Rishat Chowdhury
Senior QA Engineer · Test Automation · Section 508 Specialist
Springfield, Virginia · Open to remote, hybrid, or on-site
Ten years of testing web, client/server, and N-tier applications across Windows and Linux. I build automation frameworks from scratch in Java and Selenium, wire them into CI/CD so regression runs without anyone asking, and hold the federal accessibility and security credentials that agency work requires.
About
How I work
Most of my career has been spent on systems where a missed defect is expensive — federal applications at USDA and Treasury, defense programs at Raytheon, payment processing at Wells Fargo. That shapes how I test: full traceability from requirement to test case, automation that people actually trust, and documentation someone else can pick up.
I work in Agile teams as a matter of routine — Scrum and Kanban, sprint planning through retrospective — and I'm comfortable being the person who defines the QA process rather than inheriting one. I've built data-driven, keyword-driven, and hybrid frameworks from the ground up, and mentored engineers on using them.
Automation frameworks
Java, Selenium WebDriver, FitNesse, Cucumber, TestNG. Built from scratch, designed to stay maintainable.
CI/CD and release quality
Jenkins and GitLab pipelines that run regression on every change and report results back automatically.
Section 508 accessibility
DHS Trusted Tester certified. JAWS, ANDI, WAVE, and DRAGON against federal ICT standards.
API and performance
REST and SOAP validation with SoapUI; load and throughput testing with JMeter and Rational Performance Tester.
Experience
Where I've worked
QA Automation Engineer
U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Build and maintain automation suites in Java using Selenium WebDriver and FitNesse, streamlining regression testing and shortening release cycles through Jenkins continuous integration.
- Configured GitLab CI/CD pipelines that trigger automated regression runs and publish real-time reports, cutting manual intervention across multiple environments.
- Engineered custom FitNesse fixtures and data-driven test frameworks to handle complex workflows that previously required manual setup.
- Perform Section 508 compliance testing with JAWS, ANDI, and WAVE to keep USDA applications within federal accessibility standards.
- Deploy and validate automated tests in Red Hat Linux environments, verifying consistent behavior across cloud-based systems.
- Manage the defect lifecycle in JIRA, triaging and prioritizing across Agile sprints.
Software QA Engineer
Raytheon Technologies
- Developed automated test scripts in Java and Selenium WebDriver that expanded regression coverage and reduced manual testing time by 30%.
- Built modular automation in Eclipse designed for reuse, improving maintainability across multiple test suites.
- Configured Jenkins continuous integration against GitHub repositories, giving developers faster feedback on code quality.
- Ran performance testing with Rational Performance Tester and JMeter to simulate real user loads, measure throughput and latency, and isolate bottlenecks with the development team.
- Executed REST and SOAP API test cases in SoapUI to verify data integrity, response accuracy, and service reliability across environments.
- Maintained the traceability matrix with the QA lead and wrote SQL scripts to set up and validate test data for database integrity checks.
QA Tester
U.S. Department of the Treasury
- Wrote and executed functional test cases from scratch for a Drupal CMS web application, covering both business and technical requirements.
- Performed Section 508 accessibility testing with JAWS, ANDI, DRAGON, and WAVE, then worked with developers to close the gaps found.
- Tracked defects in JIRA and reviewed code through SourceTree and Git for validation and troubleshooting.
- Joined cross-functional accessibility reviews to keep 508 compliance embedded through each phase of the development lifecycle.
Software QA
Shaw Systems — Wells Fargo Bank
- Designed and implemented a data-driven BDD automation framework using Selenium, Cucumber, Apache POI, and Java, improving execution efficiency across web applications.
- Performed end-to-end testing of payment processing workflows including end-of-day processing, loan origination, and servicing modules.
- Validated compliance with PCI DSS and IRS Section 6050W, verifying fraud detection controls such as AVS and Credit Card ID for online transactions.
- Analyzed business requirements for late payments, returned checks and ACH drafts, over-limit and declined transactions, inactivity, and account closing.
- Ran database testing in SQL Server with complex queries to confirm data integrity and accuracy.
- Mentored test engineers on framework usage, reducing onboarding time for new automation work.
Software QA Engineer
Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company
- Created test scenarios and cases from user stories and supported User Acceptance Testing to confirm the application met real user needs.
- Automated regression with Selenium WebDriver and built BDD validation using Cucumber, backed by TestNG and Maven.
- Wrote complex SQL queries against Microsoft SQL Server to validate data behind the interface.
- Executed functional, regression, integration, compatibility, and cross-browser testing, including 508 accessibility work.
- Contributed to the test plan, test strategy, and automation framework design documents.
Junior QA Tester / Intern
Capital One
- Worked with Agile Scrum teams to analyze user stories, define acceptance criteria, and design manual and automated test cases.
- Executed functional, regression, integration, and cross-browser testing using Java, Selenium WebDriver, and TestNG.
- Logged defects in JIRA and ran root-cause analysis with developers, expanding automation coverage and CI readiness through Git and Maven.
Capabilities
Tools and methods
- Languages
- Java, JavaScript, SQL, HTML5, XHTML, CSS
- Automation
- Selenium WebDriver, FitNesse, Cucumber, TestNG, JUnit, Apache POI, SoapUI
- Performance
- JMeter, Rational Performance Tester
- CI/CD & build
- Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, Maven, Git, GitHub, CVS
- Databases
- SQL Server Management Studio, MS Access, database integrity and data validation testing
- Accessibility
- JAWS, ANDI, WAVE, DRAGON, Section 508 and federal ICT standards
- Collaboration
- JIRA, Confluence, ALM, Eclipse, NetBeans, Visual Studio, MS Visio, Balsamiq, RabbitMQ
- Methodologies
- Agile (Scrum, Kanban), Waterfall, TDD, ATDD, BDD, full SDLC and STLC
- Environments
- Windows, Red Hat Linux, cloud-based deployments
Credentials
Certifications & education
- DHS Trusted Tester — 508 Certified TesterU.S. Department of Homeland Security · 2024
- ISTQB Certified Tester, Advanced Level — Test ManagerCTAL-TM · 2023
- ISTQB Certified Tester, Foundation Level — Agile TesterCTFL-AT · 2022
- ISTQB Certified Tester, Foundation LevelCTFL · 2021
- CompTIA Security+2021
- Advanced Selenium: Automation Frameworks2026
- API Test Automation with SoapUI2026
- Cybersecurity Foundations2026
Bachelor of Business Administration, Management Information Systems
American International University · Dhaka, Bangladesh · 2002–2006
Coursework in database management, software engineering, systems analysis and design, and business information systems — the foundation the automation and data validation work has been built on since.
Contact
Let's talk
Open to senior QA and test automation roles — remote, hybrid, or on-site. Cleared work welcome. The fastest way to reach me is email.