Ajith Kattil
DevOps & Cloud Engineering Leader | SRE, AIOps, Platform Engineering
Milpitas,CA
Summary
Visionary Engineering Transformation Leader with 20+ years driving Cloud, Platform Engineering, and AIOps transformations. Expert in modernizing enterprise infrastructure, embedding automation and observability, and enabling AI/ML-powered operations to deliver secure, scalable, and resilient systems across on-prem, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. A hands-on technologist and strategic leader, blending deep technical expertise with PMP-certified execution discipline. Known for building high-performing teams, mentoring engineers, and partnering with executives to align engineering roadmaps with business outcomes.
Overview
16
16
years of professional experience
7
7
Certifications
Work History
Engineering Leader
Neural Labs
07.2024 - Current
- Deliver Engineering leadership and strategic guidance as Principal Architect to Multiple Projects . At Opsara, as Engineering Leader, Led the digital transformation strategy driving a 35% increase in revenue by integrating AI/ML into core business operations.
- Drove product vision and delivery of a GenAI + DevOps platform that unified code, infra, and docs into a conversational system map, enabling secure multi-cloud impact analysis and on-demand PCI compliance reports.
- At Southern California Edison, led architecture, implementation, and deployment of a secure, air-gapped Infrastructure and DevOps framework for SCE. Delivered end-to-end automation using GitHub Actions, AWS services, Kubernetes clusters, Istio service mesh, and GitOps workflows. Ensured compliance with strict regulatory requirements, improving operational resilience. Implemented Helm chart linting, validation, and signing to enforce deployment standards and security policies.
- Tech stack: Python, Fast API, LangChain, OpenAI, pyevctor (Postgres), Neo4j, React, Mermaid.js, AWS, Azure, GCP, Linux, Docker, Kubernetes (K8s), Terraform, GitHub Actions (GitOps), Prometheus, Grafana, Istio, Jenkins, IOT integrations, Vault, Keycloak, Trivy, Aqua, Falco
DevOps Director
Fisec Global
04.2023 - 06.2024
- Directed Global DevOps and Cloud strategy, mentoring and building high-performing engineering teams while shaping delivery standards and best practices.
- Acted as Principal AWS Architect for California State Student Aid Commission (CSAC), leading Digital Transformations responsible for Strategy, Architecture, operations and transformation ensuring scalability, security, and compliance.
- Brought strategic business growth by aligning technical solutions with Fisec Global’s consulting practice, expanding cloud services footprint.
- Tech Stack: AWS, Azure, EKS, ECS, AKS, Kubernetes (K8s), Istio, Prometheus, ArgoCD, GitOps, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, Docker, Ansible, Python, Linux, Terraform, CI/CD, Service Mesh, Hybrid Cloud, Security Compliance, maven, MSSQL, OpenShift, Istio, helm, GitHub actions
Senior DevOps Architect ( FTE)
ServiceNow
07.2020 - 01.2023
- Provided technical leadership and guidance to development teams, ensuring adherence to ServiceNow development best practices and coding standards. Build and mentor DevOps team , support and foster a strong cultural environment.
- Combined role of DevOps Manager and Architect, managing a team of 20 + DevOps engineers, oversee the DevOps Adoptions of PAAS platforms like ServiceNow , Boomi , CRM , Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) ,Snowflake ,other Java Full stack platforms like Solarsearch etc . As Principal Architect for multiple projects, designed and implemented the end to end automation of Continuous Integration and deployment of the entire Platform stack in AWS.
- Led HIPAA compliance initiatives, aligning DevOps workflows with regulatory standards through automated policy enforcement
- Implemented Helm Charts as part of the deployment strategy, resulting in a standardized and efficient method for managing applications across multiple environments.
