QA Automation
Playwright, Cypress, Pytest — end-to-end coverage.
Portfolio · 2026
Hi, I'm Malachy. QA Engineer, System Admin & IT Support Specialist.
I engineer confidence into software and infrastructure — from automated test suites to resilient servers, with a fondness for LLM-driven, spec-first workflows.
About
Engineering quality, from code to server rack.
I'm Malachy — a QA engineer and systems specialist who treats software the way an architect treats a building. Every deploy, every migration, every test suite is a chance to make things feel effortless for the humans that come after.
I lean on Playwright, Docker, and Linux daily, and I've been deeply exploring LLM-driven, spec-first coding — where the conversation between engineer and model becomes the source of truth.
8+
Years in QA
40+
Projects shipped
99.9%
Uptime targeted
Toolkit
The stack behind the work.
System Administration
Linux, Nginx, Bash, monitoring & hardening.
Containerization
Docker, Compose, image optimization, CI pipelines.
Scripting
Python and shell for automation & tooling.
Version Control
Git workflows, code review, branching strategies, release mgmt.
Linux Servers
Debian/Ubuntu, security hardening, performance tuning.
WordPress
Custom themes, CPTs, meta boxes, REST API, performance tuning.
LLM & Agentic Coding
Prompt engineering, context management, multi-agent workflows.
Work
Recent projects.
Timeline
Where I've been.
2024 — Present
Senior QA Engineer & Systems Consultant
IMaD Consulting · London
Architecting and deploying test automation frameworks across client projects. Building LLM-integrated QA pipelines and championing spec-first development practices.
2021 — 2024
QA Automation Engineer
Enterprise SaaS · Remote
Designed and maintained large-scale test suites for enterprise SaaS products. Reduced regression cycle time by 70% through parallelization and smart test selection algorithms.
2019 — 2021
Systems Administrator
Managed Services Firm · London
Managed 200+ Linux servers across 3 data centres. Implemented automated patching, monitoring, and disaster recovery procedures that achieved 99.99% uptime over 24 months.
2017 — 2019
IT Support Engineer
Regional Bank · Manchester
Provided tier-2 and tier-3 support for 800+ users across 15 branches. Led the migration from on-premise Exchange to Microsoft 365, and deployed a company-wide MDM solution.
Writing
Notes from the shop.
When a Senior Developer Joins Upwork: The Five Stages of Freelance Grief
The emotional journey of an experienced developer discovering that Upwork doesn't care about your resume — only your last completed project.
ReadDiary of an Upwork Newbie: Day 1 to Day 30
The first 30 days of freelancing on Upwork — from zero replies to three active contracts. What worked, what didn't, and what…
ReadLet's talk.
Whether it's a test strategy, a server migration, or a quiet pairing session on LLM workflows — I'd be glad to hear from you.