Open to opportunities

Rowan Kendal

QA & Automations Team Lead · AI Automation Builder

AI is a force multiplier, but you still need an engineer who knows what to multiply. I close the gap between intent, requirements, expectations, and reality before it costs stakeholders anything. I build AI automations that connect systems, shorten processes, and hand teams back their time.

With five years of experience in the automation space, I focus on building the infrastructure that allows engineering teams to ship code rapidly and with total confidence. My background aligns perfectly with modern engineering cultures: I have successfully led migrations from legacy Selenium setups to fast, modern Playwright frameworks, built custom MCP tooling to integrate AI capabilities directly into our SDLC and TMS, and engineered real-time monitoring dashboards to track pipeline health. Beyond QA, I build automations for every department: an AI support agent that closes conversations on its own, HR reporting driven by calendar events, and sales data flows, built with n8n, Make, Zapier and the tools teams already work in. I thrive on mentoring teams, automating complex business logic, and treating quality as a high-velocity engineering discipline.

Download ResumeGet in touch
500+
Test cases crafted
370+
Merge Requests Reviewed
550+
Automated test cases built
400+
Bugs investigated and reported
Days → Hours
Release sign-off improved
100+
Manual hours saved per week
350+
Tasks Created
300K+
Code Lines Added
36
QA Automation Engineers Mentored
AI

Quality Engineering, AI-Augmented

Four angles on the same discipline: how I work, how I use AI to test faster, how I test systems where the AI is the thing under test, and how I build AI automations for the whole organization.

I've run AI-assisted testing in production. I know where it delivers and where it breaks down. I build quality systems architected to work with AI: predictable outputs, structured contracts, and guardrails that keep AI-assisted workflows reliable at scale.

AI-Ready Test Architecture

Designed test frameworks with structured outputs and deterministic assertions that AI agents can generate, run, and interpret without manual intervention.

Agent Guardrails & Consistency

Built guardrails that enforce reliability and repeatability for AI-generated test actions, preventing hallucinations from reaching production.

AI-Augmented Workflow

Daily use of Cursor, Claude Code, and LLM tooling to accelerate test authoring, root-cause analysis, and coverage gap detection.

RAG & Local Model Integration

Hands-on experience with LangChain, Chroma (vector store), and Ollama for building context-aware tooling in quality workflows.

Mindset

Positive vs. Negative Testing

Drag the divider. Same discipline, two directions: proving the happy path works, and proving nothing else does.

Positive Testing

E2E business flows. Happy paths. Prove the system does what it promises.

  • Map the critical business flows first: checkout, auth, fund transfers, the paths that make or lose money.
  • AI-assisted generation of the full happy-path sequence straight from user stories, in one script.
  • Parametrized data sets validate every valid input variation without duplicating scripts.
  • Assertions on business outcomes: balance updated, email sent, record persisted, not just UI state.
Negative Testing

Security and edge cases. Adversarial by default. Prove the system fails safely.

  • Adversarial mindset by default: what breaks this, what bypasses this, what wasn't supposed to be possible.
  • AI-generated boundary values and edge cases at a scale manual testing can't match.
  • Security-focused: injection attempts, auth bypass, permission boundaries, malformed payloads.
  • Guardrail probing for AI-integrated features: adversarial prompts, hallucination triggers, unexpected inputs.
Career

Experience

Five years across Web3, SaaS, and e-commerce, building automation infrastructure and leading QA teams.