- Tech Stack: Servicenow, Chef, Azure, AWS, GCP, Shell, Python, maven, Terraform, Ansible ,Docker, Jenkins, Github , Microservices, Kubernetes, Java, C++, maven, Hashicorp config and vault, CloudFormation, Del Boomi, CRM Dynamics, Github actions
Devops Architect (FTE)
Apexon
08.2017 - 06.2020
- Architected scalable and resilient infrastructure using cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, or GCP, utilizing services such as EC2, S3, Lambda, Kubernetes, and Google Cloud Build. Research, propose and prototype new principles, technologies, tools , concepts and integrate them into the teams collective knowledge.
- Led the adoption of containerization using Docker and container orchestration with Kubernetes, improving application scalability, portability, and deployment efficiency.
- For Kaiser ,Ensured secure handling of PHI and PII data across cloud environments by implementing encryption, access controls, and audit logging
- Built libraries in Python, Setup CI/CD pipelines for maven and grade based projects, implement Jenkins shared libraries, frameworks for TDD, DevSecOps, Cobertura, Sonar for Static code analysis, Design and implement scalable, microservice based solutions with increasing focus towards migrating monolithic apps to containerized microservices
- Tech Stack: AWS,GCP,Azure ,Chef, Shell, Python, Gradle, Terraform, Ansible, ELK ,Docker, Jenkins, Git, Jira, Helm charts, Microservices, VPN, Apigee API gateway, Consul, Vault, Kubernetes, Java, C++, maven, .NET, Sonar, Jira, Hashicorp config and vault, Kafka, Hadoop, JavaScript, ReactJS ,CloudFormation, firewalls, DNS
DevOps Manager
Kohls
11.2016 - 07.2017
- Managed and lead a team of 15 DevOps Engineers to architect, design, implement a robust , scalable CI/CD framework for Kohls, Developing in-house Engineering tools and related framework
- Strategized and drove execution of migration from on-prem to GCP Cloud for entire Kohl’s IT infrastructure and Prod environment. Defined cloud strategies, roadmaps, and best practices, aligning them with business goals to drive successful cloud adoption and migration initiatives. Drove the adoption of automated testing and quality assurance processes, leading to a 40% improvement in software quality and a 25% reduction in production incidents
- Implemented robust monitoring and log aggregation solutions, including Prometheus and ELK stack, enabling real-time visibility into system performance, reducing incident response time by 40%, and enhancing troubleshooting efficiency
- Tech Stack: GCP, Jenkins, Bitbucket, ant, Perl, Shell, Chef, Puppet, Python, Java, Jira,Agile, AWS, Rest APIs, Nagios, Azure, API Design, Git, GHE, Splunk, Linux, agile, Cloud Computing, Docker, Kubernetes, API gateways, Ruby
Senior DevOps Architect
Intuit
05.2015 - 10.2016
- Designed, implemented, and patented a CI/CD tool library integrating Jenkins, Chef, GitHub, Nexus, Docker, and a Python-based automation framework — adopted across 20+ engineering teams, reducing deployment time by 40% and improving release reliability by 30%
- Defined DevOps strategies, approaches, and best practices, aligning them with business objectives to improve efficiency, reduce time-to-market, and enhance system reliability.
- Architected, simplified and streamlined CI/CD processes using Java based tools which is a part of the framework comprising Spring, JPA, Hibernate, WebLogic, Linux.
- Tech Stack: Linux, Jenkins, Bamboo, Chef, Puppet, Python, Java, Bash scripting, SVN, Github, Tomcat/Mule Deployment, Restful APIs, cobbler , Nagios, Git, GHE, Splunk, REST ,Linux, agile, Cloud, Docker, AWS, Docker
Sr Software Architect (FTE)
Cisco Systems
01.2010 - 02.2015
- Worked for the Business Units CTG, CTBU, Webex and NMTG in a span of more than six years in various Engineering Management roles ( Sr Software engineer, Tech lead, DevOps Architect)
- Mentored, guided a large engineering team, initiated Cisco Organization on DevOps concepts ,drove initiatives and continuous improvement with a 70% success rate. Implemented CI/CD pipelines, leveraging DevOps tools resulting in a 65% reduction in deployment time and increased software quality
- Led the adoption of microservices (Spring Boot, Spring Cloud), improving scalability, resilience, and performance.
