Joaquin Menchaca
Lead design of cloud-native architectures
Berkeley
Summary
Innovative architect specializing in cloud-native solutions, enhancing scalability and performance. Leverages cutting-edge technologies to optimize system efficiency and improve user experience. Facilitates cross-functional collaboration to deliver solutions aligned with business objectives, driving growth and technological transformation.
Overview
24
24
years of professional experience
4
4
Languages
Work History
Senior DevOps Engineer
OSTA Consulting (Wex, NGFin)
10.2023 - Current
- Lead architecture and deployment of a highly available DataHub governance platform on Kubernetes, automating infrastructure and application provisioning with Terraform and Helm across multiple environments.
- Implemented Infrastructure as Code (IaC) for development pipeline (GitLab, ArgoCD) and observability (Datadog) using Terraform and Helm.
- Owned project lifecycle from design to production handoff, coordinating junior engineer and collaborating with application and infrastructure teams to ensure operational readiness.
- Authored runbooks on deployment, scaling, and incident response, facilitating long-term platform support and knowledge transfer.
- Mentored engineers and guided developers on cloud-native integration patterns as a Kubernetes and cloud infrastructure SME.
- Authored comprehensive runbooks covering deployment, scaling, and incident response, enabling sustainable long-term platform support.
Senior DevOps Lead
Dgraph Labs
03.2020 - 09.2023
- Managed DevOps team activities by organizing work into epics and stories aligned with KPIs; mentored engineers to improve project success rates and support personal development.
- Oversaw the SRE team for a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) database solution, leading architecture efforts on AWS and pioneering the Google Cloud implementation from the ground up.
- Developed and implemented advanced observability frameworks using Thanos, Prometheus, Grafana, and Loki to enhance system monitoring and real-time analytics.
- Acted as Solutions Architect for managed Kubernetes environments across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, integrating advanced solutions like Hashicorp Vault, Istio Service Mesh, and comprehensive observability platforms (ELK, Beats, Fluentd, Prometheus).
- Designed and developed automation solutions using Ansible and Terraform; orchestrated containerized applications using Kubernetes across multiple cloud platforms (EKS, AKS, GKE, RKE) and managed deployments via Helm.
- Architected high availability, secure platform-as-a-service solutions on Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud leveraging Kubernetes to ensure robust, scalable service delivery.
- Automated networking, security, and compute infrastructure across major cloud providers, improving operational efficiency and security through effective management of resources including VPCs, subnets, IAM, SSL/TLS, VPN, ALB, NLB, NAT, and autoscaling.
Senior DevOps Engineer
Crystal Equations (Twitch, ClearMetal, RocketLawyer)
11.2017 - 12.2019
- Spearheaded the architecture of a next-generation continuous deployment (CD) pipeline using Spinnaker integrated with Kubernetes on AWS EKS, facilitating a strategic migration from legacy systems utilizing Salt Stack and Docker.
- Developed automation strategies for SaaS solution in logistics industry, integrating change configuration with Salt Stack, infrastructure management with Terraform, and application orchestration using Salt Stack, Docker, and Python on AWS.
- Engineered workflow management solutions and operational DAG pipelines with Apache Airflow, enhancing process efficiency and automating data handling and task scheduling.
- Led design and implementation of CI/CD pipeline for SaaS solution in legal industry, applying GitOps principles and Jenkins X. Integrated system with Kubernetes and Helm, supporting complex technology stack including Sonatype Nexus and Quay for artifact management, GCS buckets and Fastly CDN for front-end delivery, and SBT, Gradle, and Maven for back-end builds.
DevOps Engineer
Gobalto (acquired by Oracle)
01.2016 - 10.2017
- Championed design and implementation of internal developer platform for development teams using Rails and NodeJS, enhancing collaboration and productivity while improving bug reproducibility.
- Designed and implemented a comprehensive CI/CD pipeline using Docker and Ansible, which included integration with a testing tool suite (MochaJS, RSpec, Capybara, WebKit, Selenium, Cucumber) and Artifactory for artifact management. This initiative greatly improved consistency and troubleshooting capabilities across various environments from development to production.
- Architected real-time streaming solution on AWS using Apache Storm cluster, integrating Zookeeper for service discovery and Nginx for reverse proxy support, with a deployment pipeline for topology job scheduling using Ansible and Python.
- Developed an automation framework for a pharmaceutical site-studies and analysis SaaS service, handling change configuration, infrastructure management, and orchestration using Ansible and Docker. This framework also included a push deployment strategy utilizing Ansible, SQS, and Python to streamline operations.
Jr. DevOps Engineer
JTS Consulting (Fandor, BigCommerce)
03.2015 - 11.2015
- Automated change configuration and deployment for SaaS solutions on AWS using Chef for configuration management and Ansible for deployment processes.
- Collaborated with development teams to streamline CI/CD pipelines and improve deployment frequency.
- Implemented infrastructure as code using Terraform to enhance environment consistency and reduce provisioning time.