Web3 / blockchain startup

QA & Automations Team Lead

May 2024 – June 2026

  • ▸Owned the full test strategy: built automation infrastructure from zero using Selenium/Python and GitLab CI/CD

Automation & Infrastructure

  • ▸Led Selenium-to-Playwright migration, replacing Chrome extension wallet import flows (minutes of overhead per test) with pre-injected wallets in Playwright and cutting per-test setup to seconds across the automated suite
  • ▸300+ new automated test cases shipped, saving 100+ manual testing hours per week
  • ▸Architected a parameterised CI pipeline serving multiple products simultaneously with parallel execution across environments
  • ▸Owned load and performance testing with JMeter and Locust, driving performance baselines across core services
  • ▸Delivered mobile automation (Appium) and integrated accessibility compliance checks into the release pipeline

Test Strategy & Production Quality

  • ▸Designed test strategies covering high-risk integrations, edge cases, and production behavior across distributed blockchain services
  • ▸Cut release sign-off time from days to hours
  • ▸Designed blockchain and Web3 test suites covering wallet flows, smart contract interactions, and on-chain state verification
  • ▸Wired production monitoring to real-time Slack alerting for immediate incident detection and escalation

AI & Agentic Workflows

  • ▸Introduced AI-ready test architecture and implemented guardrails to ensure consistent, auditable AI-assisted workflows
  • ▸Integrated MCP for AI agent orchestration and automated test case management
  • ▸Developed testing strategies for AI-assisted tooling, including output validation and edge-case coverage for LLM-integrated features.
  • ▸Built guardrails and execution standards for agentic test pipelines
  • ▸Hands-on experience transforming a traditional SDLC into an agentic one: integrating AI agents across test case generation, automation scripting, triage, and observability to create a pipeline that largely runs itself
  • ▸Built an AI-powered customer support automation that closes conversations without human intervention, freeing the team to focus on higher-priority work

Leadership & Cross-Team Impact

  • ▸Mentored 5 QA engineers, from test fundamentals to advanced automation design
  • ▸Served as the bridge between QA, development, product, marketing, and management: shared test progress, surfaced issues early, and delivered automation services that reduced manual hours across teams
  • ▸Collaborated with HR to update company protocol and automated OOO and sick day reporting based on employee calendar events
  • ▸Collaborated with Sales to automate user data migration and follow-up flows
  • ▸Implemented developer code contribution monitoring for management oversight on a dynamic dashboard
  • ▸Automated daily bug status reports per team
PythonSeleniumPlaywrightGitLab CI/CDWeb3BlockchainAppiumJMeterLocustMCPAI guardrails

Feature management SaaS · acquired by Zendesk

QA Automation Engineer

Jun 2023 – Feb 2024

  • ▸Inherited a 500+ test suite in full failure. Diagnosed root causes and revived all tests to a consistent pass rate.
  • ▸Wrote 100+ integration and E2E tests from scratch using Cypress and TypeScript
  • ▸Migrated test reporting and case management to Qase.io, wiring the full pipeline through Azure Pipelines
  • ▸Left the test suite in a significantly healthier state with clear ownership and documented conventions
  • ▸Validated feature flag rollouts and A/B experiments across the full release lifecycle, working directly on the platform that powers these workflows for enterprise teams.
  • ▸Extended test coverage to embedded environments, validating app behavior under constrained runtime and hardware conditions beyond the standard web and API suites
  • ▸Operated as part of the core dev team rather than a separate QA function, pairing with engineers on tricky test scenarios and reviewing pull requests
  • ▸As the only QA automation engineer, owned test strategy end to end, from prioritizing coverage to deciding release readiness
  • ▸Worked directly with Product and Customer Support to turn reported issues into regression tests, closing the loop between the field and the pipeline
  • ▸Reported test coverage and release risk straight to engineering leadership, with no QA management layer in between
CypressTypeScriptAzure PipelinesQase.io

