Helen Benson Email and Phone Number

As the test manager for the Perth office I have been during my tenure responsible for Test delivery against three technical streams In my capacity of test manager I have run with multiple streams of development across multiple technical silos managing, at times, upwards of 20 staff. My role requires involvement in project pipeline meetings and resource management to meet the demands of projects in hand and upcoming projects ensuring the best skilled and most capable staff are made available at the appropriate junctures.In order to maintain the high quality and diligence expected of the test staff at Primary Health Care it has been my responsibility and effectively delivered duty to select the best technically minded and skilled candidates following a thorough technical assessment and interview.Further, in my capacity I made it a fundamental point to ensure formal test techniques and methodologies are applied consistent with the intention to deliver highly capable, suitably rigorous yet pragmatic test strategies consistent with the directive and project mandates and schedule. I acted both as mentor and highly technical trainer advising and educating the staff on the application of technical techniques such as Extended Finite State Machines, Combinatorics, and Orthogonal Arrays etc. In the people management dimension I am highly interested in the day to day management of staff to ensure a harmonious work environment as well as to provide a meaningful career structure supported by formal and informal training. On a six monthly and yearly basis I conduct Performance 360 reviews to ensure that all staff are aware of how they are perceived as well as to identify knowledge/training gaps and afford a formal opportunity for both staff and I to discuss their issues together

This role required application of advanced software modelling techniques employing EFSM, CFG modeling as well as formal data modelling techniques employing high order Combinatorics. This modeling utilized advanced formal testing and programming skills as well as thorough formal testing knowledge. My well regarded performance in this role and covering for the V&V Manager on required occasions led to my promotion/appointment to the V&V Manager role which I currently fulfil

As a Team Leaders for one of the quality assurance departments I had the responsibility for a team of 12 people, half located at the headquarters, where I was also located and half at remote offices around Europe. My responsibilities involved the interviews and selection process for new members and when the successful candidate joined the team I trained them on the equipment, quality assurance testing procedures, and protocol used to complete the testing. I was also responsible for scheduling their day to day testing activities on the new prototype devices and setting their technical goals and actives and assessing their performance. When carrying out performance reviews with each individual I helped them to developed technical training programs tailed to their individual expertise and desired career direction. In some instates I was responsible for performance improvement plans, when some team input was not up to standard and in some unfortunate cases disciplinary procedures. I had the responsibility for the planning and coordination of prototype devices and the quality assurance testing life cycle in the Europe Middle East and Africa regions. I had the responsibility for ensuring that all the testing areas for a product were scheduled to take place at the appropriate time in the life cycle and all members involved understood the protocols and the time lines required. In coordinating the quality assurance testing, I was also responsible for keeping all stake holders in the project up to date with the testing information / issues that arose. The goal of the testing was to have a device that worked seamlessly for the end user, and also ensure that they meet the Global Certification Form (GCF) standards as dictated by all major global mobile networks. During my time as Team Lead I carried this out for 10 RIM Blackberry devices, so they could be launched in the Europe Middle East and Africa region.