Val Kononoff
§ 00
QA & Quality Engineering ConsultingToronto · Remote

Accelerate your delivery.
Fix QA before it becomes a bottleneck.

I help engineering leaders ship faster by fixing the quality engineering layer — strategy, automation, and AI-driven workflows that scale with your team.

12+ yrs
in QA & quality engineering
8 teams
led across scrum orgs
40% faster
time to market, average
AI-native
workflows shipped to prod
§ 01Services

Four pillars to move quality from cost center to delivery accelerator.

01Pillar

Strategic QA Transformation

Align your QA strategy with business goals and reduce time to market.

  • Quality assessment audit
  • Roadmap & metrics
  • Org structure
02Pillar

Test Automation

Build reliable, maintainable automation that scales with your product.

  • Framework selection
  • CI/CD integration
  • Coverage strategy
03Pillar

AI in QA Workflows

Leverage AI tooling to accelerate testing and reduce manual effort.

  • LLM-assisted authoring
  • Test generation
  • Triage automation
04Pillar

Team Enablement & Training

Upskill QA and dev teams on modern practices and tools.

  • Hands-on workshops
  • Pairing programs
  • Playbooks & docs
§ 02Selected work

Engagements where the QA function moved the business — not just the test count.

01

QA Team Leadership & Hiring

Built and scaled QA practices across multiple scrum teams. Hired and onboarded senior engineers, established quality engineering standards, and rolled them out org-wide.

8 teams
scaled across the org
LeadershipHiringStandards
02

AI Tooling Implementation

Led rollout of AI and language-model tools across test automation workflows. Improved authoring efficiency, reduced flake, and decreased the path from feature merge to verified release.

60% less
manual authoring time
LLMsAutomationTooling
03

Cultural Shift to AI-Driven QA

Facilitated organizational adoption of language-model-based workflows. Shifted team mindset from traditional manual testing to AI-augmented quality engineering through pairing, playbooks, and embedded coaching.

3 quarters
to full team adoption
Change mgmtEnablement
04

Accelerated Delivery

Demonstrable reduction in time to market through process optimization, automation improvements, and removing the QA bottleneck from the release pipeline.

40% faster
time to market
VelocityProcess
§ 03About

I've spent the last decade-plus building quality engineering practices that ship.

I work with engineering leaders to take quality from a downstream cost center to an upstream accelerator — through strategy, automation, and the careful introduction of AI into testing workflows.

My engagements are pragmatic: built around the team you have, the codebase you already ship, and the business outcomes that matter to your roadmap.

Val Kononoff — portrait
Val KononoffQuality Engineering Consultant
§ 04Common questions

Things engineering leaders ask before we start.

What kind of engagements do you take?
Project-based QA transformation, fractional Head of QA, test-automation framework builds, AI-in-QA integration pilots, and team training. Engagements range from a 2-week diagnostic audit to multi-quarter strategic partnerships.
Do you work remote, or only on-site?
Both. I'm based in Toronto, Canada, and work primarily with remote and distributed engineering teams worldwide. On-site visits during kick-off or training sprints are available where it makes sense.
How is consulting different from hiring a full-time QA lead?
A consultant brings cross-industry pattern recognition and an outside perspective with no internal politics. For most companies a senior QA hire takes 6–9 months to ramp up and start changing systems; an engagement starts producing roadmap and quick wins in week one. Consulting is also the right shape when you need transformation without the long-term headcount.
What's your approach to AI in QA workflows?
Pragmatic. AI tools today reliably accelerate test authoring, triage flake, and convert manual scenarios into automated specs — provided humans stay in the loop on coverage decisions. I help teams adopt LLM-assisted testing without losing the discipline of intentional coverage strategy.
How do you measure success on a QA engagement?
By delivery metrics, not test counts: time from feature merge to verified release, escaped-defect rate per quarter, automation maintenance cost, manual-authoring hours per sprint, and engineering confidence at deploy time.
What size of company do you work with?
Mostly Series A through enterprise — anywhere from 20-engineer scale-ups to 200+ engineer organizations rolling out QA practices across multiple scrum teams.
§ 05Get in touch

Tell me what's slowing your release pipeline.

Schedule a 30-min call
val.kono@proton.me
+1 (416) 877-8457
Available
Q3 2026 onward
Engagement
Project · hourly · training
Based in
Toronto, Canada
Working with
Teams worldwide, remote