About Me
Experience
Work Experience
Software Quality Assurance
Co-operative Bank of Kenya- Design and execute comprehensive test strategies for core banking platforms, mobile banking apps, and digital financial products serving millions of customers across Kenya.
- Automate regression and integration test suites using Cypress and Postman, ensuring continuous validation of critical transaction flows including payments, loans, and account management.
- Embed QA gates into CI/CD pipelines, enforcing quality checks at every stage from development to production deployment in a regulated banking environment.
- Perform security and compliance testing aligned with Central Bank of Kenya requirements, OWASP Top 10, and data protection standards (Kenya Data Protection Act 2019).
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams — developers, product owners, and compliance officers — to ensure defect-free releases and maintain audit-ready QA documentation.
Quality Assurance Lead
Purple Elephant Ventures- Developed and implemented test plans, cases, and scripts for travel-tech features including booking integrations, geolocation for park monitoring, and AI-driven sustainability metrics.
- Led QA team daily operations — assigning tasks, conducting performance reviews, and mentoring engineers on Selenium, Cypress, JMeter, and Postman.
- Collaborated cross-functionally with product managers, developers, and co-founders to integrate QA early in the product lifecycle.
- Monitored quality KPIs including defect density and test coverage, targeting 90%+ coverage to guide startup scaling decisions.
Backend Developer
Mobidev Kenya Limited- Developed and maintained enterprise-grade backend systems using Laravel (PHP) and MySQL, building scalable REST APIs supporting robust test automation and high-availability deployments.
- Trained and supervised 4 cohorts of industrial attachment students, providing hands-on mentoring in backend development, QA practices, test automation frameworks, and software engineering best practices.
Quality Assurance Engineer
Qhala- Automated 85% of regression tests using Cypress, reducing manual testing efforts by 40%.
- Integrated QA into GitLab CI/CD, reducing software release cycles from 2 weeks to 5 days.
- Reduced defect leakage to production by 35%.
- Improved sprint velocity by 25% by resolving 90% of high-priority bugs with the development team.
Senior Software Developer
I&M Bank Ltd- Developed and deployed a Campaign Draw Platform — an end-to-end application for managing and executing promotional campaigns with prize-draw functionality.
- Handled full deployment lifecycle including VPN-based production deployment.
Back End Developer
QRStuff.com- Built and maintained backend systems for a QR code platform serving 7,000+ customers with 26+ QR code data types including URL, video, geolocation, SMS, and contact details.
Lead Software Engineer
AUDA-NEPAD- Developed the African Union's Citizen Engagement Platform (CEP) — enabling citizens to share ideas, contribute perspectives, and participate in shaping Africa's future.
Senior Backend Developer
EDITEC- Developed and maintained fintech systems supporting Premierbet in Africa, building scalable REST APIs for robust test automation and high-availability deployments.
Volunteer IT Lead
CIDO South Sudan- Development and maintenance of system software for cidosouthsudan.org.
My Services
I provide comprehensive software development and consulting services tailored to meet your specific business needs.
AI Integration & Development
I design and build AI-powered features using OpenAI, LangChain, and vector databases — from intelligent search and chatbots to automated QA defect classification and smart reporting.
What you get
- OpenAI / GPT API integration into existing apps
- RAG pipelines (LangChain + vector store) for context-aware AI
- AI-powered test defect triage & failure classification
- Smart document processing and data extraction
- AI feature QA — hallucination checks, output validation, eval harnesses
QA Automation Frameworks
I design and implement end-to-end test automation frameworks from scratch — achieving 85%+ regression coverage and cutting release cycles from weeks to days.
What you get
- Cypress or Selenium E2E framework built to your stack
- Page Object Model (POM) for maintainable test code
- API test suites with Postman collections & REST Assured
- TestRail integration for traceability and reporting
- Parallel execution to cut suite runtime significantly
CI/CD Pipeline Integration
I embed automated QA gates directly into your GitLab or GitHub CI/CD pipeline so every push is validated before it ever reaches production.
What you get
- GitLab CI / GitHub Actions pipeline configuration
- Automated smoke, regression & sanity gates per stage
- Fail-fast with clear, actionable test reports
- Docker-based test environments for consistency
- Zero-touch deployments once quality gates pass
Performance & Load Testing
Before your app meets real users at scale, I stress-test it with JMeter and K6 to find and fix bottlenecks that would otherwise cause outages under load.
What you get
- JMeter load test plans with realistic user scenarios
- K6 scripting for API and microservice stress tests
- Soak, spike, and breakpoint test runs
- MySQL slow-query profiling and index recommendations
- Detailed report: p95/p99 latencies, error rates, recommendations
DevSecOps & Security QA
I shift security left — integrating SAST, DAST, and dependency scans into the pipeline so vulnerabilities are caught in development, not production.
What you get
- OWASP Top 10 manual & automated checks
- SAST / DAST tools wired into CI/CD (SonarQube, ZAP)
- Dependency vulnerability scanning (Snyk / Trivy)
- Secrets detection to prevent credential leaks
- Security findings mapped to severity with remediation steps
Backend & API Development
Using Laravel/PHP, I build clean RESTful APIs with TDD from day one — including M-Pesa, Flutterwave, and third-party integrations common to East African products.