E-commerce automation platform · acquired by PayPal

QA Automation Engineer

Jan 2022 – May 2023

  • ▸Built Cypress/TypeScript automation infrastructure from zero: first automated test suite at the company
  • ▸First and only QA automation engineer at the company, building test strategy, tooling, and conventions from scratch with no existing playbook to inherit
  • ▸Grew coverage to 150+ automated tests across critical e-commerce and integration flows
  • ▸Set up GitHub Actions CI to run tests automatically on every pull request
  • ▸2,500+ GitHub contributions over 16 months: active participant in engineering, not just QA
  • ▸Worked as part of the core development team, joining planning and code reviews rather than sitting in a separate QA silo
  • ▸Made every call on test coverage and release readiness alone, from what to automate first to when a build was safe to ship
  • ▸Worked closely with Product and Customer Success to prioritize testing around the flows that mattered most to merchants and brands
  • ▸As the sole QA automation engineer, owned test coverage and release readiness end to end, from what to automate first to when a build was safe to ship, and presented quality status directly to engineering leads
CypressTypeScriptGitHub Actions

QA Automation Instructor

ATID · Elevation · Ness-Tech

Instructor

Sep 2021 – Dec 2021

  • ▸Designed and delivered QA automation curriculum to 30+ engineers across three training programmes
  • ▸Covered Selenium, Pytest, and CI/CD basics alongside framework design and real-world best practices
SeleniumPytestCI/CDTrainingCurriculum designMentorship

Bravo Communications

E-commerce operations

Operations Manager

Feb 2018 – Apr 2021

  • ▸Managed multiple e-commerce stores end-to-end
  • ▸Researched and evaluated new potential products
  • ▸Managed and analyzed sales, inventory, revenue, expenses, and performance
  • ▸Automated and optimized business processes
  • ▸Built, maintained, and managed multiple websites using WordPress and Elementor
E-commerceData AnalysisProject ManagementMicrosoft ExcelWordPressProcess Automation
Testimonials

What People Say

Rowan is the kind of QA engineer every product team needs but rarely finds. At DcentraLab, his technical depth and attention to detail caught issues before they ever reached production, protecting our users and the business from real consequences. He built test infrastructure that scaled with us, and his AI-augmented workflow only made him faster. I recommend Rowan without hesitation to any team serious about shipping reliable software.

EB

Erez Ben-Kiki

CEO, DcentraLab · June 2026

Rowan is more than a team lead. He covers every stage of the testing cycle from spec to release, and his attention to detail goes beyond reviewing work. He takes ownership of quality across the whole product. Working with Rowan is straightforward: things get done properly. His expertise and commitment make him an asset to any team that takes QA seriously.

TM

Tomer Maimon

Automation Engineer, DcentraLab · January 2026

I had the pleasure of taking ownership of a Cypress testing suite created entirely by Rowan, and he left the code in impeccable condition. It was left untouched and running daily in production for 12+ months, and adding new features to it was a joy as a developer.

RR

Ryan Roberts

Full Stack Developer, Cymbio · October 2024

Rowan helped me with a few private lessons in Selenium + Python. Knows and understands the material. Many thanks for the help!

MM

Michael Medvedev

QA Engineer, AudioCodes · January 2022

Open Source

QA Automation Showcase

View all on GitHub

Multi-platform automation infrastructure covering Web, API, Mobile, Desktop, and CI/CD, built to be expandable and production-ready.

Notch-Automation-Audit

Playwright + Pytest automation audit for a Notch AI email triage system. Gates G1-G4 covering sender, subject, body, and AI reply. 70 test cases across 14 suites.

Python
QA-Automation-Testing-Showcase

Multi-platform automation showcase using Selenium + TestNG. Covers Web, API, Mobile, Desktop, and Electron apps with Page Object Model and Allure reporting.

Java
★ 2
DCentralLab-Selenium-Python-Demo

Selenium + PyTest + Allure automation framework for DCentralLab crypto products. Page Object Model pattern.

Python
LabOS-Cypress-Demo

Cypress tests for the LabOS web app with backend verifications. TypeScript, Page Object Model.

TypeScript
Vicarius-Selenium-Java-Demo

Testing Vicarius.io with Selenium & TestNG written in Java.

Java
weather-api-cypress-testing-demo

Cypress API and UI tests for WeatherAPI service, including API and UI automation.

