Rob Chapleski Jr., Ph.D.
Lead / Senior SDET · Quality Engineering
Profile
Lead-level Software Development Engineer in Test with deep experience designing automation strategy, backend quality systems, and CI integrated test frameworks for complex SaaS platforms. Known for building durable API and RBAC validation, owning release gates, and mentoring teams toward automation maturity. Comfortable operating at technical depth with senior engineering leadership while staying grounded in product risk, reliability, and user outcomes. Brings a rigorous scientific mindset to debugging, measurement, and systems thinking.
Core Competencies
- Quality strategy & release gates
- Playwright E2E automation
- API testing (GraphQL, REST)
- RBAC & security validation
- Test architecture & patterns
- CI pipelines & reporting
- Performance testing & analysis
- Mentorship & cross functional leadership
Experience
Accumulus Technologies
Senior Test Automation Engineer
Jun 2025 to Sep 2025
Remote
Automation Architecture
- Developed and refactored 50 plus Playwright TypeScript end to end tests within a 2000 test suite covering GraphQL and REST workflows
- Implemented Page Object Model abstractions and reusable SDK components to improve test maintainability and reduce locator fragility
- Leveraged mocked GraphQL responses and API driven setup to stabilize complex UI workflows and increase deterministic coverage
CI & Release Quality
- Maintained 100 percent release pass rate through GitLab CI pipelines integrated with Xray and Allure reporting
- Practiced shift left quality through refinement participation, UX feedback, and proactive defect identification, using AI tools to accelerate problem solving and test design
Unqork
Backend Quality Assurance Lead
Jul 2021 to Jun 2025
Remote
Quality Leadership
- Led backend quality strategy across five product teams and mentored eight QA engineers, serving as release gatekeeper for authentication, RBAC, integrations, data, and platform control plane work
- Defined test requirements and release readiness criteria for major platform initiatives, including application versioning and version merge functionality
API & Security Testing
- Designed and maintained a comprehensive RBAC test suite covering authentication, authorization, role hierarchies, and permission expansion across internal endpoints
- Validated OpenAPI documentation and integrations including SSO, OAuth2, and Workato connectors, collaborating closely with senior and principal engineers on architecture and risk
Performance & Observability
- Conducted performance benchmarking using Postman and K6 to evaluate large scale database migrations and CRUD optimization risk
- Leveraged Datadog logs and MongoDB queries to diagnose backend defects and improve service reliability
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Postdoctoral Researcher · Chemical Separations Group
Jan 2020 to Jul 2021
Oak Ridge, TN
Large Scale Computation
- Executed high performance computational simulations on national laboratory supercomputing resources to study adsorption mechanisms on rare earth mineral analogues
- Built automated scripting pipelines to transform simulation outputs into structured inputs for downstream calculations, improving throughput and reproducibility
Research & Publication
- Published peer reviewed research and translated theoretical results into actionable insights for experimental collaborators and proposal development
- Authored a chapter in the Handbook on the Physics and Chemistry of Rare Earths and contributed to peer reviewed journal publications
University of Tennessee
Postdoctoral Researcher · Computational Physical Chemistry
Jul 2017 to Jan 2020
Knoxville, TN
Computational Modeling
- Applied density functional theory to characterize surface reaction mechanisms and interpret experimental outcomes under multiple conditions
- Mentored graduate and undergraduate researchers and contributed to publications through rigorous modeling, analysis, and technical writing
Virginia Tech
Graduate Research Assistant · Computational Physical Chemistry
Aug 2012 to May 2017
Blacksburg, VA
Experimental Systems & Quality
- Maintained and designed ultra-high vacuum scientific apparatus for advanced data collection, operating in tightly controlled conditions and ensuring measurement integrity across experiments
- Trained undergraduate students in analytical chemistry laboratory methods with emphasis on quality in chemical analysis, documentation, and repeatable technique
- Developed and executed large scale computational models to study gas surface reaction pathways, adsorption, and catalytic hydrolysis mechanisms, including chemical agent simulants
Carroll County Public Schools
High School Teacher · Physics & Chemistry
Jul 2007 to Jun 2012
Maryland
Leadership & Communication
- Taught physics and chemistry to diverse learners and built rigorous course materials, strengthening the communication and coaching skills that translate directly to mentoring engineers and aligning teams
- Developed curriculum used across the county and led student organizations, demonstrating ownership, stakeholder alignment, and delivery under real world constraints
Education
Fullstack Academy / Virginia Tech
Software Developer Certificate
Feb 2024
Remote
Virginia Tech
Ph.D. Chemistry
May 2017
Blacksburg, VA
Towson University
B.S. Chemistry · Honors College · Summa cum laude
May 2007
Towson, MD
Skills
Test Automation & Frameworks
Playwright · TypeScript · Selenium · CodeceptJS
APIs & Security
GraphQL · REST · RBAC · OAuth2
CI/CD & Observability
GitLab CI · Xray · Allure · Datadog
Data & Performance
MongoDB · K6 · Postman · OpenAPI
Strengths
Strategic leadership · Architectural thinking · Technical depth · Cross-functional communication · Detail-oriented