to ensure quality and delivery speed are harmonized. My key achievements include: - Accelerated flagship 5G product launches by 20-30% - Cut regression testing cycle time by ~25% - Took a CI/CD proof-of-concept to full production adoption, reducing manual release intervention by 40%+ - Grew mobile test automation coverage by 50%+ through early adoption of open-source Appium frameworks - Reduced production defect leakage by ~35% through stronger test strategy and triage discipline - Re-architected legacy automation frameworks, cutting script maintenance effort by 30% - Won a Product Enhancement Innovation Award for a custom mobile testing framework I recently completed focused upskilling in Python and Agentic AI architectures, including self-healing test automation and LLM-driven log parsing, to integrate intelligent automation into quality engineering practices. I hold an ISTQB Foundation Level certification and a Post Graduate Program in Artificial Intelligence for Leaders. I am actively seeking Quality Engineering leadership roles in telecom, enterprise SaaS, or fintech environments. For direct inquiries, please reach me at santosh.kn@rediffmail.com or santoshsld@gmail.com.

Location

Bengaluru

AI stack

claude

codex

gemini

langchain

ChatGPT

CrewAI

Work experience

Professional development at Career Break, Jan 2026 - Present · 10 mos, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, AI Quality Engineering | Professional Upskilling | 2026 -Upskilled in AI Quality Engineering and AI Testing, developing testing strategies for Generative AI, RAG, and Agentic AI systems across accuracy, robustness, safety, reliability, and business outcomes. - Developed practical knowledge of Red Team / Blue Team and adversarial testing to identify and mitigate prompt injection, jailbreaks, hallucinations, data leakage, bias, and agent/tool risks. - Built expertise in AI evaluation, Golden Test Suites, regression testing, and risk-based certification, applying quality gates and acceptance criteria to support reliable AI releases. Currently focusing on advanced upskilling in Generative AI and Python for Quality Engineering, including self-healing test automation and LLM-driven log parsing, to prepare for leadership roles in AI-driven QE. Completed focused programs in AI Fluency, Generative AI Tools, and a Post Graduate Program in Artificial Intelligence for Leaders.

Sr Engr Cslt-App at Verizon, Apr 2019 - Dec 2025 · 6 yrs 9 mos, Bengaluru, - Owned end-to-end QA strategy across multiple concurrent enterprise telecom programs delivered **zero critical production escapes** through strict release validation and governance - Drove CI/CD enablement (Jenkins) and automation initiatives that **accelerated 5G product launches by 20-30%** and **cut regression cycle time by ~25%** - Led and mentored a **QA team of 10-15 engineers and test leads**, defining and publishing quality metrics that gave stakeholders full sprint-level visibility - Partnered with Product Engineering and DevOps teams to align quality with business goals. - Received multiple Spotlight Awards for flawless delivery and accelerated 5G initiatives.

Consultant System Dev at Verizon, Nov 2018 - Mar 2019 · 5 mos, Hyderabad, Telangana, India, - Delivered automation and QA best-practice training to engineering teams while building CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins + Git) took the pipeline from proof-of-concept to full production adoption**, cutting manual intervention by 40%+

IT Specialist at Verizon, Apr 2015 - Oct 2018 · 3 yrs 7 mos, Hyderabad, Telangana, India, - Led mobile automation initiatives using open-source Appium frameworks for Android/iOS grew mobile test automation coverage by 50%+** - Executed functional, integration, and regression testing across distributed systems while mentoring junior QA engineers on automated test generation

Senior Software Engineer at Tech Mahindra, Dec 2011 - Feb 2014 · 2 yrs 3 mos, Pune Area, India, - Directed manual and automated functional, integration, and regression testing suites for enterprise client applications → managed defect triage and authored test closure reports for major release cycles

Technical Associate at Tech Mahindra, Oct 2009 - Dec 2011 · 2 yrs 3 mos, - Created, debugged, and executed automated and manual test scripts across the full SDLC — system, regression, positive, and negative testing

Education

Bachelor of Engineering - BE, Mechanical Engineering, Basaveshwar Engineering College (A), Bagalkote

Bachelor of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Visvesvaraya Technological University