APCOA Group GmbH

Led the QA transformation on APCOA's core project — defining strategy, processes, testing stages, and criteria for 'definition of done' across a microservices architecture. Built and directed a team of QA professionals integrated into the continuous delivery pipeline.

Lead

Role

Microservices

Architecture

Led

QA team

Overview

APCOA — Europe’s largest parking operator — was scaling a microservices-based core platform and needed a comprehensive QA transformation to match. I came in as the Lead QA Engineer for the core initiative, responsible end-to-end for how quality flowed through their delivery pipeline.

What I owned

Defined and implemented the comprehensive QA strategy — processes, stages, types of testing required at each phase
Integrated QA into continuous delivery — particularly critical for microservices, where the independent deployability of services demands testing that can keep pace
Built and directed the QA team, delegating tasks based on skill level and experience, mentoring where needed
Established clear “definition of done” criteria at each development stage, co-owned with development and project management
Worked directly with development and project management leadership to set the quality bar for client deliverables

Stack

The microservices were predominantly C# with .NET. Testing spanned UI (Selenium, Puppeteer), API (Postman, custom clients), and contract-level validation. JavaScript for some components, Java for specific service areas.

Why it matters

QA transformation in microservices is where most teams get stuck. The old monolithic test approach doesn’t scale; test-everything-end-to-end becomes impossible; and yet quality gates still need to gate. The win at APCOA was in sequencing — where to invest in which testing layer, and in what order — not in writing more tests.