Akash Kumar Panda - Senior Quality Engineer - Cognizant Technology Solutions

Summary

Results-driven Senior QA Automation Engineer with 6+ years of experience in testing enterprise healthcare applications, including 4+ years in automation using Cypress and Playwright with TypeScript. Proven track record of driving large-scale automation initiatives, including the single-handed migration of 1,460+ UI and API test scripts from Cypress to Playwright across multiple healthcare portals. Experienced in designing AI-assisted automation solutions using GitHub Copilot Skills, Cursor Rules, and Playwright MCP architecture, enabling functional testers to generate automation through natural-language prompts and accelerating delivery of 25+ automated scenarios per sprint. Skilled in UI and API automation, CI/CD integration, root-cause analysis, Agile methodologies, BDD with Cucumber, and test management using Jira and Rally. Recognized for driving automation modernization initiatives, improving team productivity through AI-assisted automation solutions, and accelerating software delivery across enterprise healthcare platforms.

Skills

Playwright, Cypress

Typescript, Javascript

GitHub Copilot, Cursor, MCP Architecture

GitHub Actions, CI/CD

Functional testing

API Testing (Postman, Bruno)

BDD Cucumber

Agile, STLC, SDLC

Jira

Adobe Analytics Testing

BrowserStack

Work History

Associate / Senior Quality Engineer

Cognizant Technology Solutions

Hyderabad, Telangana

08.2020 - Current

Playwright:

Spearheaded the Cypress-to-Playwright transformation across two enterprise healthcare portals, becoming the first team within the Cigna program to complete the migration initiative and establish Playwright as the strategic automation framework.
Single-handedly migrated over 1,460 UI and API automation scripts from Cypress to Playwright across multiple healthcare portals, delivering the migration within aggressive timelines while preserving automation coverage and framework stability.
Developed and maintained scalable UI and API automation frameworks using Playwright and TypeScript for regression, integration, and in-sprint testing.
Designed and developed a centralized ElementActions utility layer encapsulating Playwright interactions, assertions, waits, and keyboard actions, reducing code duplication, accelerating automation development, and improving maintainability across the automation framework.
Designed reusable GitHub Copilot Skills and Cursor Rules leveraging Playwright MCP architecture, enabling functional testers to generate and maintain automation scripts through natural-language prompts, significantly reducing automation development effort.
Automated 25+ backlog scenarios per sprint using AI-assisted automation accelerators, significantly improving regression coverage and reducing automation turnaround time.
Integrated automation execution into GitHub Actions and Microsoft Teams, providing real-time reporting, execution visibility, and release-readiness metrics.
Performed advanced debugging, failure analysis, and root-cause investigation to improve automation stability and reduce flaky test executions.
Collaborated closely with Product Owners, Business Analysts, and Development teams in Agile environments to ensure rapid feedback and high-quality releases.

Cypress:

Previously designed and developed UI and API automation test suites using Cypress with TypeScript across multiple healthcare portals, establishing the foundation for enterprise-scale regression automation.
Built and maintained regression, smoke, and integration suites covering critical healthcare workflows.
Automated API validations and UI-to-API verification flows to improve release confidence and defect detection.

Project

Broker Portal | Cigna Healthcare:

Single-handedly migrated 250 UI and 120 API automation scripts from Cypress to Playwright within 2 weeks, leveraging GitHub Copilot and Cursor to accelerate framework conversion and script generation.
Designed and developed Playwright automation suites using TypeScript covering functional, integration, and regression scenarios.
Achieved in-sprint automation coverage by leveraging AI-powered automation skills, enabling newly developed features to be automated within the same sprint cycle.
Built custom GitHub Copilot Skills that enabled functional testers to generate automation scripts through natural-language prompts, reducing dependency on automation engineers.
Implemented UI-to-API validation strategies to verify frontend behavior against backend service responses and ensure data consistency.
Integrated automated test execution into GitHub Actions pipelines and published execution reports and pass/fail summaries to Microsoft Teams.

Employers Portal | Cigna Healthcare:

Single-handedly migrated 850 UI and 240 API automation scripts from Cypress to Playwright within 1 month, accelerating delivery through AI-assisted migration strategies using GitHub Copilot and Cursor..
Developed and maintained Playwright automation suites using TypeScript, providing broad functional and regression coverage for critical employer workflows.
Created AI-powered GitHub Copilot Skills and Cursor Rules that enabled functional testers to generate automation scripts using simple prompts, significantly improving team productivity.
Delivered in-sprint automation coverage for newly developed functionalities through AI-assisted automation accelerators.
Automated 25+ backlog regression scenarios per sprint using AI-assisted Playwright accelerators, validating UI behavior against API responses to ensure data integrity, business rule compliance, and high release confidence.
Integrated automation execution with GitHub Actions and Microsoft Teams, providing real-time visibility into quality status and release readiness.
Conducted detailed failure analysis and root-cause investigation to improve automation reliability and reduce flaky test failures.

Overview

4

Languages

6

years of professional experience

Timeline

Associate / Senior Quality Engineer

Cognizant Technology Solutions

08.2020 - Current

B.Tech - Computer Science and Engineering

Lovely Professional University

Senior Secondary Education -

Sri Chaitanya Junior College

Schooling -

Sacred Heart School

Education

B.Tech - Computer Science and Engineering

Lovely Professional University

Punjab

06-2020

Senior Secondary Education -

Sri Chaitanya Junior College

Visakhapatnam

05-2016

Schooling -

Sacred Heart School

Odisha

04-2014

Declaration

I hereby declare that the information provided above is true to best of my knowledge and belief. Place: Hyderabad Date: (Akash Kumar Panda)