- Assisted in monitoring system performance with tools like Prometheus and Grafana, ensuring uptime and reliability.
Senior Systems Engineer
Vertical Response
08.2013 - 02.2015
- Developed automation suite for marketing mail campaign SaaS solution on VMware bare metal infrastructure. Implemented Puppet for change configuration, kickstart for infrastructure setup, and Capistrano, Rake, and Ruby for deployment processes, enhancing performance of Rails and PostgreSQL environment.
- Developed systems for log shipping with rsyslog2, search capabilities with Elasticsearch, and job queuing with Resque; automated management of high-availability Puppet Master using Unicorn and Nginx, optimized Rails applications with Passenger and Nginx.
Senior Software Developer (DevOps)
MobiTV
05.2013 - 08.2013
- Developed automation solutions for configuration management (Puppet), infrastructure provisioning (Cobbler), and artifact deployment (Puppet, Pulp) on VMware bare metal infrastructure, enhancing delivery and operational efficiency of mobile video delivery Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) running on Tomcat/Apache.
- Engineered CI/CD build pipeline with early GitOps practices using Bamboo, Puppet, Git, and Maven, integrated Pulp for artifact management, ActiveMQ for messaging, Apache Solr for search, PostgreSQL and MySQL databases, and Varnish for web caching, improving development processes and deployment speed.
Senior Systems Engineer
Huddle (acquired by Ideagen)
08.2012 - 05.2013
- Engineered deployment automation with PowerShell, automating web application (ASP.NET), search functionality (Lucene.NET), message queuing (RabbitMQ), NoSQL data management (Redis), and database operations (MS SQL), streamlining deployment processes for documentation storage SaaS solution on Windows Servers.
Systems Engineer
JTS Consulting (USDoW/EDI, EasyAUM)
02.2004 - 07.2012
- Pioneered infrastructure modifications with cross-functional teams, managing stakeholder relations and executing projects to prevent operational disruptions.
- Designed and implemented virtualization solutions using the VMware stack, significantly enhancing the delivery of tested solutions for clients within the fund market financial management sector.
- Led the architecture, planning, and management of key infrastructure projects, including upgrades and migrations of PKI X.509 infrastructure, IPSec VPN tunnels, web and email servers, database servers, routers, switches, and firewalls, enhancing system security and performance.
- Conducted network and security assessments, infrastructure planning, and troubleshooting. Managed single-sign-on (SSO) interoperability and firewall configurations, securing web, email, and LDAP services.
Unix System Administrator
NASA Ames Research Center
01.2003 - 01.2004
- Supported change automation using CFEngine, implemented SSO with LDAP and Kerberos, and automated asset management system
- Gained practical experience through internship program
- Developed automated scripts to streamline routine maintenance tasks, enhancing operational efficiency.
- Administered Unix environments, ensuring system stability and availability for critical research operations.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Information Systems
San Francisco State University
San Francisco, CA01-2018
Bachelor of Science - International Business
San Francisco State University
San Francisco, CA01-2018
Associates - Network Programming
De Anza College
Cupertino, CA01-2013
Associates - Systems Programming
De Anza College
Cupertino, CA01-2008
Associates - Japanese
Foothill College
Los Altos, CA01-2006
Skills
Kubernetes
AWS
Google Cloud
Azure
Terraform
Ansible
ACTIVITIES
- Blogs (Technology): https://joachim8675309.medium.com/
- Guest Speaker at USENIX - LISA18: https://slides.com/devopstutio/lisa18_tdi-13#/
Certifications
- Terraform Associate (HCTA0-003), Oct 11, 2023
- Consul Associate (HCCA0-002), Apr 7, 2024
- Vault Associate (HCVA0-002), Apr 18, 2024
Timeline
Senior DevOps Engineer
OSTA Consulting (Wex, NGFin)
10.2023 - Current
Senior DevOps Lead
Dgraph Labs
03.2020 - 09.2023
Senior DevOps Engineer
Crystal Equations (Twitch, ClearMetal, RocketLawyer)
11.2017 - 12.2019
DevOps Engineer
Gobalto (acquired by Oracle)
01.2016 - 10.2017
Jr. DevOps Engineer
JTS Consulting (Fandor, BigCommerce)
03.2015 - 11.2015
Senior Systems Engineer
Vertical Response
08.2013 - 02.2015
Senior Software Developer (DevOps)
MobiTV
05.2013 - 08.2013
Senior Systems Engineer
Huddle (acquired by Ideagen)
08.2012 - 05.2013
Systems Engineer
JTS Consulting (USDoW/EDI, EasyAUM)
02.2004 - 07.2012
Unix System Administrator
NASA Ames Research Center
01.2003 - 01.2004
Bachelor of Science - International Business
San Francisco State University
Associates - Network Programming
De Anza College
Associates - Systems Programming
De Anza College
Associates - Japanese
Foothill College
Bachelor of Science - Information Systems
San Francisco State University