Santee, California, United States
Engineering leader and automation architect with over a decade building software systems across SWE, QA, SDET, DevOps, AI, and internal tooling — and now founder of Inertia Tech Group, a consulting practice helping engineering teams modernize how they build and adopt AI tooling that actually delivers. I specialize in building systems that scale — architecting frameworks, CI/CD pipelines, device farms, and internal tooling that replace weeks of manual work with minutes of automation. From startups to enterprise fintechs like Intuit and Gemini, I've built automation platforms that enabled acquisitions, drove SOC 2 compliance, and eliminated critical defects across globally deployed, regulated systems. I've led initiatives across 9+ product verticals, trained teams on three continents, scaled QA and tooling orgs from 2 to 27 engineers, and built infrastructure from self-hosted device farms to FIDO/FIDO2 authentication validation. Whether I'm rescuing failed vendor tools with custom wrappers or embedding testing into the SDLC as a release gate, I focus on results: faster releases, fewer bugs, and stronger engineering culture. Through Inertia Tech Group, I now bring that experience to teams as an embedded partner — covering quality and test automation, SDLC and DevOps, AI enablement, and the security and compliance work that keeps it all sound. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, I bring discipline and ownership to every engagement. Keep your systems in motion. → inertiatechgroup.com
Inertia Tech Group is a technology consulting practice focused on helping engineering teams build better software and adopt AI tooling that actually delivers. The practice spans the full engineering lifecycle — quality and test automation, SDLC and DevOps, AI enablement, and the security and compliance work that keeps it all sound. Inertia is led by Jason Smith, an engineer with over a decade in software spanning SWE, QA, SDET, automation, DevOps, AI, and internal tooling. He has built enterprise-scale automation ecosystems from the ground up at companies including Intuit and Gemini, scaled a QA and tooling organization from 2 to 27 engineers, trained teams across three continents, and stood up custom infrastructure — from self-hosted device farms for hardware, mobile, and cross-browser testing to FIDO and FIDO2 authentication validation. His work has driven SOC 2 compliance, contributed to a company acquisition, and embedded automated testing as a release gate across globally deployed, regulated platforms. That experience reaches across a deliberately broad range of industries — retail, mortgage, financial technology, crypto, and SaaS and PaaS platforms — from fast-moving product teams to highly regulated, compliance-heavy environments where quality and security aren't optional. The range is the point: rather than a narrow specialist or a junior consultant reading from a playbook, you get someone who has done nearly every role on an engineering team, across very different problem spaces, and knows how the pieces fit together. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Jason brings the discipline and ownership of that background to every engagement. The work is practical, not theoretical — delivering real artifacts like frameworks, pipelines, integrations, and guardrails, plus the training to help your team run them independently. Inertia works as an embedded partner through flexible monthly engagements, scaled to what your teams actually need.
At Gemini, I architected and led the Exchange Platform Automations initiative, owning the design and implementation of an enterprise-scale automation ecosystem from the ground up. Building on prior success at Omniex, I redefined the SDLC to position automated testing as a central gatekeeper for deployment—enabling high-confidence, low-friction delivery across nine distinct product verticals. The system I built supports cross-functional collaboration across departments and geographies, ensuring test frameworks and tooling remain scalable, maintainable, and aligned with engineering velocity. This shift helped standardize deployment practices across the organization, reduce production issues, and improve time-to-market—all while operating at the scale of a regulated, globally visible exchange. Though not in a titled people-management role, I directly influenced technical direction across platform teams, and previously scaled a QA/tooling org to 27 engineers. My ongoing focus is driving quality and release confidence through thoughtful automation strategy, platform-level observability, and streamlined developer workflows.
Head of QA & Tools | Omniex At Omniex, I led QA and internal tools during a pivotal growth phase, tasked with building scalable quality systems from the ground up. Within 30 days, I delivered a working automation framework integrated into CI. By day 90, we had full coverage on critical backend services and user flows—enabling engineering to ship faster and with greater confidence. I restructured our SDLC to embed automation, observability, and SOC 2 compliance from the start. This contributed to a 70% increase in system stability, and we saw just 3 Sev-1 bugs over 18 months, a dramatic improvement over prior metrics. The automation suite I designed also reduced our QA staffing needs while expanding test scope and velocity. I built and led a globally distributed team, fostering a collaborative quality culture that scaled with the company. My work was recognized by PractiTest, who featured our QA transformation publicly. These efforts directly contributed to Omniex’s successful acquisition by Gemini, where I was brought on to continue leading test and tooling strategy at scale.
I led the development of a core Test Automation Framework that reached 97% automation coverage across services, web, and mobile platforms. As part of this, I built a custom in-house device farm to support scalable testing across browsers and devices, eliminating external dependencies and significantly reducing test cycle times. These efforts resulted in a 90% improvement in both testing throughput and overall product quality. I also mentored and grew a high-performing QA team, fostering a culture of innovation, ownership, and continuous learning. In addition to framework ownership, I worked closely with product and engineering leadership to ensure our testing strategies aligned with business priorities and ADA compliance standards—driving better delivery timelines, traceability, and regulatory coverage. My focus on cross-functional collaboration and SDLC optimization contributed to measurable gains in operational efficiency across the board.