Kurt Zech Email & Phone Number

Austin, TX, US

Austin, TX

Managing the development of autonomous vehicle technology using my background in automation and controls.

Austin, Texas Area

• QA Manager, Software Testing Spearheaded software testing as QA Manager for Payment Software (EPP, EMV). Transformed software testing by decreasing test time and improving quality. With a team up to 5 QA engineers.
• Redesigned and implemented automated tests and hands-on tests to improve quality and usability of payment and embedded (firmware) software solutions, reducing test time for a full regression by over 50%.
• Aligned QA with Developers prior to bug reporting, improving issue reporting and reducing false positives over 30%.
• Received awards for Quality and "Above and Beyond" peer support, which resulted in additional product orders ($3M+), customer appreciation, and efficiency improvements in testing.

Austin, Texas Area

• Software Development Manager (DM) Transformed Dell's Backup and Recovery Applications (BURA) software and hardware solutions for the Dell/Alienware product lines by delivering successful management of design.
• Managed resources, definition of schedules/plans/requirements, testing (QA) and creation of best practices for software development, which reduced release time and costs by over 50%.
• Redesigned and reduced amount of backup USB hardware required for entire Dell/Alienware product line over 800%, resulting in a reduction in development and product cost of 80%+.
• Designed, created, and deployed Cloud Recovery solution, saving Dell Services $1M to $8M per year with +98% on time delivery.
• Defined, developed, and delivered the “Agile Development Process” to Dell Inc. as part of the Tiger Team, transitioning from a Waterfall development to an Enterprise Agile.

• Engineering Manager Led teams to provide on-time and on-budget consulting, engineering development services, and project management for software product development (including embedded) for budgets up to several.
• Designed and created products, enabling customer to generate millions in sales.
• Defined and documented installation procedures that resulted in an 80% reduction in installation time and costs.

• Senior Program Manager (PMO) Effective PMO for Windows and Linux software projects from product definition, planning and QA/Testing to release-to-market for clients, including Dell and Alienware. PMO projects.
• Created procedures and processes for Austin and remote based program managers, defining plans and project execution time reduction by 50%.
• Designed project documentation standards used for all projects, generating clear and concise product requirements resulting in improved quality with no bugs open at release.
• Managed delivery of 100% projects at or under budget and on time.

• Product Engineering Manager/Technical Program Manager Directed engineering in design, development, testing and release to market for Windows and Linux software projects. Coordinated and led product.
• Communicated closely with customers, sales, product management and engineering, delivering all projects on time and under budget (100%).
• Created "Best Practices" documentation for software development, improving quality with no bugs open at release.
• Pioneered first Engineering Project Management position by defining position and training for new engineering project managers.
• Nominated for Diamond Quality award

Austin, Texas, United States

• Manage all engineering products and services for the Fieldbus Foundation (FF) enterprise. Includes software / hardware development and implementation, QA testing / development tools, technical services, training.
• Responsible for: QA, development of software (SaaS and Testing systems), hardware, testing and registration of devices, adherence to specifications, technical coverage of test systems, marketing and sale of test.
• Manage worldwide education and training courses. o Educational development and instructor at the college and professional level (SAIT, Lee College, Beijing University, Singapore Polytechnic, Infraserv, STC, SIRA.
• Manage legal issues concerning patents, contracts and intellectual property rights.
• Technical support for developers and users on digital communication networking technology.