Darren Copley
QA, Test Automation and DevOps professional with 15+ years of combined experience
About
QA, Test Automation and DevOps professional with 15+ years of combined experience spanning software quality engineering, release engineering, hardware and system testing, automation, and production operations. Proven background in test planning, manual and automated testing, diagnostic and hardware testing, defect management, performance testing, C# automation, CI/CD, deployment reliability and production troubleshooting. Most recently worked as a DevOps Engineer at BMW using AWS, Kubernetes, Jenkins, Jira, GitHub/Bitbucket, Prometheus and Grafana.
Since
February 2026, independently focused on AI and AI automation, developing practical capability in AI-assisted software development and workflow automation.
Experience
AI & Automation Projects / Professional Development - INDEPENDENT
(2026-02)
Developing practical capability in AI-assisted software development and workflow automation following completion of the BMW role.
- Designing and prototyping automation workflows that use modern AI tools to reduce manual effort, improve consistency and accelerate software and business processes.
- Applying AI-assisted coding, testing, troubleshooting and workflow orchestration across personal software and automation projects.
DevOps Engineer - BMW
(2023-04 - 2026-01)
- Leading the production and training environment deployments and ensuring smooth and efficient releases
- Responding to and troubleshooting incidents, implementing corrective actions to minimize downtime and ensuring high availability and maintaining service reliability
- Utilizing Jira for tracking issues, managing tasks and facilitating team collaboration
- Managing translations using Weblate and ensuring accurate and timely localization of projects
- Monitoring system performance using Prometheus and Grafana, identifying and resolving bottlenecks
Freelancer - Freelancing
(2023-09 - 2024-03)
Working on various private jobs requested by clients.
- Programs to automate business processes
- 3D art
- Logos
- Banners
- Concept designs
- Floorplan renders
3D Artist - Thoroughtec
(2014-07 - 2015-08)
- 3D modelling of military and mining vehicles, as well as buildings and objects
- Unwrapping and texturing vehicles, buildings and objects with high quality
- Rendering high-quality images of vehicles, buildings, and objects
- Creating lighting for many vehicles and various scenes
- Producing low-res models with high quality
Software Tester - Thoroughtec
(2012-12 - 2014-07)
- Testing specification documentation
- Performing diagnostic testing
- Conducting hardware testing
- Executing scoring and fault testing
- Liaising with project managers, developers, and spec writers
- Identifying and logging defects
Quality Assurer lvl 3 / Software Engineer - Derivco
(2009-08 - 2012-08)
- Planning and creating test plans
- Editing and maintaining project-specific checklists
- Identifying and logging defects
- Conducting mobile and performance testing
- Developing C# scripts to automate testing processes
Release Engineer - Derivco
(2007-02 - 2009-07)
- Updating and maintaining poker clients for all operators
- Ensuring high-quality assurance
- Fixing bugs and integrated languages
- Automating processes to improve efficiency
Education
MCSD - CS Holdings (2002 - 2002)
Grade 12 (Exemption) - Queensburgh Boys High School