What you get
- Laravel REST API with OpenAPI/Swagger documentation
- M-Pesa STK Push, C2B/B2C, Flutterwave integrations
- JWT / OAuth2 authentication & role-based access
- PHPUnit test coverage from the first endpoint
- MySQL schema design, migrations & query optimization
Full-Stack Web Development
End-to-end web applications built on Laravel + Vue.js / Blade, with quality baked in at every layer — not bolted on at the end.
What you get
- Mobile-first responsive UI (Vue.js / Blade / React)
- Laravel backend with service-layer architecture
- Integrated feature tests & browser tests (Dusk)
- Staged deployment to Digital Ocean / AWS via CI/CD
- Accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA) checked at every milestone
QA Strategy & Test Planning
I audit your current quality posture and deliver a concrete, prioritised QA roadmap — from test strategy documents to TestRail suite structures your team can execute immediately.
What you get
- Test strategy & test plan documentation
- Risk-based test prioritisation (P0–P2 triage)
- TestRail project setup with organised suites & runs
- Defect lifecycle process & JIRA workflow design
- KPI dashboard: coverage %, defect leakage, escape rate
QA Mentoring & Training
I train and mentor QA engineers and developers on automation, TDD, and best practices — drawing on experience supervising industrial attachment students at Mobidev Kenya.
What you get
- Hands-on Cypress / Selenium workshops for your team
- TDD and BDD adoption coaching
- Code review sessions focused on test quality
- Shift-left culture change — getting devs to own quality
- Structured onboarding for junior QA hires
Recent Projects
Here are some of the recent projects I've worked on. Each project represents my commitment to quality and client satisfaction.
Co-operative Bank of Kenya - Software QA
Tested Co-op Soko, a digital online marketplace connecting smallholder farmers, traders, and buyers across Kenya. The platform links local and international buyers directly to farmers and cooperative societies, enables crop growth-stage tracking, integrates banking, insurance, and farm input services, and improves price discovery and market transparency for small-scale agricultural producers.
Qhala - QA Engineer
At this digital innovation firm, I automated 85% of regression tests using Cypress, integrated QA into GitLab CI/CD reducing release cycles from 2 weeks to 5 days, and reduced defect leakage to production by 35%.
Purple Elephant Ventures - QA Lead
Led QA for travel-tech features including booking integrations, geolocation for park monitoring, and AI-driven sustainability metrics. Validated AI model outputs for eco-scoring, ensuring data accuracy and preventing hallucinations in public-facing sustainability reports.
AUDA-NEPAD - Lead Software Engineer
Developed the Citizen Engagement Platform for the African Union's development agency, facilitating large-scale user interaction and policy discussions. Created a multi-language platform reaching over 100,000 users across Africa.
I&M Bank Ltd - Senior Software Developer
Led the development and deployment of a secure campaign draw platform for this leading financial institution, managing promotional campaigns and securely deploying applications via VPN while adhering to strict security standards.
Safari Wheels Personal Project
A travel/mobility platform built independently on Laravel, featuring an AI-powered vehicle recommendation engine that matches users to vehicles based on trip type, group size, and terrain — integrating OpenAI API for natural language search queries.
Family Connect Personal Project
A family community platform with AI-powered features: an LLM-based expense categorisation assistant that auto-tags transactions, smart event suggestions from activity patterns, and a natural language search over family records — built on Laravel with OpenAI API.
Tolo.rent - CTO and DevOps Engineer
Led team in CI/CD implementation for this digital equipment leasing platform in Ethiopia, overseeing testing, deployment, and code reviews. Simplified the equipment leasing process with financial management tools, achieving 30% faster deployment times.
QRStuff.com - Senior Full-Stack Developer
Built features for QR code management, performed platform maintenance, provided analytics, and delivered customer support for this comprehensive online platform serving over 7,000 customers with robust solutions and detailed analytics.
Brij - Senior Backend Developer
Developed and optimized backend systems to support cross-border transactions for this digital financial services platform, integrated various payment gateways and mobile money networks, and maintained bank-grade security standards across financial services.
CIDO - Technology Officer
Provide technical support and guidance for CIDO's technology initiatives, an NGO focused on development initiatives in South Sudan. Spearheaded the development of an online presence, improving community engagement and project visibility.
SecuTalk - Web Developer
Developed a professional portfolio website for this security firm focused on "Securing Truth, Protecting Futures." Created a platform showcasing their services including General Investigations, Fraud Investigations, and Anti-counterfeit Investigations, with a focus on delivering thorough and discreet solutions for evolving security challenges.
Education & Credentials
Full Stack Software Development
CertificationHTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, Java & Android Development
Languages
MultilingualTrusted by Teams
"Howard's expertise in QA automation helped us deliver a high-quality platform that exceeded our users' expectations. His technical insights were crucial to our project's success — release confidence went up immediately."
"Howard's attention to detail and commitment to quality code made him stand out from every developer we've worked with. Highly recommended."
"Working with Howard was a game-changer for our startup. He built a robust system and provided valuable insights that shaped our entire product strategy."
"Howard delivered on time and exceeded every expectation. His technical expertise and calm problem-solving under pressure were invaluable to our business launch."
Get In Touch
Have a project in mind or need consulting services? I'd love to hear from you. Let's discuss how I can help your business succeed.