Cloud Architecture & Migration
I design secure, highly-available AWS and GCP architectures and lead migrations off legacy infrastructure: HIPAA-compliant, DevSecOps-driven, and delivered as Infrastructure as Code your team can own and extend.
About Me
I’m a senior engineer specializing in cloud architecture, NLP, and search, with over 25 years of experience designing high-stakes distributed systems. My career spans mission-critical government work: software engineering and verification for NASA’s Mars “Curiosity” rover and the FBI’s N-DEx project, through Fortune 500 cloud transformations, data engineering, search relevance, and open-source leadership.
I specialize in multi-cloud architectures on AWS and GCP, scalable data pipelines, natural language processing, and search engineering. I hold 17 AWS certifications and 8 Google Cloud certifications, and as an AWS Gold Jacket owner I’ve achieved every AWS certification. I’ve also been recognized as an AWS Community Builder. As PMC Chair of Apache OpenNLP and an Apache Software Foundation Member, I actively shape one of the most widely used NLP frameworks in the Java ecosystem.
Across every role I write production code, pair with engineering teams, and leave behind systems that are documented, tested, and fully owned by the people who inherit them.
Outside of tech, I’m a wilderness guide at Deliberate Pace Guiding, leading backcountry trips.
How I Can Help
I partner with teams to design, build, and de-risk their most important cloud, search, and NLP systems.
Data Engineering
I build efficient, maintainable data pipelines on open-source streaming technologies like Apache NiFi, Kafka, Flink, and Spark, so your data moves reliably from source to analytics and ML workloads.
Natural Language Processing
I build and fine-tune NLP systems for named-entity recognition, document classification, and text processing with Apache OpenNLP and ONNX, plus the pipelines to keep your models fresh.
Search Engineering
I turn “our search is bad” into measurable relevance gains by defining KPIs and building learning-to-rank, vector, hybrid, and multi-language search on OpenSearch, Elasticsearch, and Apache Solr.
Data Governance & Compliance
I design data governance and compliance engineering: classification, retention policies, and automated discovery for HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA, so sensitive data is handled correctly at scale.
Open-Source Depth
You work with a hands-on contributor to the tools you rely on: PMC Chair of Apache OpenNLP, an OpenSearch maintainer, and a regular speaker at NLP, search, and cloud conferences.
Have a project in mind? I take on engagements ranging from short architecture reviews to multi-month builds. Currently booking Q4 2026.
Certifications
Fully AWS certified (17x) and Google Cloud certified (8x). Browse the AWS and Google Cloud transcripts on Credly.
AWS Amazon Web Services · 17x certified
- Generative AI Developer – Professional (Early Adopter)
- Solutions Architect – Professional
- DevOps Engineer – Professional
- Advanced Networking – Specialty
- Data Analytics – Specialty
- Databases – Specialty
- Machine Learning – Specialty
- Security – Specialty
- Machine Learning Engineer – Associate (Early Adopter)
- Data Engineer – Associate
- Developer – Associate
- Solutions Architect – Associate
- SysOps Administrator – Associate
- AI Practitioner
- Cloud Practitioner
- Big Data – Specialty (Retired)
- Alexa Skill Builder – Specialty (Retired)
GCP Google Cloud · 8x certified
Other Additional Certifications
- Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)
- HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate
- CompTIA Security+
- GitLab Certified Associate
- Elasticsearch Engineer 2 (2020)
- Elasticsearch Engineer 1 (2019)
Previous Clients
A selection of organizations across healthcare, finance, government, e-commerce, logistics, natural resources, and data & AI.
Selected Work
A few representative engagements: the problem, the approach, and what the client walked away with.
Open-Source Data Pipelines
Designed and built efficient, maintainable data pipelines on open-source technologies like Apache NiFi, Kafka, Flink, and Spark for ingest, transformation, and delivery into analytics and ML workloads. Emphasis on Infrastructure as Code and documentation so the client’s own team could own and extend the systems after handoff.
