DEEPA KARUNAKARAN
Customer Solutions Manager
San Jose
Summary
Proven IT Professional with 15 years of experience in driving success across cloud services technologies such as AWS, Soft Layer, and IBM Cloud. Performer Consistently deliver high ARR growth by connecting the dots from backwards for the customer’s needs to accelerate adoption Results Proven track record in managing complex programs such as building a private cloud to ensure high availability
Overview
22
22
years of professional experience
3
3
Certifications
Work History
Customer Solutions Manager (Customer Success)
Amazon Inc.
03.2022 - 04.2025
- Company Overview: Strategic Accounts, Amazon Web Services. Website: https://aws.amazon.com
- Led the account team as Customer Solutions Manager for the migration of one of the world’s widely used mobile applications into the AWS Platform.
- Responsible for creating synergy across the customer organization and multiple internal teams including the Sales, Solutions Engineering, and Services organizations during the migration.
- Worked as an integral part of the customer team in planning and executing the migration tasks involving applications that handle Petabytes of data daily.
- Acted as the voice of the customer and escalated customer’s needs to Service team leaders at Director level.
- Strategic Accounts, Amazon Web Services. Website: https://aws.amazon.com
- Created an enablement program for the customer to up-skill their Engineers and enabled them to modernize the applications. The enablement program spanned over 60 sessions in 3 years with over 100 participants.
- Managed the migration of workloads into the Amazon Web Services platform with an ARR of over $74 Million.
- Led the planning, execution and logistics of hosting the Working Backwards session. The goal of this session was to identify the customer's needs and desired end state for the migration of one of the biggest Kafka workloads in the world.
- Aligned with the customer by managing, tracking, reporting on customer outcomes, and mitigating risks during their migration and modernization journey.
- Planned and hosted Roadmap discussion meetings among Services team leaders from Amazon including Vice Presidents and the Executives on the customer’s side.
- Unblocked the customer to migrate the Hadoop Big data workloads from their Data center to Amazon EMR by working with the service team in developing new features that enabled the customer to scale.
- Participated in Amazon’s hiring process as a part of the Loop team to hire Customer Solutions Managers.
Service Delivery Manager
IBM Inc.
11.2012 - 12.2019
- Company Overview: Website: https://www.ibm.com
- Managed the delivery of data centre services worldwide, ensuring applications ran on IBM (SoftLayer Cloud) servers with no downtime.
- Developed the account and delivery support strategies for customers on SoftLayer Cloud platform. Planned the infrastructure maintenance schedules, including server level patching and application releases.
- Tracked and managed the steady state issues. Resolved critical system issues, conducted root cause analysis, and implemented long-term solutions.
- Managed and coordinated the go-live of applications in the cloud environment by strategizing the migration process of AIG’s application that handled the processing of Insurance claims across the world.
- Stabilized the cloud environment for one of IBM’s major clients (AIG Chartis) by sizing the server.
- Instrumental in releasing several applications that enabled customers to expand into new markets.
- Led platform and product releases, coordinating teams in the U.S., China, India, and Latin America using Agile methodologies.
- Defined project scopes, success criteria, and schedules. Managed risks, planned resources, approved changes, and ensured security.
- Organized, tracked, and optimized the workflows.
- Hosted daily calls to track tasks and address challenges in delivery goals.
- Website: https://www.ibm.com
- Led projects for delivering platforms and services to customers worldwide, including Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, AIG Chartis, Avis Car Rental, and The Children’s Place.
- Key role in migrating the applications from legacy systems to IBM’s cloud environment for AIG Chartis; fine-tuned the applications to maximize performance and ensured 24x7 delivery.
- Reduced application downtime by 90% by re-architecting the design and migrating MQ applications to high-availability clusters.
- Developed prototype and rolled out Agile process across Toshiba’s environment (55 servers) in 25% less time than projected, with no downtime.
- Designed patch process for 250+ servers; rolled out patch for ransomware in Microsoft environment in 2 weeks.
MQ Consultant & Team Lead
IBM India
01.2010 - 12.2012
Principal Technical Analyst
Staples, Inc.
01.2003 - 12.2009
Education
Master’s - Operations and Information Technology
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester, MABachelors of Commerce - undefined
University of Madras
Intermediate - undefined
Chartered Accountancy
Big Data, Business Management and Entrepreneurship
Stanford University
Skills
Accelerate Customer adoption
NPI
Team Leadership
Risk Mitigation
Salesforce
Problem Solving
Negotiations
SaaS
Stakeholder Engagement
Operations
Vendor Management
Customer Advocacy
Quarterly Business Review
Monthly Business Review
Strategic Planning
Program Execution
Service Delivery Management
Program Management
Process Optimization
Project Management
Agile/Scrum
Streamlining & Stabilization
Establish Governance
Agile Environment
Event Management
Business writing
Communication Skills
Smartsheets
JIRA
CI/CD
Cloud Engineering
Data Analytics
EMR
Big Data
Kubernetes
Storage Services
S3
EBS
Data Platforms
AI/ML Platforms
Messaging
WebSphere
Sales strategy development
CRM software proficiency
Strategic problem-solving
Client onboarding
Strategic communications
Customer relationship building
Customer relations
Training and mentoring
Team building
Sales management
Customer needs assessment
Strategic planning
Revenue growth
Inter-department collaboration
Stakeholder management
Cross-functional coordination
Customer onboarding
Problem-solving
Team leadership
Multitasking
Certification
AWS Migrations foundations, 08/2024
Education
Master’s in Operations and Information Technology (MSOIT), Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, Bachelors of Commerce (B.Com), University of Madras, Madras, India, Intermediate, Chartered Accountancy (CA), Madras, Big Data, Stanford University, Business Management and Entrepreneurship, Stanford University
Timeline
Customer Solutions Manager (Customer Success)
Amazon Inc.
03.2022 - 04.2025
Service Delivery Manager
IBM Inc.
11.2012 - 12.2019
MQ Consultant & Team Lead
IBM India
01.2010 - 12.2012
Principal Technical Analyst
Staples, Inc.
01.2003 - 12.2009
Bachelors of Commerce - undefined
University of Madras
Intermediate - undefined
Chartered Accountancy
Big Data, Business Management and Entrepreneurship
Stanford University
Master’s - Operations and Information Technology
Worcester Polytechnic Institute