Ryan Russell
Staff Cloud Engineer,
AWS Specialist,
DevOps Guru,
Hobbyist
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I am an experienced Cloud and DevOps engineer based out of Sacramento, California. I have extensive experience working hands on with AWS, and have spent the majority of my professional career improving and honing my engineering and architecture skills.

I spent 3 years as a consultant with Slalom and gained a lot of experience working with a wide range of clients across several highly regulated industries.

I then spent time on independent consulting projects, working closely with technology companies to design and build out critical AWS infrastructure. Today I am a Staff Cloud Engineer at Trust & Will.

In January of 2024 I launched Bright Wrench Design, a small online shop for hobby items that I've created.

Certifications & Training

  • AWS Cloud Practitioner Certified
  • AWS Solution Architect Associate Certified
  • AWS Solution Architect Professional Certified
  • AWS Developer Associate Certified
  • AWS SysOps Administrator Associate Certified
  • AWS DevOps Engineer Professional Certified
  • AWS Security Specialty Certified
  • AWS Well-Architected Framework Trained

Languages

  • Terraform
  • OpenTofu
  • CloudFormation
  • Go
  • Python
  • Bash

Tools & Skills

  • EC2
  • VPC
  • ECS
  • IAM
  • KMS
  • DynamoDB
  • Lambda
  • S3
  • CloudWatch
  • CloudTrail
  • CloudFormation
  • Kinesis
  • SNS
  • Git
  • GitHub
  • Bitbucket
  • AWS CLI
  • Networking
  • Embedded Systems
  • CI/CD
  • Linux
  • Docker
  • JIRA
  • Documentation
  • 3D Printing
  • IaC
  • Trust & Will   
    Remote
    Staff Cloud Engineer

    • Set and own technical direction for the multi-account AWS platform behind a product used by 1M+ users
    • Built the Terraform module strategy, policy checks, and self-service provisioning standards that let squads ship without re-solving security, networking, and cost architecture
    • Moved cloud access off long-lived credentials to OIDC federation, tightened IAM to least privilege, and standardized monitoring and incident readiness across services, supporting SOC 2 controls
    • Surface infrastructure risk to engineering and security leadership as business tradeoffs. Mentor engineers on cloud architecture, IaC, and DevSecOps
    • Use AI-assisted tooling heavily in daily platform work to build internal tooling and automate infrastructure workflows while keeping human review on security and architecture decisions
  • Independent Consultant   
    Remote

    Launched Bright Wrench Design as an independent AWS Cloud & DevOps Consultant

    • Slalom Consulting   
      Remote
      Independent Contract Employee

      • Contracted hourly independent project employee for Slalom Consulting
      • Worked closely with a large cryptocurrency client to migrate from an on-prem GitHub Enterprise Server (GHES) instance to a GitHub Enterprise Cloud Data Residency instance (GHEC)
      • Migrated complex GitHub Actions workflows from on-prem GHES to cloud-based GHEC
      • Updated internal systems and infrastructure to be compatible with cloud-based workflows
      • Assisted with designing and developing automated codebase migration tooling
    • Gruntwork   
      Remote
      Software Engineer

      • Led engineering work for the Infrastructure as Code Library. Built new Terraform modules, implemented new features to existing modules, and organized regular maintenance and upgrades on existing IaC components.
      • Contributed to open source projects such as cloud-nuke, terragrunt, and terratest
      • Worked closely with customers and other engineers across multiple time zones in a fully remote environment.
    • Altium Limited   
      Remote
      DevOps Engineer

      • Provided guidance on best practices for deploying applications to a regulated AWS GovCloud environment
    • Slalom Consulting   
      San Francisco, CA / Remote
      Senior Consultant - Cloud & DevOps

      • Designed and developed DevOps pipelines for automating infrastructure deployments (CI/CD)
      • Designed and built a terraform module catalog for use in developing a serverless data lake on AWS
      • Worked with wide range of clients and projects from startups to large enterprise organizations
    • Convergence CT   
      Livermore, CA
      Solutions Architect

      • Lead Solution Architect for design and development of AWS components of the Global Healthcare Data Network
      • Designed, recommended, and implemented a multi-account AWS strategy
      • Designed, built and deployed AWS cross account roles, policies, and deployment pipelines for least-privileged access to maximize security while continuing to enable developer productivity.
      • Deployed a cross-account centralized logging ELK stack utilizing S3, Elasticsearch, Lambda, Kinesis Firehose, with logs encrypted by KMS.
    • Pacific Gas & Electric Company   
      San Francisco, CA
      Systems Engineer

      • Worked with Analytics team to design and deploy cloud infrastructure by coordinating between Solution Architecture, Infrastructure & Operations, and Business Technology groups
      • Cloud Mentor for the Cloud Mentorship Program
    •    
      Programmer Analyst

      • Product Owner for Basecamp One: A course to introduce solution architects to cloud native systems in an engaging and experiential way
      • Developed and implemented reference applications across different cloud service providers: AWS, Heroku, Pivotal CloudFoundry, and IBM Bluemix
      • Implemented proof-of-concepts for various architecture based initiatives focused on integrating existing on-prem systems with cloud based-systems
      • AWS Certified Solution Architect Professional, DevOps Engineer Professional, Associate Developer, Associate SysOps Administrator, Associate Solution Architect
    •    
      IT Rotational Engineer (ITRDP)

      PG&E IT Rotational Development Program (ITRDP)

      • Developed cloud-based application back-end utilizing Node.js, Python and MongoDB
      • Worked with the Solution Architecture team
      • Assisted with documenting integration design patterns
      • Testing with the Enterprise Integration API Management team
      • Built an application utilizing Salesforce and Heroku platforms as a proof of concept
    • Graduated from Sonoma State University   
      Rohnert Park, CA
      Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering

      • Pacific Gas & Electric Company   
        San Francisco, CA
        Intern - Information Technology

        Summer intern with IT HR Systems team

        • Assisted primarily with SAP HR process design mapping & improvements
        • Tested internal HR systems and web applications
        • Handled various HR data requests through SAP
        • Created scripts to help improve and automate vital IT HR processes
      •