TypeScript
PlaywrightCypressSeleniumPostmanJestMochaPythonTypeScriptJavaScriptJavaHTML5.NETDockerGitHub ActionsGitLabJenkinsKubernetesAzurek6GrafanaDatadogJMeterGatlingLocustOWASP ZAPSnykSonarQubeCloudflareCursorClaudeOpenAILangChainHuggingFacePyTorchn8nMakeZapierNotionmonday.comGeminiPostgreSQLMongoDBMySQLRedisElasticsearchSQLiteNode.jsGraphQLGoogle CloudReactAWSAngularPlaywrightCypressSeleniumPostmanJestMochaPythonTypeScriptJavaScriptJavaHTML5.NETDockerGitHub ActionsGitLabJenkinsKubernetesAzurek6GrafanaDatadogJMeterGatlingLocustOWASP ZAPSnykSonarQubeCloudflareCursorClaudeOpenAILangChainHuggingFacePyTorchn8nMakeZapierNotionmonday.comGeminiPostgreSQLMongoDBMySQLRedisElasticsearchSQLiteNode.jsGraphQLGoogle CloudReactAWSAngular
Toolbox

Skills

Test Frameworks

6 tools

PlaywrightCypressSeleniumPostmanJestMocha
PostmanJestMocha
PlaywrightCypressSelenium

Languages

6 tools

PythonTypeScriptJavaScriptJavaHTML5.NET
JavaHTML5.NET
PythonTypeScriptJavaScript

CI/CD & Infrastructure

6 tools

DockerGitHub ActionsGitLabJenkinsKubernetesAzure
JenkinsKubernetesAzure
DockerGitHub ActionsGitLab

Performance & Monitoring

6 tools

k6GrafanaDatadogJMeterGatlingLocust
JMeterGatlingLocust
k6GrafanaDatadog

Test Frameworks

PlaywrightCypressSeleniumPostmanJestMocha

End-to-end, integration, and API test coverage. UI automation through to contract testing, with mocking and assertion libraries for every layer.

Security Testing

4 tools

OWASP ZAPSnykSonarQubeCloudflare
Cloudflare
OWASP ZAPSnykSonarQube

AI & ML Tools

6 tools

CursorClaudeOpenAILangChainHuggingFacePyTorch
LangChainHuggingFacePyTorch
CursorClaudeOpenAI

Workflow Automation

6 tools

n8nMakeZapierNotionGemini
NotionGemini
n8nMakeZapier

Databases

6 tools

PostgreSQLMongoDBMySQLRedisElasticsearchSQLite
RedisElasticsearchSQLite
PostgreSQLMongoDBMySQL

AI-Enabled QA

Experience using AI tools to improve quality processes.

AI-assisted test case generationAI-assisted automation creationAI-assisted bug analysisAI-assisted regression identificationAI-assisted documentation generationAI-assisted exploratory testing

Business Process Automation

Turning manual department workflows into systems that run themselves.

Process mapping and characterizationn8n / Make / Zapier flowsMonday and Notion integrationsCalendar-driven reportingWeb scraping (Playwright)API and MCP integrations

SaaS Experience

Hands-on testing across modern SaaS and enterprise environments.

B2B SaaS platformsEnterprise softwareMulti-tenant applicationsAuthentication / SSO systemsComplex business workflows

Test Frameworks

PlaywrightCypressSeleniumPostmanJestMocha

End-to-end, integration, and API test coverage. UI automation through to contract testing, with mocking and assertion libraries for every layer.

Languages

PythonTypeScriptJavaScriptJavaHTML5.NET

Test automation, scripting, and tooling across backend, frontend, and data layers.

CI/CD & Infrastructure

DockerGitHub ActionsGitLabJenkinsKubernetesAzure

Automated test pipelines with parallel execution and containerised runs integrated at every stage of the deployment workflow.

Performance & Monitoring

k6GrafanaDatadogJMeterGatlingLocust

Load testing across throughput, latency, and stability under stress. Production observability with alert pipelines and post-release regression tracking.

