Ban-Zaharia Iulian

Background

About

Senior IT professional with over 10 years of experience across domains like finance (big bank solutions), e-procurement, and cybersecurity. Experienced QA Automation Engineer with expertise in manual and automated testing for web-based applications covering UI and API components but also covering desktop and mobile apps.

Work Experience

Senior QA Automation Engineer, Tradeshift
Dec, 2021 - Present
As a Senior QA Automation Engineer at Tradeshift, I was responsible for end-to-end (E2E) testing for a fintech project, ensuring the quality of both UI and API components with Playwright, Selenium, and Pytest.
- Worked closely with developers, product, SIT and UAT testing teams in an Agile environment, ensuring that quality was embedded throughout the development process and proactively identifying potential issues early in the development cycle.
- Significantly increased test coverage for UI and API by developing and executing automation scripts using frameworks such as Playwright, Selenium, Pytest and CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins).
- Utilized Docker to run automated tests locally with Selenium (Selenoid/Selenoid-UI), ensuring environment consistency and facilitating quick debugging cycles.
- Successfuly integrated with Splunk’s API to fetch real-time logs during automated test expecution.
- Uncovered critical defects beyond the scope of automation by conducting manual exploratory testing for complex workflows.
- Reviewed Allure reports on Jenkins for automated test validation.
- Interacted with Kubernetes using kubectl to simulate/trigger real business usecase events.
- Collaborated with the QA team to develop scalable automation frameworks, enhance test reliability, and drive quality assurance.
- Led testing efforts for a cross platfrom translation project into multiple languages.
Senior QA Engineer, Pentest-Tools.com
Jan, 2020 - Dec, 20211 year 11 months
Worked closely with the development team to ensure the quality of SaaS security platform, performing QA tasks and mentoring new QA team members.
- Managed the QA server for the platform, ensuring its readiness and optimal performance.
- Mentored junior QA engineers, sharing expertise on test automation, debugging, and best practices.
- Led testing efforts for major product releases, ensuring alignment with quality standards and deadlines.
- Ensured testability of new feature requirements by regularly collaborating with Product Managers.
- Created QA team testing knowledge base and escalation flows
Data Quality Specialist - Product Liaison, Hootsuite
Jun, 2017 - Jan, 20202 years 7 months
Acted as the bridge between Product, Development, and Customer Support teams, providing expertise in analytics products and troubleshooting web tech stack issues. Responsible for escalating customer-reported issues and ensuring timely communication across departments for effective resolutions.
- Worked closely with developers to implement an efficient bug prioritization framework, improving issue resolution timelines
- Delivered QA for product releases and bug fixes, ensuring data quality through API integrations and UI validation.
- Collaborated together with the Engineering team to develop a prioritization framework and incident escalation procedure, reducing bug volume by 50% and improving SLA compliance.
- Reduced churn by 20% by optimizing product release timelines for at-risk clients.
- Contributed to $ +1m ARR client renewals
- Created internal documentation using Confluence.
- Developed API inspection skills using Postman and monitored API (REST and GRAPHQL) health checks to maintain product stability.
Product Manager, ibVPN
Nov, 2010 - Jun, 20176 years 7 months
Led the product management for a cross-platform privacy and security app (Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Linux). Managed the product lifecycle, collaborated with developers, and implemented strategies to improve app functionality, software quality, and KPIs.
- Led the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) for a cross-platform privacy and security application, from concept to release.
- Defined product requirements, ensuring alignment with business objectives and user needs.
- Conducted manual UI/UX testing, providing critical feedback to enhance usability and performance.
- Managed release cycles, including beta testing, feature rollout, and post-release analysis
- Regularly maintained and updated mobile applications on PlayStore, improving performance and bug fixes. Gained hands-on experience in Java for debugging and layout implementation.
- Familiarized with RESTful APIs, ensuring seamless integration between apps and backend services.
- Integrated analytics (MixPanel) to track and measure KPIs across client application, improving decision-making and product strategy.
- Led user feedback analysis, implementing data-driven improvements to enhance product functionality.

Skills

Quality Assurance
API Testing

End-to-End Testing

Regression Testing

SIT

jMetter

Exploratory testing
Test Automation
Codecept.js

Playwright

Selenium

TypeScript

Docker

CI/CD

Jenkins

Splunk

Datadog

Allure

End-to-End Testing
Web Development
HTML

CSS

JavaScript

PHP

MySQL

MongoDB

Git

JSON

Postman

REST

GraphQL
Cloud Computing
AWS EC2

AWS IAM

AWS S3

VPS

AWS Route53

Linux

Node

Apache

Terraform

Infrastructure as Code

CI/CD Pipelines
Networking
SumoLogic

TCP/UDP

IPv4/IPv6

OpenVPN

HTTPS/HTTP

Education

, Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering, University of Petru Maior
Jan, 2008 - Jan, 2012
DB1101 - Basic SQL

CS2011 - Visual Basic

Certificates

AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate,
Issued on: Aug 25, 2017
LPIC-1 Linux Administrator,
Issued on: Dec 15, 2015

Volunteer Work

People Coordinator, National Tree Planting Movement, Romania
Jan, 2013 - Dec, 2015
Coordinated volunteers and resources for nationwide tree-planting events.
- Managed logistics for events involving hundreds of volunteers.
- Contributed to environmental sustainability efforts across Romania.

Interests

Fitness & Outdoor Activities
CyclingSwimmingFormula 1
Technology
Cloud TechnologiesAI and Machine LearningBlockchain and Decentralized SystemsCloud ComputingIoT

References

Danielle Fleischman - Senior Customer Success @ BlueCore (former CSM @ Hootsuite)
I was fortunate to work with Julian for over two years. He immediately made a huge impact at Hootsuite, helping to demystify the space between product support and customer success. Julian was also key in helping build process and make life for both internal teams and end users easier. He would be an incredible asset to any organization that he is at and comes with my highest recommendation!
Dan Gurghian - Co-founder & Information Technology (IT) Director @ ibVPN
As CTO of Amplusnet/ibVPN, I was Julian's supervisor for almost 7 years. Based on Julian’s skills we have decided that he can manage the full life cycle development and maintenance of our Windows / Mac / Mobile application which he delivered successfully and thus played a key role in growing our Product. It was a good decision because he was able to clearly communicate with developers, provide QA and keep a close relation with the beta testers. Providing good quality products is mandatory for us, and Julian made sure we deliver it. Julian was involved and proactive in most of our brainstorming related to our product and services. He is a team player and was involved in all formal and informal company actions: team building, parties, and events. Please feel free to contact me if you like to discuss Julian’s qualifications and experience further. I’d be happy to expand on my recommendation.