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Blake
McNeal
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Experience
Experience
2022-2023
DevOps Engineer
Berkindale.
Montreal (Remote)
DevOps Engineer
Key Achievements: Created reusable Terraform modules to streamline multi-env deployment of MVP app, enabling team to replicate dev, staging and prod environments in under 15 minutes Deployed AWS resources for MVPs using Lambda for compute, IAM for access control, and CloudWatch for real-time monitoring Implemented GitHub Actions pipelines to enforce secure, consistent deployments across environments Focus Areas: Infrastructure automation for rapid application development and deployment Multi-environment deployment standardization Secure CI/CD pipeline implementation AWS cloud architecture for startup MVPs Worked in a fast-paced startup environment, contributing to infrastructure decisions that supported business growth and enabled the development team to focus on product features rather than deployment complexities.
2021-Present
Consultant (Cloud Infra & DevOps)
Virtual Exponent.
Remote
Consultant (Cloud Infra & DevOps)
Key Achievements: Helped SMB clients reduce monthly AWS spend by ~60% through infrastructure re-architecting and deployment standardization Leveraged Terraform to accelerate infrastructure setup, shortening development cycles by several weeks Built lightweight Bash and Python scripts to automate provisioning tasks and reduce manual overhead Advised early-stage teams on infrastructure and systems architecture for scalability Focus Areas: Cloud-native architecture design and implementation Infrastructure-as-code workflows and automation Cost optimization and resource management Business metric tracking and monitoring solutions This consulting role allows me to work with diverse clients and technologies, applying best practices to help businesses optimize their infrastructure investments while building scalable, secure systems.
2017-2021
SecOps & Cloud Infra
LendingClub.
San Francisco, CA
SecOps & Cloud Infra
Key Achievements: Helped lead migration of a key legacy loan processing system from on-prem to AWS microservices, improving deployment agility and reducing infra overhead by enabling horizontal scaling Managed AWS KMS and F5 Big-IP ASM in hybrid cloud setups for secure financial services infrastructure Created Splunk dashboards for hybrid monitoring and security signals across cloud and on-premises environments Supported audit-related infrastructure adjustments under compliance advisement for financial regulations Focus Areas: Large-scale cloud migration and modernization Financial services compliance and security Hybrid cloud infrastructure management Security monitoring and incident response AWS security services and access controls Worked in a highly regulated environment, ensuring security and compliance standards were maintained throughout the infrastructure modernization process while supporting the company’s digital transformation initiatives.
2013-2017
Systems Engineer
Finastra.
San Francisco, CA
Systems Engineer
Key Achievements: Created Python scripts to automate log ingestion and reporting, improving visibility for infra team and reducing manual log triage by several hours per week Supported infrastructure automation initiatives using Puppet and Ansible in PoC environments Deployed and maintained Linux servers in hybrid on-prem/cloud setups for enterprise financial services Assisted in scripting and monitoring tasks to boost operational efficiency across development teams Focus Areas: Infrastructure automation and configuration management Log management and operational monitoring Linux system administration and maintenance Hybrid cloud infrastructure deployment Enterprise storage and virtualization technologies This role provided essential experience in infrastructure automation and hybrid cloud environments, establishing the foundation for my career in DevOps and cloud engineering.
Certifications
List of earned certificates and their active status.
ACTIVE
AWS Solutions Architect
Associate Level
Current Certification
HISTORICAL
HashiCorp Terraform
Associate Level
Previously Certified
HISTORICAL
SANS GCIH
Incident Handler
Previously Certified