Covering Letter
Neha Bajaj and the Selection Panel
Revenue NSW / Department of Customer Service
Dear Neha and the selection panel,
I am writing to apply for the Principal Test Automation - Chapter Lead role with Revenue NSW. As a Principal Consultant at Planit Testing with over 15 years of experience across test automation leadership, performance engineering, and quality practice development across federal government and enterprise environments, I am confident I can establish and lead the quality and test automation practice this role demands.
What draws me to this role specifically is the mandate to establish enterprise-wide QA and test automation standards, frameworks, and guard rails across digital squads. In my consulting work at Planit Testing I have repeatedly entered organisations at various stages of maturity and built or rebuilt their test automation capability from the ground up - from framework selection and CI/CD integration through to coaching teams and embedding shift-left quality practices. I understand the difference between doing automation on a team and actually building a team's capacity to own and evolve it.
I have hands-on experience with the full automation toolkit listed in the role description - Selenium/Java, Playwright, Postman/Newman, RestAssured, JMeter - and have designed and maintained test automation strategies for Azure-hosted government systems. I hold NeoLoad certification and have delivered performance testing within AWS and Azure environments.
I am comfortable operating at the intersection of strategic leadership and operational enablement, and I have a track record of working across multiple squads simultaneously - engaging with Chapter Leads, Product Owners, and engineering teams to remove impediments and drive consistency of practice.
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to Revenue NSW's digital transformation and would be delighted to discuss my application further.
Kind regards,
Sam Walker
Principal Consultant, Quality Engineering
Planit Testing
0400 661 445 | samwalker382@protonmail.com
Selection Criteria Responses
1. Provide expert advice and information to stakeholders on emerging project issues and present recommendations to support project delivery
Example: Hollard - Connect at Hollard Azure Migration Phase 1
At Hollard, I was engaged as Project Test Manager for a $2M Azure migration spanning multiple releases and complex integration streams. As issues emerged during the migration - including late-breaking changes to integration endpoints and data validation discrepancies - I provided expert advice to the project steering committee on the impact of each issue on the test schedule, budget, and delivery timeline. I presented clear, data-backed recommendations at each point: which issues to escalate, which could be managed within the existing plan, and which required scope adjustments. My ability to translate technical risk into executive language meant the committee could make informed decisions quickly, keeping the migration on track through several tight deadline pressures.
At Planit, this is a core part of my consulting role - advising federal government and enterprise clients on test strategy and risk in the context of their broader project plans and commercial constraints.
2. Manage the communication of the Project Delivery Framework and related processes to all relevant stakeholders to ensure delivery standards are met
Example: Queensland Shared Services - Performance Test Framework Uplift
At QSS, I developed and delivered training walkthroughs, written run guides, and dashboard documentation - communicating the new performance testing framework to operations staff, release managers, and technical teams who would be responsible for running it independently on future releases. This ensured delivery standards were met consistently across teams without requiring ongoing consultant involvement.
Example: CBRE Pacific - Data Isolation Project
I developed and presented discovery findings in stakeholder workshops to operational and digital staff, building shared understanding of the QA strategy and getting alignment on delivery process adoption. Managing communication of the framework to diverse stakeholders was a prerequisite for getting them to own it.
3. Lead the continuous improvement in program/project efficiency by updating the Project Delivery framework to meet required standards
Example: QSS - JMeter/ELK Performance Testing Framework
The existing performance testing approach at QSS was ad hoc and inconsistent. I designed and implemented a distributed JMeter framework with ELK on-demand dashboards, including standardised test scripts, reusable assertion sets, and automated reporting. This was a genuine framework update that lifted the team's capability to deliver performance testing to a consistent standard on every release.
Example: CBRE Pacific - QA Strategy Roadmap
I developed a roadmap that updated their QA delivery framework - moving them from purely manual, repeatable UAT to a managed testing process with automation as a first-class component. The roadmap included short-, medium-, and long-term improvements aligned to their resource constraints.
4. Promote the application of the Project Delivery Framework through collaborative learning forums to increase awareness and promote the benefits realisation
Example: Planit Testing - Sydney Practice
At Planit I regularly facilitate knowledge sharing across the Sydney practice on tools, frameworks, and testing approaches - running informal collaborative sessions where consultants share what they've learned on client engagements. This is a collaborative learning forum in practice, promoting adoption of better approaches across the team.
Example: ACU - Canvas LMS Migration
I introduced session-based testing to cope with late delivery of waterfall requirements in an agile cadence. I promoted this approach through team workshops and one-on-one coaching, building understanding of why the technique was being introduced rather than mandating compliance.
5. Lead and develop the standards for project assurance to support health checks and post implementation reviews
Example: Hollard - Multi-Phase Test Strategy
At Hollard, I designed and implemented a test strategy that encompassed System Testing, E2E Testing, and Business Acceptance Testing across complex integration streams. This included defining the assurance standards for each phase - entry and exit criteria, defect management protocols, and sign-off requirements that supported formal health checks and post-implementation reviews.
Example: InvoCare - Enterprise Program Test Management
At InvoCare, I led defect resolution through structured defect reviews and triage meetings - a key component of project assurance that feeds directly into health check and post-implementation review processes.
6. Lead the collaboration with program/project team members to support the program/project set up, progress and completion
Example: ACU Canvas LMS Migration
At ACU, I led a team of quality engineers through a combined waterfall and agile project methodology. My role included setting up the quality framework at the outset of the project (setup), facilitating the testing process through the migration delivery (progress), and managing sign-off and reporting for go-live (completion).
Example: Hollard - CAH Azure Migration
For the CAH Azure Migration, I worked closely with development squads, integration partners, and business stakeholders throughout the full project lifecycle - from initial test setup through to post-migration sign-off.
Key Challenges
Achieving multiple project objectives given limited resources and tight deadlines - At Hollard, I handled this by prioritising ruthlessly, focusing automated regression on the highest-risk integration paths, and running exploratory testing in parallel on lower-risk areas.
Managing competing priorities and maintaining consistently high levels of support under heavy workloads - At Planit I work across multiple client engagements simultaneously, maintaining clear prioritisation frameworks and using structured test management tools (Jira, Azure DevOps) to keep everything visible.
Balancing short-term and long-term program/project priorities - At CBRE Pacific, I deliberately structured the roadmap to deliver quick wins alongside longer-term capability uplift - so the team could see progress immediately while building toward a more mature testing model.
Notes for the Selection Panel
Government sector experience: Extensive federal government and government-adjacent consulting experience including QSS, ACU, and federal government clients at Planit and AccessHQ.
PV Clearance: Willing to obtain PV clearance. Australian citizen.
Availability: Available immediately for interview and to commence engagement.