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bhavani jakkula

@bhavanijakkula

Message

Senior SDET building Playwright/Python automation to cut regressions and MTTR.

United States

Message

What I'm looking for

I’m looking for a Senior SDET role where I can drive shift-left quality with Playwright/Python automation, CI/CD quality gates, and hardware-aware testing—using observability and AI-assisted test generation to cut MTTR and regression cycles.

I’m a Senior SDET with 10+ years developing and executing test plans, test cases, and Python-based automated tests for real-time, hardware-dependent systems. I’ve shipped quality for EV, IoT, healthcare, travel, and telecom by combining functional, integration, system, and regression testing across simulation environments and physical hardware.

At SharkNinja, I built an end-to-end IoT test automation framework using Playwright + Python + MQTT and designed hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) validation for real-time embedded control systems. I embedded shift-left practices with Pact contract testing and JSON schema validation, and I added observability with Datadog APM to track device command latency and API SLA adherence. I also evaluated AI-assisted approaches like Playwright MCP for intelligent test generation and self-healing locator patterns.

Previously, I led a Playwright + Python migration at Southwest Airlines that cut regression cycles 40% and reduced suite runtime 50% using parallel cross-browser execution. At Tesla, I owned full-stack automation for critical EV systems, accelerating parallel test execution with pytest-xdist + Selenium Grid, preventing production issues with Pact contract testing, and improving auth coverage with OAuth 2.0/JWT validation. My work consistently targets faster feedback loops, fewer escapes, and measurable reductions in CI/CD duration and MTTR.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

QA Automation Engineer / SDET

Current

SharkNinja

Jul 2025 - Present (1 year)

Built an end-to-end IoT test automation framework using Playwright and Python for SharkNinja smart home devices, including hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) validation. Embedded Pact contract testing and JSON schema validation into the device telemetry pipeline and added observability via Datadog APM.

Playwright Python MQTT Hardware In The Loop (HIL)Pact Contract Testing Datadog Jira AWS IoT Core AWS EC2 Amazon S3 AWS Telemetry Validation Firmware Validation Device Cloud App Integration Observability

Senior SDET

Southwest Airlines

Jul 2024 - Jun 2025 (11 months)

Led a Playwright + Python migration from Selenium to cut regression cycle time and improve release stability for the iOS application. Improved CI/CD performance via parallel cross-browser execution, test sharding, and failure diagnostics using Playwright Trace Viewer.

Playwright Python Selenium iOS Cross Browser Testing GitHub Actions CI CD Test Sharding Parallel Testing Playwright Trace Viewer Screenshot Capture REST API Testing Python Requests Pytest Playwright MCP AWS EC2 Amazon S3

Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET)

Tesla

Dec 2021 - May 2024 (2 years 5 months)

Owned full-stack automation for EV systems, validating 500+ endpoints across dev, staging, and production using simulation and physical vehicle environments. Implemented Pact contract testing, load testing, environment drift detection, and comprehensive auth and database testing frameworks.

Python Selenium Grid REST API Testing Pact Contract Testing Microservices Testing OAuth 2.0 Locust Load Testing SQLAlchemy Prometheus Grafana AWS S3 AWS EC2

Senior QA Automation Engineer

TennCare (State of Tennessee)

Dec 2020 - Dec 2021 (1 year)

Validated data migration for 2M+ Medicaid patient records during MMIS to Azure transition using ETL verification and automated release gates. Automated regulatory compliance coverage and implemented scalability testing and EDI transaction validation.

SQLAlchemy Azure DevOps CI CD Automated Deployment Gates OAuth SAML HIPAA compliance JMeter EDI 837

Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET)

Cigna Health Springs

Nov 2019 - Dec 2020 (1 year 1 month)

Built a Selenium/Java automation framework for insurance claims workflows to reduce manual regression and shift defect detection earlier. Automated validation for REST/SOAP services and maintained end-to-end test traceability in HP ALM with QTP/UFT scripts.

Selenium Java Postman SoapUI ALM QTP UFT UFT

Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET)

T-Mobile

Sep 2018 - Oct 2019 (1 year 1 month)

Automated end-to-end iOS/Android retail tablet flows for Rebellion POS to reduce regression cycle time. Implemented data migration using SSIS and delivered UI/API automation using Selenium/Java executed via Jenkins and Sauce Labs.

Appium iOS Android SSIS Selenium Java Jenkins Sauce Labs

QA Automation Engineer

Microsoft

Aug 2017 - Sep 2018 (1 year 1 month)

Contributed to zero P0 escapes by executing cross-platform coverage for Office Suite components across multiple OS/device configurations. Reduced Angular regression time by developing a CucumberJS + Protractor BDD automation suite and driving BDD adoption.

Cross platform testing Angular Protractor BDD IOS Testing

Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET)

Travelport

Jun 2016 - Jun 2017 (1 year)

Introduced automated accessibility (ADA) testing for voice-control and hearing-disability alert features. Built Java/JUnit microservices API automation using RestAssured, Postman, and JMeter baselines, with test infrastructure deployed to Azure.