Nikita Pandhare

About Nikita Pandhare

Lead Quality Assurance professional and Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO®) with 10+ years of experience delivering high-quality web and mobile in Agile environments. Strong expertise in manual and automation testing, QA strategy, and release governance, combined with a product-focused and analytics-driven mindset.I have led and contributed to end-to-end quality assurance across the product lifecycle, working closely with Product Managers, Business Analysts, UX, and Engineering teams to analyze requirements, define acceptance criteria, validate user journeys, and ensure release readiness aligned with business objectives and user expectations.My work goes beyond testing, translating quality outcomes into actionable insights that influence product decisions and continuous improvement. I apply analytical thinking to identify risk areas, evaluate workflows, and improve release quality, system reliability, and customer satisfaction.With a strong technical background in test automation, API and backend validation, CI/CD pipelines, and AI-driven testing, I collaborate deeply with engineering teams while maintaining a clear focus on product quality, risk reduction, and customer impact.Core Competencies & Technical Skills Quality Assurance Expertise:• Manual Testing: Functional, Regression, System, Integration, Smoke, Sanity, and End-to-End Testing, UAT, Non-Functional, Performance, UI/UX Validations, Accessibility Testing, and Risk-Based Testing, SDLC, STLC, Bug Life Cycle, Shift Left Testing• UI Automation Testing: Playwright (JavaScript / TypeScript), Selenium WebDriver (Java, TestNG, Maven), Cypress with JavaScript• API Automation: Rest-Assured, Postman• Performance Testing: JMeter• AI-driven Testing & AI driven Automation framework, Testing of AI chatbots• Prompt Engineering, Using Generative AI in testing activities• CI/CD & DevOps: Git, Bitbucket, GitHub Actions, Gitlab, Jenkins, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps, GCP Pipelines• Database validation & Backend Testing: SQL (MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle), MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Big DataTest Management & QA Processes:• Tools: JIRA, Zephyr Scale, TestRail, Confluence• Activities: Test Planning, Execution, and Traceability• Methodologies: Agile (Scrum), Waterfall• Defect Management: Jira, Zephyr, TestRail, Traceability Matrix updatesLeadership & Soft Skills:• QA Strategy & Governance, Team Mentoring & Coaching• Sprint Planning, Backlog Refinement & Stakeholder Communication• Analytical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Strong Communication• Co-ordinated User Acceptance Testing

Experience

1. Senior Test Consultant

   Puresoftware Ltd

   Nov 2022 — Present

   Ensured high-quality delivery web based mulitple insurance product platform across Asia and Europe by validating user workflows, refining requirements, and guiding release decisions with Product Owners.• Collaborated with Product Owners and stakeholders to define and refine user stories, acceptance criteria, and feature priorities, ensuring alignment with business goals and customer needs.• Coordinated and led User Acceptance Testing (UAT) with business teams, integrating feedback into product enhancements and ensuring feature readiness.• Enhanced regression efficiency by 35% through automation frameworks (Cypress & Playwright), enabling faster and more reliable product releases.• Evaluated complex insurance workflows, edge cases, and real-world scenarios to ensure product behavior met customer and business expectations.• Leveraged GenAI and AI-driven testing frameworks to streamline QA workflows and support data-driven product decisions.• Mentored QA engineers and contributed to QA governance and quality strategy while maintaining focus on business outcomes.

Education

• Savitribai Phule Pune University

  Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.), Information Technology

Skills

• Regression Testing
• Software Development Life Cycle (Sdlc)
• C
• Defect Life Cycle
• Core Java
• Jira
• Retesting
• Selenium Webdriver
• Appium
• Mantisbt
• System Testing
• Mysql
• Test Automation
• Manual Test Execution
• Smoke Testing
• Manual Testing
• Software Quality Assurance
• Test Cases
• Functional Testing
• User Acceptance Testing
• Mobile Testing
• C++
• Software Testing
• Software Testing Life Cycle (Stlc)
• Web Testing
• Sanity Testing
• Testng