About Ben Spurlock

Senior Test Automation Consultant specializing in helping Bay Area startups scale their testing infrastructure without breaking their development velocity.

My Background

I started my career as a Senior SDET at Mountain America Credit Union, where I learned the fundamentals of building reliable test automation at scale. From there, I moved to the startup world, working as a Senior SDET at WAVV and most recently at Snorkel AI, where I gained deep experience with the unique challenges of rapidly growing engineering teams.

At these companies, I built Playwright test automation frameworks from scratch, unified testing standards across multiple engineering teams, and reduced flaky tests by over 80%. I've seen firsthand how the right testing infrastructure can accelerate development velocity, and how the wrong approach can bring teams to a standstill.

Now I focus exclusively on helping Series A-C startups in the Bay Area solve their testing challenges. I understand the pressure of scaling from 10 to 50+ engineers while maintaining product quality and development speed. I've been there, and I know what works.

My approach isn't about implementing the latest testing trend—it's about building pragmatic, maintainable test automation that your team will actually use and trust. I focus on frameworks that grow with your company and patterns that scale across teams.

My Mission

To help Bay Area startups scale their testing infrastructure without sacrificing development velocity or product quality. No more choosing between speed and reliability.

My Approach

Pragmatic test automation that works. I focus on frameworks your team will actually use, patterns that scale with your company, and practices that reduce maintenance overhead.

What I Believe

These principles guide my approach to every test automation project.

Quality Over Coverage

Better to have 100 reliable tests than 1000 flaky ones. I focus on high-value tests that catch real bugs without false positives.

Maintainable Architecture

Test code is production code. I build frameworks with clear patterns, good abstractions, and documentation that keeps maintenance costs low.

Practical Solutions

No over-engineering. I solve real problems with proven tools and patterns that your team can understand and maintain long-term.

Track Record

Real results from real projects with growing startup engineering teams.

80%

Flaky Test Reduction

5x

Faster CI Pipelines

5

Teams Unified

10+

Years Experience

Ready to Scale Your Testing?

Let's discuss your testing challenges and how I can help build reliable automation that scales with your team.

Spurlock Applications

Senior Test Automation Consultant helping Bay Area startups scale their testing infrastructure since 2015.

Quick Links

Contact

ben@spurlock.app

(801) 871-9403

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