Security Testing

OWASP ZAPSnykSonarQubeCloudflare

Permission boundary testing, API auth bypass attempts, vulnerability scanning, and secrets management.

AI & ML Tools

CursorClaudeOpenAILangChainHuggingFacePyTorch

AI tools integrated into QA workflows for test generation, log analysis, and coverage gap analysis. Applied to testing non-deterministic systems.

Workflow Automation

n8nMakeZapierNotionmonday.comGemini

Cross-team automations that connect the tools people already use: support, HR, and sales flows driven by AI, APIs, calendar events, and web scraping.

Databases

PostgreSQLMongoDBMySQLRedisElasticsearchSQLite

Validating integrations across relational, NoSQL, and search data layers.

Cloud & APIs

Node.jsGraphQLGoogle CloudReactAWSAngular

Cross-stack familiarity for REST, GraphQL, and cloud environment validation.

Live Demo

Watch It Run

Pick a suite. See how it moves.

› select a suite above to run tests
Credentials

Education & Certificates

Formal training and continuous learning across QA automation, blockchain, and design.

Education

Blockchain Expert

BDCC ↗

June – December 2026

Professional blockchain certification combining technological and economic knowledge with regulation and taxation. Accredited by Israel's Information Technologies Chamber.

Quality Assurance Test Automation

ATID Automation College ↗

2021

QA MethodologiesBug TrackingSeleniumAppiumElectronTestNGPage Objects Design PatternWeb & Mobile GUI TestingREST-assured API & Desktop TestingConfiguration & Data Driven TestingServer-side & Database TestingCI/CD with Jenkins

2015 – 2017

Game Creation PrinciplesUnityC#VFX3ds MaxUX/UIModelingTextures & UVLightingRigging & Animation

Certificates

LinkedIn Learning · The center follows the wheel; hover, tap, or focus one to pin it

TestFoun
SeleI
SeleII
Scrifor
CyprE2E
PostAPI
PythI
PythII
Java
Kotl
DataAnal
SQL
Algo
HTML
Angu
ProjMgmt
Data & Systems
Programming Foundations: Algorithms
LinkedIn Learning · Aug 2021
Testing & QA
Languages
Data & Systems
Web & Frontend
Management
Builds

Projects

Tuskr MCP

DcentraLab · Open Source

Python MCP Server · PyPI v0.2.1

2026

Creator & Maintainer

MCP server that gives Cursor and AI agents direct access to Tuskr test management: read, search, and validate test cases without leaving the IDE. Built for production use at DcentraLab to power agentic QA workflows. Published to PyPI.

PythonMCPTuskr APIAI AgentsOpen Source

Pipeline Defense

Personal Project

QA-Themed Tower Defense · Browser Game

2026

Creator & Designer

A tower-defense game that teaches testing concepts by playing them. Place Unit Test, Cypress, Playwright, and AI Assertion towers to catch bugs before they reach production: off-by-one errors, race conditions, silent failures, memory leaks. The Shift-Left Bonus rewards catching bugs early in the pipeline; neglect your towers and Test Debt makes them flake. Four difficulty tiers, from a scrappy startup MVP to hyperscaler-grade infrastructure.

Game DesignQA ConceptsShift-Left TestingInteractive Learning

Solar Sails: Space Pirates

Cosmic Duck Games

Space-action RPG · Steam (upcoming)

2017 – 2022

Programmer & Game Designer

A space-action RPG where players command a pirate ship, manage a crew across specialized ship modules, plunder the royal navy, explore a unique galaxy, and upgrade with alien technology. Contributed to programming and game design over 5 years as a passion project alongside professional work.

UnityC#
Contact

Let's talk

Available for senior QA and automation roles. Particularly interested in teams building on Web3, AI, or high-velocity stacks.

Copied!052-8081628Copied!LinkedIn