Hi, I'm Santosh Karad
Senior QA|
A passionate Quality Engineer specializing in building robust automation frameworks, enhancing test coverage, and ensuring product quality.
About Me
Professional Summary
Seasoned Quality Engineer with over 9 years of experience in automation testing of Web UI, API, Mobile, Database, and Performance across domains like Airline, Intralogistics, Mortgage, and Healthcare. Strong expertise in Java and Playwright/Selenium-based automation frameworks, CI/CD integration, API testing, SQL validation, and performance benchmarking.
Adept at building in-house frameworks, leading QA strategy, and implementing AI-based self-healing tests. Known for improving quality metrics, reducing test cycle time, and mentoring QA teams in Agile environments.
Key Project Highlights
- Developed robust Java-based automation frameworks using Playwright and Selenium, improving regression execution speed by 70%.
- Introduced AI-powered self-healing scripts, reducing test flakiness and maintenance by over 40%.
- Delivered 95%+ UI and API test coverage through Rest-Assured, Postman, Playwright, and Cucumber.
- Streamlined CI/CD pipelines in Azure DevOps and Jenkins for nightly build execution and reporting.
- Performed load testing simulating 5000+ users with JMeter, optimizing critical API response time by 40%.
- Built reusable components for SQL validation, integrated into backend test workflows.
Core Skills
My technical expertise spans across various testing tools, programming languages, and methodologies.
Automation Tools
Languages
Frameworks
DevOps & CI/CD
Databases
Testing Types
Professional Experience
My career journey across different organizations and domains.
Senior Test Engineer
Han IT Inc
- •Designed and maintained Playwright (Java) test automation framework for cross-browser, end-to-end validation.
- •Integrated automated tests into Azure DevOps CI/CD pipeline, triggering test suites post-deployment.
- •Led performance testing initiatives using JMeter, identifying key performance bottlenecks and recommending improvements.
- •Built API testing framework with Rest-Assured and Postman to validate RESTful services, auth tokens, and error handling.
- •Implemented SQL-based data validation for transactional workflows.
- •Mentored junior QAs and organized code review sessions to uphold quality standards.
- •Championed shift-left testing and built reusable automation libraries.
Senior Test Analyst
GenZ Software Solutions Pvt Ltd
- •Built Java + Selenium automation suite integrated with TestNG and Azure DevOps pipelines.
- •Created dynamic ExtentReports dashboards for stakeholder visibility.
- •Automated end-to-end regression test cases covering UI, API, and database layers.
- •Authored BDD test scenarios using Cucumber and collaborated with product owners on feature grooming.
- •Configured CI triggers to run regression and smoke tests on each build commit.
- •Optimized SQL scripts for validating financial data in backend tables.
Software Test Engineer
SitusAMC India Pvt Ltd
- •Built Selenium (Java) + TestNG framework for complex financial modules and integrated with Jenkins.
- •Developed and maintained SQL queries for backend validations of mortgage and loan data.
- •Automated REST API workflows using Rest-Assured with request chaining and auth validation.
- •Streamlined CI jobs for test triggers on multiple environments with detailed email reporting.
- •Contributed to business requirement reviews and test case writing in BDD style.
Software Test Engineer
Suma Soft Pvt Ltd
- •Built Pytest-based automation framework using Python and Selenium for scalable modular tests.
- •Automated mobile app testing using Appium on Android devices.
- •Wrote and executed complex SQL validations to ensure consistency of banking transactions.
- •Designed hybrid framework utilities for reusable keywords, waits, logging, and configuration.
- •Conducted manual and automation testing of trading workflows and UAT support.
- •Collaborated with BAs and dev teams in sprint ceremonies, story estimation, and defect triage.
Education
Bachelor of Engineering – Electronics
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad, Maharashtra
Tools & Utilities
Custom tools and utilities I've developed to enhance testing workflows.
ShadowPilot
Chrome extension for inspecting and interacting with shadow DOM elements in automated testing.
- •Shadow DOM traversal and element selection
- •Automated interaction with shadow DOM components
- •Element highlighting and inspection
- •Integration with Selenium and Playwright test scripts
SiteSense
Chrome extension for WCAG and accessibility testing, capturing visual regression and element-level insights.
- •Automated accessibility compliance checks
- •Visual regression detection across browsers
- •Element-level insights for UI components
- •Comprehensive reporting with remediation suggestions
Latest Articles
Insights and thoughts on test automation, quality engineering, and software testing best practices.
Building Self-Healing Automation Frameworks with AI
Learn how to implement AI-powered self-healing mechanisms in your test automation framework to reduce flakiness and maintenance.
Playwright vs Selenium: A Comprehensive Comparison
A detailed analysis of Playwright and Selenium, comparing performance, features, and use cases to help you choose the right tool.
API Testing Best Practices for Modern Microservices
Discover the essential best practices for testing APIs in a microservices architecture, including contract testing and security validation.
Get In Touch
Have a question or want to work together? Feel free to reach out!