Software QA Engineer
Ben Armour
Mason, OH
Open to on-site, hybrid & remote
Willing to relocate (US or abroad)
Background
Hi, I'm Ben, a Software QA Engineer with 3.5 years of experience in test automation, risk-based test planning, and full defect lifecycle ownership. I help teams ship with confidence by aligning test strategy with release schedules and reducing production risk.
STRATACACHE
Performed risk-based test planning for digital menu board launches across McDonald's, Taco Bell, KFC, Burger King, and other national QSR brands on a platform powering 4 million deployed signs globally. Designed the Cypress automation architecture from scratch, including test structure, shared utilities, and CI-friendly execution, replacing manual regression cycles with automated, repeatable runs. Built and maintained custom test lab infrastructure with 1:1 staging-to-production hardware and software parity. Performed log-based defect investigation and owned the full defect lifecycle from triage through verified resolution, using Tableau dashboards to assess impact and prioritize issues based on real client deployment data.
University of Cincinnati IT Solutions Center
Developed Cypress test suites for criminal justice platforms (OSDP, OCP, Risk Assessment, Recertify) serving numerous states across the country. Validated enterprise and university systems for clients including Macy's and Brooksource, plus internal platforms like IT Expo and TeamEval, testing across React/Node.js/PostgreSQL stacks. Created test plans, structured test data, and QA workflows that enabled consistent defect reproduction and team scalability while partnering with developers and stakeholders to align test coverage and support release readiness across multiple concurrent projects.
My focus is consistent, actionable quality work: test plans tied to risk, defect reports developers can act on quickly, and automation that stays reliable as products evolve.
Skills & Tools
Test Automation
Designed test automation architecture and built Cypress E2E suites with reusable commands and custom utilities across multi-app platforms. Integrated Jest for unit coverage and Playwright for cross-browser validation.
Manual Testing & QA Process
Test planning and execution from exploratory testing through regression and smoke cycles. Cross-browser and cross-device validation including a custom 1:1 production-parity test lab. Owned the full defect lifecycle from triage to verified fix.
API Testing
Validated REST API endpoints with Postman across full request/response cycles. Verified integrations between frontend, backend, and third-party services.
Languages
Primary languages for test automation, application code, and database queries. TypeScript and JavaScript for test suites and app code, Python for scripting, SQL for data validation.
Frameworks & Data
Tested against React frontends and Node.js/Express backends with PostgreSQL and MongoDB data layers. Wrote queries to validate data integrity across service boundaries.
CI & Infrastructure
Configured GitHub Actions pipelines for automated test runs on PRs. Managed test environments with Docker containers and Linux-based staging setups.
Tools & Reporting
Tracked defects and test cases through Jira and QMetry, documented processes in Confluence, and built Tableau dashboards for test reporting and coverage metrics.
Agile & Collaboration
Active in Scrum ceremonies - sprint planning, standups, retrospectives, and story grooming. Reviewed test automation code and worked with developers, PMs, and stakeholders on architecture decisions and branching workflows.
AI-Assisted Development
Coordinating multiple AI models in parallel to accelerate development and QA workflows. Using Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, and Kimi concurrently through custom skills, MCP servers, and hook automation - with multi-agent code review pipelines that compare findings across models. Designing agentic workflows that break tasks into independent work streams with human review at every checkpoint.
Education
Spring 2024
University of Cincinnati
BS in Information Technology
Double Major: Software Development & Game Design and Simulation
Completed in 4 years while working full-time; graduated one year early