Ted Strall
Lake Zurich, IL
ted@strall.com • GitHub • LinkedIn • strall.com • usekarma.dev
Professional Summary
Cloud infrastructure engineer with a focus on scalable system design, automated deployment pipelines, and secure AWS architecture. Creator of Adage and Karma, open-source frameworks for modular infrastructure and graph-based system tracking.
Experienced with Terraform, Kubernetes, Jenkins, and modern AWS services including Lambda, Fargate, EKS, Cognito, and RDS. Support developer workflows with CI/CD, observability, and secure, automated infra that just works.
Experience
Senior Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
Sparksoft (via TISTA) – Remote
Jul 2023 – Mar 2025
Led multiple modernization efforts on the APS project, spanning data migration, infrastructure, and DevOps automation.
- Took ownership of a complex Oracle-to-Oracle data migration involving 200+ interdependent SQL scripts tied to production workloads on EKS.
- Fully automated the 14-hour migration process into a single-command workflow, replacing manual CI/CD steps with a DevOps-standard deployment model.
- Worked closely with data scientists and the client to identify and resolve legacy data quality issues ahead of the migration.
- Took ownership of the post-migration data model and aligned it with CMS standards through direct collaboration with analysts, developers, and DBAs.
- Re-architected the EKS cluster lifecycle using Terraform, improving reliability and consistency across environments.
- Implemented secrets orchestration via Secrets Manager.
- Enhanced observability with CloudWatch metrics, Datadog traces, and custom Grafana dashboards to surface systemic and performance issues.
- Designed and automated a repeatable Oracle RDS to Aurora PostgreSQL migration framework using Terraform, AWS SCT, DMS, and Git workflows—enabling rapid conversion testing via disposable environments.
- Provided hands-on support during production incidents, root cause analysis (RCA) and issue remediation.
- Worked directly with non-technical stakeholders to surface blockers, clarify priorities, and drive delivery.
Senior Cloud Engineer
TISTA Science and Technology – Remote
Jun 2019 – Jul 2023
Led AWS infrastructure delivery across multiple federal contracts, balancing strict security requirements with automation and scale.
- Designed and deployed production-grade infrastructure using Terraform, covering EKS clusters, serverless APIs, and multi-account architectures on both existing contracts and new proposals.
- Managed workloads using EKS, Lambda, API Gateway, S3, Aurora, and Route 53, ensuring uptime across dev, test, and prod environments.
- Defined parameter-driven deployment pipelines using SSM, IAM, and Secrets Manager, enabling secure environment separation and team handoff.
- Integrated Cognito for authentication in multiple applications with complex access control needs.
- Delivered repeatable bootstrapping tools and CI/CD patterns adopted across teams.
- Supported infrastructure under active development pressure, debugging Terraform drift, IAM failures, and rollout issues in real time.
Earlier Roles – Backend, DevOps, Data Engineering
Examples: Bank of America, Uptake, Finch Computing, Bloomberg Law
2008 – 2019
Laid the foundation for my infrastructure work by owning backend systems, data pipelines, and deployment tooling across regulated and distributed environments.
- At Bank of America, built Prometheus monitoring system and long-term storage backend using HDFS to retain time-series metrics at scale.
- At Uptake, supported predictive analytics for industrial clients with Python-based data pipelines and real-time monitoring.
- At Finch Computing, developed pipelines and services for large-scale data ingestion, transformation, and machine learning. Supported streaming workloads and real-time analytics.
- At Bloomberg Law, rebuilt backend of Bloomberg Law’s legal search platform, migrating from legacy HP Autonomy to Apache Solr for improved relevance, scalability, and maintainability.
Open Source
strall.com / Adage Infrastructure Studio – Lake Zurich, IL
- Built Adage, a Terraform-based framework for modular, multi-account AWS infrastructure with runtime-aware parameter management and identity-based access controls.
- Developing Karma, a graph backend using Amazon Neptune for infrastructure lineage and dependency tracking across services and environments.
Both projects are used to prototype and document patterns I’ve developed through real-world cloud infrastructure work.
Skills
Cloud: AWS (Lambda, Fargate, ECS, EKS, EC2, RDS, Aurora, S3, IAM, SSM, Cognito, CloudFront, Route 53, ACM, API Gateway, SNS, SQS)
Languages: Python, Java, HCL, Bash, SQL
Tools: Terraform, Kubernetes, Jenkins, Ansible, Docker, GitHub Actions, Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, Splunk
Education
University of Illinois – B.S., Software Engineering
DePaul University – M.S., Predictive Analytics (incomplete)
Completed all core and advanced courses; 3 courses short of degree