qa-engineer.sh

$ |

Available for hire

Hi, I'm Sargis Mkrtchyan
I break software
so users don't have to.

QA Engineer and test automation specialist with 7 years in software testing and quality assurance. Available for full-time, freelance, and consulting. I turn ambiguity into structured test strategies and bugs into learning opportunities.

7+ Years in QA
Bugs Found
15+ Projects Tested
6 Startups QA'd
3 QAs Mentored Into Hires
0 "Works on My Machine"

Testing Philosophy

QA is the last line of defence before something ships. That's not a disclaimer β€” it's the whole job. I take ownership of the product, not just the test cases.


To test something well, you have to understand it fully β€” the business logic, the edge cases, the parts nobody documented. I spend time learning the product the way a user would, then break it the way an attacker would.


I try to be the kind of QA engineer the dev team actually wants around β€” someone who asks the right questions early, writes bug reports that are easy to act on, and helps ship things instead of just blocking them.

Core Principles

  • Shift Left Testing

    Catch issues in design and requirements before a single line of code is written.

  • Risk-Based Prioritization

    Focus testing effort where failure costs the most β€” not just what's easiest to test.

  • Automation as a Tool, Not a Goal

    Automate what provides value. Exploratory testing reveals what scripts cannot.

  • Clear Communication

    A bug report is only as good as its reproducibility steps and impact description.

Tools & Technologies

A hands-on skill set built across functional, automation, API, and performance testing. As a QA engineer and software tester, I work with industry-standard tools for test automation, manual testing, and quality assurance.

Test Automation Tools

Playwright Selenium Appium Cypress Cucumber REST Assured Newman

AI & LLM Engineering

Claude Code AI Agent Development LLM Evaluation OpenAI API Prompt Engineering

Programming Languages for QA

TypeScript Python Java Ruby C# JavaScript Shell

Tools & Platforms

GitHub Actions Docker Jenkins Postman Jira Linear TestRail Qase.io

QA Testing Methodologies

Agile / Scrum BDD / Gherkin Risk-Based Testing Exploratory Testing Regression Testing Smoke / Sanity TDD API Contract Testing

Work Experience

Quality engineering across consumer apps, enterprise SaaS, and cloud infrastructure.

Picsart

QA Engineer / SDET

Consumer / Mobile πŸ‡¦πŸ‡² 2019 – 2021
  • Designed and developed automated test solutions for Picsart's core photo and video editing flows across iOS, Android, and Web β€” one of the world's top creative apps with 150M+ users.
  • Built and maintained mobile automation using Appium with Java; monitored test suites to identify and resolve framework, product, and analytics/data issues.
  • Automated API testing with Newman, integrating runs into regression cycles and pushing results automatically into TestRail.
  • Converted from a six-month internship to a full-time role after three months, ahead of schedule, based on early performance.
Appium Java Newman TestRail JIRA

VMware

Software Engineer in Test

Enterprise / Cloud πŸ‡¦πŸ‡² 2021 – 2022
  • Implemented automated tests verifying that, in Clustered Availability configurations of vRealize Operations Manager (vROps), resources from a disabled VM redistributed seamlessly across the remaining VMs without overloading them.
  • Monitored and maintained CI pipelines, keeping tests current and error-free while increasing overall test coverage.
  • Created an automation framework using shell scripting.
  • Collaborated with R&D and Engineering Services teams, including offshore teams, on test design specifications and code reviews.
Shell Scripting vROps CI/CD Jenkins

ServiceTitan

Software Engineer in Test

B2B SaaS πŸ‡¦πŸ‡² 2022 – 2023
  • Developed and maintained the UI automation framework using Cypress and C# with Selenium.
  • Tested Schedule Engine, a scheduling optimization tool built on complex algorithms, developing deep knowledge of the system to verify its functionality and performance held to high standards.
  • Conducted database testing to verify data integrity and accuracy.
  • Role concluded on relocation to Canada.
Cypress C# Selenium SQL

Redcar.ai

Lead, Quality Assurance

AI Startup πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ 2023 – 2025
  • Built the testing function from the ground up at this seed-stage AI sales agent startup backed by Khosla Ventures and humbition: 1,500+ test cases with 1,000+ automated, making daily releases possible.
  • Developed and executed automated web test suites in Ruby with Selenium and Cucumber.
  • Designed and ran a bi-weekly LLM evaluation process, benchmarking the platform's output against leading commercial models on correctness and latency, and reported results to founders to guide product decisions.
  • Worked directly with founders on product improvement, demo calls, customer support, and product design.
  • Conducted interviews for open engineering roles and managed short-term contractors.
Ruby Selenium Cucumber LLM Evaluation

Portal.io

Head of QA

B2B SaaS πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦ 2025 – Present
  • Sole QA owner for the entire product β€” a proposal and quoting platform for custom AV and security integrators serving thousands of dealer businesses across the US and Canada. Built test coverage from scratch to 700+ cases covering the full product surface.
  • Built and continue to grow a Playwright + TypeScript automation framework; 50% of the regression suite is now automated, cutting the regression cycle from two days to one.
  • Own the CI pipeline end to end β€” GitHub Actions workflows running containerized test suites via Docker on every pull request and release.
  • Build internal tooling and AI agents with Claude Code to automate repetitive QA work, including test data setup, bug triage, and test maintenance.
  • Partner with support to investigate and reproduce production issues reported by dealers, and with product on new feature planning.
  • Portal.io merged with D-Tools in August 2026.
Playwright TypeScript GitHub Actions Docker Claude Code

Bootstrapped QA at

Want the full picture?

Download my resume for complete dates, roles, and a detailed breakdown of each position.

Download Resume (PDF)

Featured Projects

A snapshot of the work documented in this portfolio.

Get In Touch

Open to full-time roles, freelance projects, and consulting engagements.