Raphael Wangoto

Automation Lead / Senior QA Engineer with 5 years of hands-on experience designing, building, and maintaining scalable test automation frameworks across Banking, SACCOs, Fintech, ERP, and Payment systems. Strong in API and UI automation, with practical experience in tools like Cypress, Playwright, Postman, and performance testing using JMeter. Skilled in integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines, optimizing regression suites, and improving test coverage in Agile environments.

Proven track record of identifying critical defects early, reducing manual effort, and delivering stable, production-ready releases.

QA Lead / Senior Quality Assurance Engineer - Waftpay - Nairobi, Kenya (Remote)

(2025-09)

Contract position

• Lead and mentor a team of five QA Engineers, driving QA strategy, test execution, and release quality across projects.
• Define and implement an automation-first QA strategy by designing and maintaining scalable UI and API test frameworks using Cypress, significantly reducing manual regression effort.
• Integrate automated test suites into CI/CD pipelines to enable continuous testing, accelerate feedback cycles, and improve early defect detection.
• Perform comprehensive API, database, and performance testing using Postman, Cypress, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and k6 to ensure system reliability and data integrity.
• Oversee automation quality by reviewing pull requests, enforcing coding standards, managing GitHub merges, and monitoring test execution and reporting through Cypress Cloud.
• Collaborate with cross-functional Agile teams during sprint planning, reviews, and releases, providing QA risk assessments, release readiness, and final quality sign-off.

Quality Assurance Engineer - Eclectics International Limited - Nairobi, Kenya (On-Site)

(2021-10 - 2025-08)

• Led QA strategy and execution for ERP, Agency Banking, and Invoice Discounting systems, identifying risks early and preventing production defects.
• Built and scaled automation frameworks using Selenium, Cypress, and Appium, including USSD automation with API integration across UI, API, database, and performance testing.
• Embedded automation into CI/CD pipelines, supported UAT, mentored junior QA engineers, and promoted automation-first quality practices.

BSc - Analytical Chemistry - Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) (2017 - 2021)