Hi, I'm

Navendu Shukla

Automation QA Leader

9+ years architecting and scaling test automation frameworks across product engineering, media, and e-learning organizations.

Gurgaon, Haryana, India

About

Automation QA Leader with 9+ years architecting and scaling test automation frameworks across product engineering, media, and e-learning organizations. Track record of building CI/CD-integrated Playwright and Selenium frameworks that cut pipeline execution time by 70%, achieving 85%+ automated coverage across concurrent projects, and leading QA teams of up to 8 engineers to 100% on-time release delivery.

Skilled in translating quality strategy into measurable business outcomes and increasingly applying AI/agentic tooling (Amazon Bedrock, Claude Code, Playwright MCP) to accelerate test authoring and defect prevention.

Upcoming

Coming Soon

Blog / Articles

Long-form writing on QA automation strategy, AI-assisted testing, and lessons from leading automation teams.

Coming Soon

Project Case Studies

Deep dives into the frameworks and systems behind the numbers in the Highlights section — architecture decisions, tradeoffs, and results.

Blog

Highlights

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Faster CI/CD Pipelines

Cut pipeline execution time by 70% through parallel test execution and GitLab CI/CD optimization, directly speeding up release cadence.

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Automated Test Coverage

Architected a Playwright + TypeScript framework with reusable utilities, enabling 85%+ automated coverage across 4 concurrent client projects.

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Critical Defects Prevented

Sole automation owner for the company's highest-revenue product, preventing 100+ critical defects from reaching production.

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Engineers Led

Led an 8-engineer AQA team to 100% on-time delivery across all automation projects, owning hiring, mentorship, and process strategy.

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Engineers Hired & Onboarded

Reduced average ramp-up time by 40% through a structured onboarding framework for new AQA hires.

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Projects Standardized

Scaled sprint-synchronized automation coverage across 15+ projects org-wide, standardizing QA process maturity company-wide.

Experience

Dec 2024 — Present

Automation QA Lead · Incedo Inc, Gurugram

  • Architected a Playwright + TypeScript automation framework with reusable utilities, cutting new test-case authoring time by 30% and enabling 85%+ automated coverage across 4 concurrent client projects.
  • Own UI, API, and DB test automation delivery end-to-end, reducing regression cycle time and surfacing defects earlier in the release pipeline.
  • Mentor 6 junior automation engineers on framework design and best practices, improving their individual delivery speed by 30%.
  • Translate 50+ user stories per quarter into automation acceptance criteria in Zephyr, aligning QA scope with sprint commitments.
  • Deliver sprint estimates across 4 simultaneous client engagements with 90%+ on-time accuracy, supporting predictable release planning.
Nov 2020 — Sep 2024

Manager, Automation QA · Trusted Media Brands

  • Led an 8-engineer AQA team to 100% on-time delivery across all automation projects, while owning hiring, mentorship, and process strategy.
  • Cut CI/CD pipeline execution time by 70% through parallel test execution and GitLab CI/CD optimization, directly speeding up release cadence.
  • Hired and onboarded 12 AQA engineers, reducing average ramp-up time by 40% through a structured onboarding framework.
  • Scaled sprint-synchronized automation coverage across 15+ projects org-wide, standardizing QA process maturity company-wide.
  • Served as sole automation owner for the company's highest-revenue product, preventing 100+ critical defects from reaching production through automated regression coverage.
Jun 2017 — Nov 2020

Senior Software Engineer, Test Automation · Qualitest, Noida

  • Increased automated test coverage by 40% on the Mindtap platform (Cengage Learning) within two sprints, accelerating release confidence.
  • Directed API test automation strategy, cutting manual regression testing time by 50% across the account.
  • Built UI, API, and DB test coverage spanning Mindtap, Kaplan University, and ZappRx platforms for three concurrent enterprise clients.
  • Maintained zero missed release deadlines across 3 concurrent client accounts through structured QA planning and cross-team coordination.

Skills

Leadership
Team Management (15+ engineers)Hiring & OnboardingMentorshipQA StrategyStakeholder ManagementSprint Planning
Automation
PlaywrightSelenium WebDriverRest-AssuredCodeceptionGalenGebSpock
Languages
JavaTypeScriptJavaScriptPythonGroovyPHP
Frameworks & Tools
CucumberTestNGMavenAllure ReportsPostmanLambdaTestBrowserStackSplunkRedisTestRail
CI/CD & Cloud
JenkinsGitLab CIAzure DevOpsDockerAWS (S3, Lambda, CloudWatch, Step Functions)GCP
AI & Agentic Tooling
Amazon BedrockBedrock GuardrailsResponsible AIAgentic Test AutomationModel Context Protocol (MCP)Playwright MCPClaude CodePrompt EngineeringRetrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
Testing Disciplines
UI, API & DB AutomationAccessibility TestingCross-Browser TestingShift-Left TestingRegression & Release Quality
Project & Bug Tracking
JiraTestRailZephyrConfluence

Education

April 2017

B.Tech, Computer Science

Inderprastha Engineering College, Ghaziabad, India

Resume

Navendu Shukla — Automation QA Leader

Full resume as a PDF, including complete work history and skills.

Download Resume

Contact

I'm always open to interesting projects and conversations. The best way to reach me is by email or phone.