Enterprise Search Relevance
Improved the performance and relevancy of search systems for enterprise clients across multiple verticals. Defined search KPIs, stood up offline search labs, and developed learning-to-rank models, turning subjective “bad search” complaints into measurable, repeatable relevance gains.
Healthcare Cloud at Scale
Served as Agile DevOps lead for an AWS infrastructure team of 15 engineers building commercial healthcare applications. Drove the transition to a DevSecOps model and designed HIPAA-compliant architectures spanning microservices, API gateways, and streaming data on Kafka and Flink.
Technical Skills
Programming Languages
Cloud & Infrastructure
Data & Streaming
Search & NLP
Community & Open Source
Apache OpenNLP | PMC Chair
I serve as PMC Chair of Apache OpenNLP and as an Apache Software Foundation Member. I’ve contributed to the project for over 15 years, shaping release cadence, mentoring committers, and stewarding one of the most widely used NLP frameworks in the Java ecosystem.
OpenSearch Maintainer
I’m an OpenSearch maintainer on two projects: UBI (User Behavior Insights), which lets search relevance teams capture and analyze implicit user feedback for learning-to-rank and A/B testing, and opensearch-migrations, which helps teams move between search engines and across OpenSearch versions. I’m an OpenSearch member and active contributor.
Open Source Software
I founded Phileas, an open-source text processing library available in Java, Python, and Go, adopted in commercial products including Graylog. I contribute to a broad range of NLP, search, and data infrastructure projects.
AWS Community Builder
Recognized as an AWS Community Builder. I’ve authored questions for AWS certification exams and published commercial products to the AWS Marketplace, staying close to both the practitioner community and AWS engineering standards.
Conference Presentations
A selection of talks at international conferences on NLP, search, cloud, and AI.
- Leveraging LDP for High-Trust OpenSearch UBIOpenSearchCon
- Apache OpenNLP and the Model Context ProtocolApache Community Over Code
- Using Modern NLP Models from Apache OpenNLP with SolrApache Community Over Code
- Demonstrating ONNX in Apache Solr search applications via Apache OpenNLPONNX Community Meetup
- Catching the Quiet Thief: Detecting Low-and-Slow API Data ExfiltrationAPI Days
- Building an NLP Model Training Pipeline with Apache OpenNLP and Apache NiFiApache Community Over Code
- Apache OpenNLP and LLMs – Where Does OpenNLP Fit In?Apache Community Over Code
- Using Apache OpenNLP with OpenSearch k-NN Vector SearchLinux Foundation Open Source Summit
- What’s New and Coming in Apache OpenNLP 2.0ApacheCon
- Getting the Most from Your OpenSearch ContributionsAmazon Web Services OpenSearchCon · Recording
- Searching for the Right Words: Bringing NLP Transformers to Apache Solr via Apache OpenNLPLinux Foundation Open Source Summit · Recording
- Applied MLOps to Maintain Model Freshness on KubernetesBerlin Buzzwords · Recording
- Leveraging Neural Networks and Learning-to-Rank in Document WorkflowsActivate Search and AI Conference · Recording
- Using Sockeye Neural Machine Translation in a Streaming PipelinePyData Washington DC · Recording
- Embracing Diversity: Searching Over Multiple LanguagesActivate Search and AI Conference · Recording
- Embracing Diversity: Implementing Multi-language SearchHaystack Search Relevance Conference
From the Blog
Recent writing on NLP, search, cloud, and open source.
What is Learning to Rank?
A plain-language introduction to learning to rank (LTR): using machine learning to order search results, the judgments and features that train a model, and how the OpenSearch Learning to Rank plugin puts it to work.
Understanding OpenSearch User Behavior Insights (UBI)
An introduction to OpenSearch User Behavior Insights (UBI): what it is, how it captures the queries and clicks that reveal what users actually want, and how that data powers learning-to-rank, A/B testing, and better search relevance.
Apache OpenNLP and the Model Context Protocol
Why you don't need an LLM for every NLP task, and how the Model Context Protocol (MCP) lets you delegate foundational work like tokenization and named-entity recognition to Apache OpenNLP: cheaper, faster, and easier to scale.