- Established best practices for SDLC, CI/CD, configuration, identity management, and test automation, accelerating delivery.Guided teams in automation and monitoring (Python, Bash, Nagios), strengthening reliability and compliance.
- Tech Stack: Cisco Cloud , Amazon EC2, Hudson, Puppet, Python, Java, C, Bash , OSGI Spring, scripting, SVN, Deployment, Restful APIs, cobbler , Nagios, Git, GHE,Splunk, REST ,Linux, Jenkins,Ruby
Education
M.S - Computer Science
University of Southern California (USC)
Los Angeles, CAB. Tech degree - Computer Engineering
Regional Engineering College (NITC)
IndiaLeadership & Innovation Program -
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MASkills
Infrastructure & CI/CD: Jenkins, GitHub, Chef, Puppet, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, Spinnaker, ArgoCD, Terraform, Pulumi, Docker, Podman, Kubernetes, Helm, Rancher, Istio, Nexus, Amazon ECR, Azure Container Registry (ACR), Google Container Registry (GCR), GitLab Container Registry, Service Mesh (Istio, Consul Connect)
Cloud & Platforms: AWS, Azure, GCP, ServiceNow, Boomi, Dynamics CRM, SageMaker, Vertex AI, AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, GCP Cloud Functions, AWS RDS, Azure SQL Database
Observability & Monitoring: Dynatrace, Prometheus, Splunk, Datadog, New Relic, ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana), Grafana Loki, Jaeger, Zipkin
Security & Compliance: DevSecOps, OWASP, Threat Modeling, Vulnerability Management Tools (Tenableio, Qualys), SAST/DAST Tools (eg, SonarQube, Checkmarx, Veracode, OWASP ZAP), Identity & Access Management (IAM) (Okta, Azure AD, AWS IAM), GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, FedRAMP
Certification
AWS Solution Architect Professional-https://www.credly.com/users/ajithkumar-kattil/badges#credly
Innovation award at ServiceNow
Received the 2022 Innovation Award at ServiceNow for conceiving and executing a groundbreaking AIOps transformation proof of concept. This initiative enhanced the ServiceNow DevOps framework, delivering measurable improvements in efficiency, reliability, and automation
Accomplishments
- Architected and implemented a patented SDLC framework for Intuit, leveraging Cloudbees, Chef and a custom Python framework, which was adopted organization-wide.
- Designed and rolledout a standardized DevOps framework for Dell Boomi, which has since been widely adopted by organizations worldwide
- Architected and implemented a microservices-based end-to-end SaaS platform for Comtel (Seattle), which was recognized with a “Best Innovation” award for its impact and scalability
- Developed an MVP for an Agentic AI–powered DevOps assistant (AgenticOpsSuite) leveraging LangGraph, FAISS, and Hugging Face models to analyze CI/CD logs and automate root cause analysis.
Timeline
PMP ( Project Management Professional ) certified by PMI
07-2025
AWS Solution Architect Professional-https://www.credly.com/users/ajithkumar-kattil/badges#credly
06-2025
Gen AI certified by Databricks
06-2025
AWS Solution Architect Associate
05-2025
DataDog QS , certified by DataDog
04-2025
Engineering Leader
Neural Labs
07.2024 - Current
AI for Everyone, DeepLearning.AI
05-2023
DevOps Director
Fisec Global
04.2023 - 06.2024
Security Champion Certified by ServiceNow
05-2022
Senior DevOps Architect ( FTE)
ServiceNow
07.2020 - 01.2023
Devops Architect (FTE)
Apexon
08.2017 - 06.2020
DevOps Manager
Kohls
11.2016 - 07.2017
Senior DevOps Architect
Intuit
05.2015 - 10.2016
Sr Software Architect (FTE)
Cisco Systems
01.2010 - 02.2015
M.S - Computer Science
University of Southern California (USC)
B. Tech degree - Computer Engineering
Regional Engineering College (NITC)
Leadership & Innovation Program -
Massachusetts Institute of Technology